Director Lee Daniels’ Precious based on the novel Push by Sapphire has been generating a lot of buzz since it won the Audience Award and the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival.

The film follows the journey of Claireece ”Precious” Jones(Gabourey Sidibe), an overweight sixteen-year-old African-American living in Harlem in 1987. She lives in a life no one would desire. She’s pregnant with the second time by her absentee father. Her home life is very turbulent because she has to wait on her mother(Mo’Nique) who smokes like a chimney and watches television all day. Precious is abused emotionally and physically by her mother, who at one point makes Precious eat macaroni and fried pig’s feet because she is unsatisfied with the meal.

Precious does well in math at her school, but is expelled because she is pregnant. Her principal provides an answer to Precious’ huge secret: she cannot read or write. Precious begins to attend an alternative school to take classes to earn her GED. Along the way, Precious meets a teacher, Ms. Rain, who helps the extraordinary teenager find her inner voice and strength.

I first saw previews for this film while seeing Bright Star, a film about John Keats’ life. The trailer struck me and stuck with me after the opening monologue by Precious. She says, “My name is Claireece Precious Jones. I want to be on the cover of a magazine. I wish I had a light-skinned boyfriend with nice hair. But first I want to be in one of those BET videos.” Two seconds after her voice, her mother enters the frame with a frying pan in hand slamming it into the wall. I knew I had to see the film.

 The plot line seems to be like thousands of other movies - a girl has a problem and overcomes the problem, whatever it is. In the film, Precious doesn’t just have one problem. She has many that accumulates into the travesty that is her life. Precious is an emotionally draining movie that has a one-two punch in the gut one after the other. By emotionally, I don’t mean a few tears. It’s several emotions running through your head: pity, guilt, sadness, anger and euphoria. The film is very difficult to watch, but it is very eye-opening.

During one intense scene, I felt sick to my stomach. Precious looked to be a little girl, may three or four. It shows her father taking off his belt and raping Precious. Even though this scene was particularly brutal, it was relieved by Precious fading into one of her fantasies of being famous with her light-skinned boyfriend. The director provided comedic relief in several difficult scenes. In one scene, one of Precious’ classmates taunt her for a crush on Nurse John, the first male nurse any of them have seen.

What really makes the film come alive is the brilliant actors and their attention to detail. No’Nique plays her role frightening well between being an abusive mother and putting on airs to receive welfare checks. Gabourey Sidibe brings raw honesty and an emotional connection to Precious that you can’t help but root for her. Mariah Carey is barely recognizable as she plays a rundown social worker.

This film is amazing and is more “precious” than any nomination or Oscar buzz.

Musical Musing No.1:

I am now the proud owner of the Fame Monster ….yay! It’s pretty awesome ….not at all a let down and definitely up to the standard of The Fame (wish I could say the same for Russian Roulette …what was Rhianna THINKING!?) Favourite tracks include Bad Romance, Monster and Speechless.

Musical Musing No.2:

Heard Jenna Toro on the Ian Dempsey Breakfast Show today doing  a beautiful acoustic version of her new song Electric City. The original track is decent enough, but I definitely think her talent lies more in the acoustic sets than the dance-type tracks. Check out her MySpace here.

Musical Musing No.3:

In order to erase from my mind the ABOMINATION that was Mariah Carey’s ‘breathy’ version of I Wanna Know What Love Is on last night’s X Factor, I have spent the day humming and Youtube-ing the original Foreigner version.

And on a completely unrelated note:

A woman thanked me for letting her get the free seat that became available on the Luas this evening, even though I totally could have gotten to it first. It was really nice to be thanked.

Newcomer Gabby Sidibe delivers a gritty, moving performance in "Precious."

Along the way, some well-meaning but patronizing soul probably told Precious Jones (Gabourey Sidibe) that every day is a gift from God, but she has no reason to believe it. Raped by her father and abused and insulted by her vicious mother (Mo’Nique), the stoic Precious leads a life marked by unimaginable daily horrors. She has, at 16, learned to retreat far inside her own head because despair knows no bottom. 

