2 posts tagged “mariah carey”

LOS ANGELES - With her 18th chart-topper "Touch My Body," Mariah Carey has passed Elvis Presley for the most No. 1 singles on the Billboard singles chart, and is now second only to the Beatles. But while the diva was in full celebration mode after learning of her latest milestone, she was also quick to put her accomplishment in perspective."I really can never put myself in the category of people who have not only revolutionized music but also changed the world," Carey told The Associated Press on Tuesday via phone from London. "That's a completely different era and time ... I'm just feeling really happy and grateful."Carey's single is the new No. 1 single on Billboard's Hot 100 singles chart: The song also is No. 1 on the trade magazine's digital download chart thanks to a precedent-setting 286,000 downloads in its debut week. She had been tied with Presley with 17 No. 1 singles; the Beatles are the all-time leaders with 20. (Madonna also beat a Presley record this week, surpassing the King for the most top 10 hits with her 37th for her hit "4 Minutes.")Carey said being in such company was gratifying not only because of her personal success, but what it meant for women and minorities."For me, in my mind the accomplishment is just that much sweeter," she said. "In terms of my ethnicity, always feeling like an outsider, always feeling different ... for me it's about saying, 'Thank you Lord, for giving me the faith to believe in myself when other people had written me off.'""Touch My Body" is the first single off of Carey's upcoming album "EMC2," due out April 16. It is the follow-up to her Grammy-winning disc "The Emancipation of Mimi," released in 2005, that year's best-selling album with five million copies sold; it marked a huge comeback for the multiplatinum superstar after personal and professional setbacks.Like that album, Carey said "EMC2" continues her sense of freedom and rebirth: "It's like emancipation of Mariah Carey to the second power and beyond."Care...

LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - On a recent Monday morning, Mariah Carey flew the red-eye from New York to Los Angeles, stopped by Ryan Seacrest's morning radio show to chat, recorded a background vocal track for the song "I Stay in Love" for her upcoming album, then recorded a video for Wal-Mart's "Soundcheck" series, which will be used as bonus footage online and played in stores.By the time all of this was done, it was just past noon. Her afternoon consisted of another radio interview, and in the evening she returned to the studio to work on mastering the album, "E=MC2" -- due April 15 via Island Def Jam.If "E=MC2" scores big, Carey could find herself in elite chart company. She's currently tied at No. 2 with Elvis Presley for the most Hot 100 No. 1 singles, with 17. The Beatles hold the crown with 20.The busy singer recently spoke with Billboard about the new album.Q: "E=MC2" crosses a lot of genres. There are a few ballads, but there's definitely some hip-hop and even some gospel-tinged songs and a bit of a reggae beat.Mariah Carey: I'm really a festive person, and that's what came across with the "Mimi" album. I hate it when people are like (uses a dramatic voice): "She's taking a new direction with hip-hop." I'm like, "Will you please freakin' research?" I've been doing this for a long time -- working with (writer-producer) Dave Hall on "Dreamlover," using the "Ain't No Half-Steppin"' loop.I think that it was Q-Tip -- he said this to me in '97 --that I was really the catalyst for so many of these artists who are now trying to infuse (songs with hip-hop). It was just digging in the crates with Dave Hall and coming up with, "Hey, let's use this loop!" And from then on, I did it anytime I could. The next was "Fantasy," which was a groundbreaking moment for me, the ability to be able to work with Puffy (Sean Combs).Right now everything is kind of merged together because pop is such a nebulous format, in my opinion. You'll hear a hip-hop record next to sort of a rock...