All that "Glitters" is not Gold

[Maxie Zeus]

For you Mariah Carrey fans, from today's New York Times:



Music giant EMI Group Plc said on Wednesday it has severed its ties with pop diva Mariah Carey just four months after the flop of her first release from the label, paying her $28 million to walk away from one of the biggest recording contracts ever.

The announcement, confirming months of speculation, comes less than a year after EMI's Virgin label signed Carey to a multi-album deal reportedly worth $80 million to $118 million.

A joint statement from the singer's publicist and EMI said Carey will retain the $21 million advance she received at the outset of her Virgin deal last spring in addition to the $28 million payment to buy out her contract. It described the decision to part ways as "amicable."

"This is the right decision for me. I look forward to the many new and exciting opportunities which have now been presented to me," Carey said in the statement.

"Glitter," Carey's debut album at Virgin and the soundtrack to the film she starred in, sold a disappointing 2 million copies worldwide since its September release. By comparison, her 1993 album, "Music Box," released by Sony Music Entertainment, sold more than 20 million copies.


I don't know who to feel more sorry for: Carrey for the humiliation or EMI for the $28 million.

Aw, heck. I feel sorry for neither of them. :p

[Calhoun07]

Two million??? TWO MILLION??? Dude, isn't that still a GOLD album? And who were the two million foolish enough to buy that? That should have sold as well as a David Hasselhoff CD!

[Mr. Obsession]

Originally posted by Calhoun07
Two million??? TWO MILLION??? Dude, isn't that still a GOLD album? And who were the two million foolish enough to buy that? That should have sold as well as a David Hasselhoff CD! But that's two million worldwide Cal, I think an album has to sell at least that many stateside to go gold. I'd be interested to see the breakdown in sales by geographic region.

At any rate I think somebody lost some money here... well besides those who bought the album. :rolleyes: I guess that EMI changed their guestimates on the profits that Mariah would bring in and decided to cut their losses.

[killercroc]

Originally posted by Calhoun07
Two million??? TWO MILLION??? Dude, isn't that still a GOLD album? And who were the two million foolish enough to buy that? That should have sold as well as a David Hasselhoff CD!

Germans love David Hasselhoff!

[Jedigreedo]

Hey... if you think about it, here new CDs are usually around $13 bucks...and Carey got $28 million (right? or did I read it wrong?) for 2 million CDs it'd be $26 million, so that would mean she would still have $2 million left? Maybe she bought'em all. :D

Still though, worldwide, since SEPTEMBER... Well would that even get a copper album? :rolleyes:

[Terminatah]

It's sad for someone to have such a beautiful voice and waste it on all the wrong kinds of music.

-Terminatah

[James Harvey]

Carey does have talent. It's a shame she has to waste it due to poor production values, bad writing, and fluff peices. SDhe's got the talent, but can't really handle it.

[Deltamon]

SDhe's got the talent, but can't really handle it.

Not anymore, you mean. IMHO, she started losing it since her Butterflies album. It's a dang shame, really.

[Trent Lane]

Maybe she's seen as too much of an old lady for the po(o)p industry. Look at the way things are. Sure, Mariah's a bit of eye candy, but she's not "barely legal/ not legal" eye candy, which seems to be the current trend. Spears, Christina, Mandy Moore- you get the picture.... talent, I don't think they even value that much anymore...

[Calhoun07]

Eye candy teen pop stars are popular in every generation. They are great for a time, but in the end it's the ones with true talent that end up sticking around for the long haul.

[Leaping Larry Jojo]

Originally posted by Calhoun07
Eye candy teen pop stars are popular in every generation. They are great for a time, but in the end it's the ones with true talent that end up sticking around for the long haul.

Not necessarily. Madonna doesn't have a particularly striking singing voice (it's listenable, but not striking), but she's lasted so long because of her own marketing genius. Britney Spears would be dead after her promoters leave her, and she simply isn't as intelligent as Madonna when it comes to self-promotion.

[joshualane]

Originally posted by Calhoun07
Two million??? TWO MILLION??? Dude, isn't that still a GOLD album? And who were the two million foolish enough to buy that? That should have sold as well as a David Hasselhoff CD!
A Gold Album is 500,000 copies sold
A Platinum Album is 1,000,000 copies sold

Either way, 2 million albums worlwide for someone like Mariah Carey is rather pathetic considering how big of a "star" she is. And given her recent "problems" and "style" change, kudos to EMI for getting out the contract.

[nightwing_38116]

Originally posted by Terminatah
It's sad for someone to have such a beautiful voice and waste it on all the wrong kinds of music.

-Terminatah

I don't think the music is to blame. She has a good voice but that's not the same as knowing how to sing and be a compelling vocalist. There are some with a worse voice who are better "singers". I really don't think it's a matter of the wrong "kind" of music, whatever that means.

[Terminatah]

Originally posted by nightwing_38116


I don't think the music is to blame. She has a good voice but that's not the same as knowing how to sing and be a compelling vocalist. There are some with a worse voice who are better "singers". I really don't think it's a matter of the wrong "kind" of music, whatever that means. She's a very good singer. She's just not allocating her talents properly when she chooses what to sing. Too much hip hop and songs that don't fully take advantage of her skill.

-Terminatah

[The Mad Hatter]

I thought I'd find a thread on this topic here. :D

Honestly, I don't think it's the type of music she's chosen recently, but the way she's done it... it's of pretty low quality, and the whole "look, I'm a big ho!" thing doesn't work for her as it does some of the other current pop stars.

[Nightwing]

Originally posted by killercroc


Germans love David Hasselhoff!

LOL! Which once again proves Norm MacDonald's theory, Germans love oh wait you said it already.

Well I agree, Maria has a gorgeous voice, and incredible tallent. Maybe she should just stick to reaching people with her music? She's done SO amazingly well with that in the past.

If it's any consolation for her though, seeing her make her first appearance since she's been sick, performing my favorite Maria song at the benefit for NY concert was a wonderful and uplifting thing to see.

What? Yeah I'm a dork. Why do you ask?

[spectre316]

Perhaps she lost it when she filmed the video for "Butterfly," a video that contains the love between herself... and a horse. Always wondered what that video was about.

[G. Wen]

Mariah Carrey's music carrer went downhill when her Rainbow album came out. The music she created before that album had a unique melody. It was strictly hers and there were no other songs w/ a melody similar to it. But w/ Rainbow, the melody lost it's uniqueness. Her songs started to sound like all the other up beat songs written for young, pretty singers w/o much thought behind them. I really don't want to see Mariah's music carrer destroyed because I am a fan of her old stuff, and I hope she will go back to her roots and write the music that I admired her for.