So begins the unflinchingly realistic ”Precious,” a film by new director Lee Daniels that contains not the slightest trace of sentimentality. There are no cloying motivational speeches ripped from Hallmark cards. No, “Precious” is a hard movie about hard people – some who choose to accept the misery of their circumstances and some who choose to struggle against them. Daniels means to show us that those who struggle have no guarantees, only hope. And hope can be misleading.

Yet for all the grit, “Precious” is an uplifting film, thanks in large part to a nuanced performance by newcomer Gabourey Sidibe. Sidibe, with her remote eyes, won’t let us shrink from Precious’ pain, though Precious herself has become a master of detachment. As a child she acquired a skill for leaving her body, floating above the beatings and the sexual abuse to a hazy fantasy world. Life, though, has a cruel way of yanking her back down into the dirty apartment she shares with her hateful mother Mary (Mo’Nique), who sees Precious as a live-in slave and bait to hook more welfare checks. Precious weathers the abuse silently, and she might continue to swallow more sadness than humanly possible if not for a suspension — related to her second pregnancy — that leads her to an alternative school. Ms. Rain (Paula Patton) pushes Precious to tell her story through her class journal and connects her with a plainspoken but sympathetic social worker (Mariah Carey). Slowly, with help from both women and from her Each One classmates, Precious begins to find the power in her own voice.

Not one word of all this summary, however, really captures the mix of grim reality and hopefulness that makes ”Precious” such a strong film. Based on Sapphire’s novel “Push,” the movie is unrelenting in its examination of what life looks like at its bleakest. Screenwriter Geoffrey Fletcher does not soften his script to protect us from seeing the worst parts of Precious’ existence. Neither does Daniels shy away; instead, he uses documentary-style footage to force us inside Precious’ hellish Harlem apartment. In this way, the director eliminates the protective barrier that separates us from the characters. We are stripped of our defenses just as Precious is stripped of hers; her world becomes our world. This technique is effective because it strips away Hollywood gloss, leaving nothing but an unpretty story. Funny, isn’t it, how the most compelling stories tend to be the ones that lack gimmicks?

This, in fact, is where Daniels succeeds the most: telling a compelling story without relying on cliches or melodrama. He lets the actors take the lead, which suggests a level of intuition rarely seen in new directors. Because of this, almost none of the film’s scenes feel contrived, particularly those that take place inside the Each One Teach One classroom. Precious’ classmates chatter and bicker in ways that feel completely natural, and Patton lets Ms. Rain seem just as overwhelmed but eager and open as her students. Carey, remarkably unglammed and subtle, plays a social worker who isn’t delusional enough to believe she can swoop in and rescue Precious. She offers no false hopes, and so her conversations with Precious seem grounded in reality.

Devastatingly real, too, are Mo’Nique and Sidibe, who convey how the same hardship shapes two people differently. Who could have expected this kind of raw, raging performance from Mo’Nique, who’s spent her career languishing in movies like “Welcome Home, Roscoe Jenkins”? It’s the kind of left-field move that suggests she’s wildly underestimated her own talent. Sidibe matches her, though, not with explosiveness but with intensity. She deeply understands Precious’ pain, understands how she must suppress it until there’s time and space to express it. When those tears come, they feel like a hard-earned breakthrough. Simply put, Sidibe’s performance is a revelation. So is “Precious.”

Complex: “To Dress Like Pharrell” Read Here

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This is off her latest album Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel in stores now.

The album starts off with the first single Vision of Love which I thought was a pretty nice start to her debut. It prepares you, gives you a taste of what’s to come. I still love the moody and atmospheric arrangement and Mariah’s vocal performance is the love, because its of course one of her best. I just never get tired of the hi-note taking the track out, never.

I am really love We Got to Find a Way, this track has really grown on me because I just love how purely 90’s it is and what the hell, its so catchy and fun, despite Mariah talking about serious worldly issues. I thought she put a lot of emotion and drive into her voice to really bring the message home and seriously she should wipe the dust off of this and sing it live, because we can certainly use some positive tracks like this, or better yet stop with all the mainstream and get serious again.

The more I listen to I Don’t Wanna Cry the more I realize it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was. I was super young when her 1’s compilation came out and I played it like it was going out of style and I can not once remember listening to this, but Mariah really gives forth such a powerful vocal performance its almost a shame that she dislikes this track so much so she goes out of her way to avoid singing it, because it would be pretty damn emotional sung live. I think I’m going to bump this up a little higher on my list, I don’t think it deserves to be least anymore.

For some reason I don’t really like the album mix of Someday even though when you aren’t really listening you can’t really tell the difference, but there was one mix of the song I listened to where it took her forever to start and the song was kind of slowed down so I couldn’t really enjoy it. I miss how strong Mariah’s voice use to sound, she brought a lot of character and energy to this track.

I still think Vanishing is a pretty boring song, I just don’t find it interesting and the lyrics are pretty blase. I thought Mariah gave a good vocal performance though, those hi-notes brought a little light to the song and I found myself paying a bit of attention to it once she started getting into it at the end, though the climax was pretty anticlimatic. I think the stale piano arrangement is what brings this song down, it really gives Mariah nothing to stand on and the track in the end suffers severely because of it.

The clip of All in Your Mind on the Vision of Love single really made me think that this was an all right track, but its almost as boring as Vanishing. It never seems to go anywhere and I just got tired of it after awhile. Her vocal performance was fine, the arrangement was boring, but I did somewhat like the chorus and those whistle notes towards the end. This is an otherwise forgettable and rather bland track.

Alone in Love continues the just below mid-tempo tracks and this is sort of all right, I could see myself listening to it again. The arrangement definitely plays like a surreal dream, its not all that interesting, but it works. I thought Mariah gave a pretty good vocal performance, though it didn’t really stand out. This is a song in which I’m half in half with, because at some point I found myself paying attention to it, but not to the point in which I can see myself enjoying it, enjoying it. Its not a bad song though.

I’m a bit disapointed to see You Need You on here, I kind a wish she would have kept it as a b-side, because that’s really like it plays. I think the reason why I don’t really like this track despite it not really being as bad as it could have been is because it just seems to come out of nowhere and is pretty random. No other song on this album comes close to sounding like this and it just sounds really lame to me. I can dig the funky arrangement and Mariah’s rather strong vocal performance, but me and this track just don’t click.

In truth Sent from up Above is a pretty meh track as it follows the same formula of the non-a-sides, with a pretty mediocre beat and Mariah singing her little heart out trying to bring some sort of interest or color to the track, but unfortunately failing in the attempt, because I found myself really disinterested while listening to this.

If I thought You Need Me was different from any other track on the album, Prisoner definitely comes in second place and really makes me think those samples on her first single were misleading, because I honestly thought I was going to like this. I didn’t really have a problem with the arrangement or Mariah’s vocal performance, because both were pretty all right, despite not being up to par with what I’m use to from her, it was that speak-rap Mariah called herself adding in. I was just speechless and thinking why, because it was just so lame and really drug the song down, because the last thing you want to hear come out Mariah’s mouth is some psuedo-rap, even if it does sound more like she’s talking really fast.

Mariah decides to take the album out on a down-tempo which is pretty much how she always tends to end her albums. Love Takes Time as I’ve said in my single review of it is one of my favorite oldschool Mariah tracks and I literally never get tired of listening to it. It has of course been replaced by many other down-tempo’s from Mariah like Forever, My All, When I Saw You and I Stay In Love, but this one will always hold a special place in my heart and is pretty nice and memorable close to her debut.

Vision of Love
There’s Got to Be a Way
Someday
Love Takes Time

Mariah’s debut album self-titled Mariah Carey is a pretty all right debut, but compared to her later albums or even her second album its pretty much pales in comparision and had it not had such strong single releases would be completely forgettable, because the b-sides are all pretty boring and just in truth does not show her prowess as an top-selling artist. This is also one of the few times I’m pleased that American artists release their album than follow-up singles, because had she released this album prior to the singles, there would have been no point in buying it, because literally every track on this album is on her singles, or her UK and UK Maxi singles, so its almost like what was the point? This is definitely as of now my least favorite album by Mariah, because to be honest I’ve never entirely listened to Glitter, The Emancipation of Mimi, E=MC2 or her latest album Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel. I’ve heard worse debut albums, so I won’t hold this against Mariah, because she goes on to improve immensely, but this was still once you get over the a-sides a pretty disapointing and rather bland album with minimal replay value. It holds the classics though and is always worth going back to for an nostalgic listen or two.

1936: Fans line up for the live elimination round of "The Aryan People Have Talent"

In today’s world, it may no longer be possible for anybody living in a place with electricity to spend longer than a few days without exposure to that awful muzak of the noughties: the crappy, TV talent show cover version.

Case in point: last night I managed to accidentally park my fat arse on the TV remote, and within microseconds had flooded my living room with the unholy spectacle of Mariah Carey, a bronzed mountain of quavering spandex-clad silicone, emoting her way through an oestrogen-fuelled rendition of Foreigner’s I Want To Know What Love Is. At what point did somebody sit down and consciously decide that the public broadcast of this manic shrieking represented any potential benefit to the human species?  I can only imagine that it was one of the same amoral government scientists responsible for greenlighting the creation of anthrax, crystal meth and Crazy Frog.

This traumatic violation of my living space is inseparable from the depressing popularity of light-entertainment Nuremberg rallies like the X Factor, that cynical pageant of mediocrity lorded over by smug pantomime villain Simon Cowell.  As is depressingly obvious to everybody except the millions of cretins who actually spend their money voting for this dross, the faux democracy of the X Factor is merely a streamlined gateway into the stage-managed efficiency of Cowell’s putrid cultural slaughterhouse.

The TV show is where it all starts, but that stage is nothing more than the brain-spattered killing floor, a place where docile beasts farmed on karaoke and school talent competitions are stunned, eviscerated and then tumbled by conveyor belt into a clanking meatgrinder spewing out lumpy pink sausages of ultra-processed musical offal.

Simon Cowell feeds on the blood of the living

"Yes! Every phone vote earns me money!"

The apparently boundless public appetite for the cultural equivalent of tinned luncheon meat is gradually transforming the Bernard Matthews of pop into one of the richest and most powerful men who has ever lived.  Imagine if you will the roman emperor Caligula, except instead of boiling men in oil, marrying horses and sodomising boy slaves his vices consist of high-waisted trousers and the endless suffering of everybody outside his core audience of slack-jawed, sentimental couch potatoes.

If at this point I’m giving the impression that I am some kind of cold-hearted, snobbish elitist then please continue, because in fact that’s precisely what I am.  The enduring popularity of the various TV talent vehicles seems to me to represent incontrovertible evidence that democracy has failed: if the masses are only interested in the vote as a costly method of applauding bland warblers and/or reflexively lashing out against Cowell’s most obvious stooges, then they deserve nothing more than to have their ever decision pre-determined by some haughty authoritarian patriarch.

At this point, I will selflessly nominate myself for this role and will be happy to supply my own uniform, providing that this melismatic MOR freakshow is banished from our lives forever.

Welcome to my own personal hell

In addition to the acres of newspaper wasted by vapid tabloid chatter about the participants, each new season of the X Factor spurs Cowell and his vile record-company cohorts into a fresh carpet bombing of the media landscape with insipid cover versions of songs long over-familiar to anybody with a memory longer than a stunned goldfish.  I was already sick of overwrought covers of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah after living through the foul armageddon that was the Shrek marketing campaign, yet despite seldom watching TV or listening to the radio I nevertheless spent last Christmas dismally oppressed by the ubiquity of last season’s paradoxically forgettable chart-topping remake.

The only thing that could possibly have made my suffering any greater would be a new Director’s Cut of Richard Curtis’ odious schmaltz holocaust Love Actually, screened with my eyes forced open like Alex in A Clockwork Orange, and with a new soundtrack of nothing but X Factor semi-finalists blaring out of jungle kingpin Dillinja’s 140 decibel soundsystem.  Truly, the mind of a man is not meant to know such horror.

X Factor Death Metal Special: The Songs of Gorgoroth

"I would love for you to sing my songs"

In some better universe, the predictable outcome of the TV talent production line might at least be mitigated by an attempt to popularise some obscure or unexpected composition, yet there is about as much chance of Susan Boyle stripping for Loaded as there is of this year’s intake being permitted to feel their way around anything further leftfield than the dull iPod favourites of middle Britain.  Don’t hold your breath for the X Factor Danzig special, a prime-time rendition of the hits of My Bloody Valentine or the panel of judges electrified by a suburban housewife hollering her way through the music of Fantomas.  We can only dream, but count yourself lucky that you still possess the imagination to do so.

Unless our society is saved by some kind of internecine cultural warfare, we are probably doomed to tolerate this chill limbo of insincere power-balladry, simulated europop and sexless pseudo-R&B until our brains freeze solid like the shiny Botox atrophy of Sharon Osbourne’s forehead.

We may as well stop worrying about the environment, because the corporate media is busy recycling old rubbish like some monstrous high-definition hippy, growing the auditory cabbage of tomorrow on the decomposing landfill of the twentieth century.  Whilst I’ll be spending another Christmas dreading every visit to an environment with speakers, Simon Cowell will be cackling merrily in his subterranean fuehrerbunker, frolicking amidst giant piles of phone-vote lucre like a smarmy, red-faced version of Scrooge McDuck.

Mariah Carey’s eponymous debut album was released in 1990. She co-wrote the tracks on the album and has continued to do so since. Mariah Carey reached number one on the Billboard 200 chart. Four number one singles were released from the album and Carey won two Grammys – Best New Artist and Best Female Vocal Pop Performance (for ‘Vision of Love.’)

The second album, Emotions was a tribute to Motown. Released in 1991, Emotions did not sell as well as her debut, nor did it fare as well with the music press. However, when the title track was released as a single,Mariah Carey became the only act in history to have their first five singles go to number one in the US.

Eager to quash rumours that her voice was heavily effected in the studio, Carey overcame the stage fright that prevented her from touring and featured on MTV Unplugged in 1992.

In 1993, her third album, Music Box was released and spawned her first UK number one single, a cover of Badfinger’s ‘Without You’. ‘Dreamlover’ and ”Hero’ were both US number ones.

The next year, Carey duetted with Luther Vandross on a cover of Lionel Richie and Diana Ross’ ‘Endless Love’. The track was a hit and Carey followed it up with a festive album, Merry Christmas. The original track, ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ was a huge worldwide hit (her first in Japan).The album became the most successful Christmas album of all time.

1995 saw the release of Mariah Carey’s fifth album, Daydream. ‘Fantasy’, the single featuring rapper Ol’ Dirty Bastard, debuted at number one and the album became her biggest selling release in the US, as well as gaining her six Grammy award nominations.

Butterfly was released in 1997 and although it was a success, failed to achieve the sales of her previous releases. In 1998, Mariah Carey recorded a duet with Whitney Houston. ‘When You Believe’ was recorded for the Prince of Egypt soundtrack and won an Academy Award.

Rainbow was Carey’s seventh album, released in 1999. ‘Heartbreaker’, featuring Jay-Z, was a number one single and made Carey the only artist to have had a number one in each year of the 1990s.

Leaving Columbia records at the turn of the century, Carey signed a contract with EMI. The deal was reported to be worth $80 million.

When Carey eventually released Glitter, (the semi-autobiographical film and accompanying soundtrack that she had been working on for some time), it was largely derided by the press and proved to be Mariah’s worst selling release.

Shortly after the release of Glitter, Columbia released a Greatest Hits album. However, this also failed to sell well. In 2002, Virgin bought out Carey’s contract for $28 million. With a new contract under her belt, Carey released Charmbracelet.The album preformed badly in the album charts and her vocal abilities were criticised in the media. In 2004, however, she was awarded the Chopard Diamond award for selling more than 100 million albums worldwide.

The Emancipation of Mimi was Carey’s 10th album, released in 2005. The album became the best-selling album of the year in the US. Two years later, she received a ‘recording star’ on the Hollywood Wall of Fame. She was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame the same year.

E=MC2, Carey’s 11th album, as released in 2008. The lead single, ‘Touch My Body’ became her 18th number one in the Billboard Hot 100, making her second only to The Beatles, who have had 21 number one singles. E=MC2 was her sixth number one album.

The queen of sugared pop offers much of the same.

We learn a lot from the mini Elle[i] magazine included with Mariah Carey’s new album. It’s packed full of insights on the pneumatic-breasted Grammy magnet. She wears pink velour tracksuits round the house and thigh-high Stella McCartneys on the town. Her Elizabeth Arden fragrance has top notes of dewy green apple. [i]Elf is one of her top five favourite films, and she never leaves the house without her personal copy of the Bible. She cherishes her fans. The album itself revelas she’s also got a penchant for exhuming the sickly-sweet memory of Minnie Riperton’s ‘Loving You’ and setting it to 17 different slow jamz drenched in studio gloss. All Mariah Carey’s albums

Mariah Carey is back! And so is the proverbial elephant that looms in the corners of our minds.

It goes without saying that the Emancipation of Mimi allowed Mariah to rise from the ashes, like the mythical phoenix. In fact, the album proved to be her “second coming” — a successful “comeback” that celebrated fifteen years of her long-standing career and garnered GRAMMY awards for Best Contemporary R&B Album, Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, and Best R&B Song. That being said, E=MC2 faced the inevitable task of trying to avoid the label of “Emancipation (Part Two)” or resembling one of its ill-fated predecessors: Charmbracelet, Glitter or Rainbow.

Luckily, E=MC2 is no Rainbow. And while most of the album’s songs glitter, they definitely are not all made of gold. By and large, E=MC2 more closely resembles Charmbracelet. And that, dear reader, is not a bad thing.

While Emancipation is the masterpiece etched into the public’s conscious, few remember Charmbracelet, Mariah’s post-breakdown release, which followed a tumultuous departure from Virgin Records and public move to Island Records. Going back to basics, Charmbracelet showcased the diva’s elegance and grace. Unfortunately, “Through the Rain” flopped at radio, and due to poor sales, few were able to hear the raw emotion of “Sunflowers for Alfred Roy,” a song spurned by the death of her father.

Although none of Charmbracelet’s singles managed to break into Billboard’s Hot 100, the album’s formula was replicated on the Emancipation of Mimi. And E=MC2 follows in its footsteps—featuring a host of urban radio mainstays like T-Pain (“Migrate”), Damian Marley (“Cruise Control”) and Young Jeezy (“Side Effects”). Jermaine Dupri has three unlisted guest spots as well, with ad-libs on “Love Story,” “Last Kiss” and “Thanx 4 Nothin’.”

While no established artist should ever stifle their creativity, Mariah’s genre-bending experimentations consistently prove that she is at her best when standing alone on a track. This diva needs no introduction, let alone a sideshow. Nevertheless, Mariah continues the sonic transition of her  Butterfly days, despite the fact that only three of her eighteen number-one hits have featured guest spots in their original form: “One Sweet Day” (featuring Boyz II Men), Heartbreaker (featuring Jay-Z) and “Thank God I Found You” (featuring Joe and 98 Degrees). For better or worse, her repertoire is largely composed of power ballads.

Unfortunately, the contemporary production on E=MC2 makes all of her ballads sound like pop confessionals of love. Even so, lovers of Emancipation will be attracted to “Last Kiss,” “For the Record,” and “I Stay in Love,” because they offer an air of familiarity. A casual listen of “Bye Bye,” for example, will evoke fond memories of “We Belong Together.” This time around, though, the focus is on the pain of a love that has been lost, instead of a search for an old love’s affection.

To be certain, E=MC2 will sell well and fly off the shelves. Unfortunately, the album, like its Einsteinian title, is too formulaic. But that’s ok. Science has always been based on observable phenomena. With “Touch My Body” becoming Mariah’s eighteenth number one single, we at least have proof that Mimi has not only been emancipated, but will also be around for many years to come.

Mariah Carey is all set to team up with Westlife to record a new, exclusive number.

Carey had last worker with Kian, Nicky, Mark and Shane in 2000 for Against All Odds, which had rocketed to the top of music charts.

“They”re very exciting artists and I love them,” the News of the World quoted her, as saying.

However, the 39-year-old songbird wants the record to be released only in the UK.

She said: “I want it to be the next single here and different to the rest of the world…I can”t wait to do it.”

Commenting about her ‘diva’ status Carey said: “This diva tag is never going to go away but it doesn”t bother me anymore.”

She added: “I didn”t ask for anything.”

Mariah Carey has planned a grand 10,000-pound champagne bash for this season’’s The X Factor winner.

“She’’s been really impressed by everyone on the show and thinks whoever wins deserves to feel like a superstar,” the Daily Star quoted an insider, as saying.

“Her favourite brand costs around 1,000-pound a bottle so not everyone can get their hands on it that easily!

“The X Factor champ will feel they”re on the A-list already.”

The 39-year-old crooner dished out a cool 50,000pounds on the Angel bubbly at a party for pals in London last week.

The champagne comes in hand-finished silver bottles and that makes up part of the price.

The source said: “She wants the winner to feel extra special and this champagne is certainly one way of making sure that comes true.”

So, Mariah shows up to a promotional event to promote her album in a Phantom decorated with decals of her album images. Of course, people start hating. When a “diva” promotes her album, she must be an egomaniac. Hmm…

Mariah Carey has planned a grand 10,000-pound champagne bash for this season’’s The X Factor winner.

“She’’s been really impressed by everyone on the show and thinks whoever wins deserves to feel like a superstar,” the Daily Star quoted an insider, as saying.

“Her favourite brand costs around 1,000-pound a bottle so not everyone can get their hands on it that easily!

“The X Factor champ will feel they”re on the A-list already.”

The 39-year-old crooner dished out a cool 50,000pounds on the Angel bubbly at a party for pals in London last week.

The champagne comes in hand-finished silver bottles and that makes up part of the price.

The source said: “She wants the winner to feel extra special and this champagne is certainly one way of making sure that comes true.”

Mariah Carey is all set to team up with Westlife to record a new, exclusive number.

Carey had last worker with Kian, Nicky, Mark and Shane in 2000 for Against All Odds, which had rocketed to the top of music charts.

“They”re very exciting artists and I love them,” the News of the World quoted her, as saying.

However, the 39-year-old songbird wants the record to be released only in the UK.

She said: “I want it to be the next single here and different to the rest of the world…I can”t wait to do it.”

Commenting about her ‘diva’ status Carey said: “This diva tag is never going to go away but it doesn”t bother me anymore.”

She added: “I didn”t ask for anything.”

OK I’m gone be honest, I use to burst out into laughter everytime I heard There’s Got to Be a Way and I never really fully listened to it, because I thought it was like the cheesiest song she’d ever made, I’m serious. This, when you sit down and actually listen to it and take in is a pretty damn good song that’s catchy to boot and makes you want to get up and jam just like those kids in the video. Its just this is a pretty rare track from Mariah, singing about poverty and racism and wordly issues, so its almost nostalgic and inspiring in a sense, especially since she gave a rather superb vocal performance and that hi-note was fantastic. The added choir was a nice touch as well.

The coupling track is There’s Got to Be a Way (7″ remix) and though that’s a pretty odd name for a remix, I don’t really see much of a difference, aside from the fact that the song seems to be a lot softer and Mariah’s whistle note is replaced with a hi-note, which sounds nice, but is not as effective. This was a pretty smooth remix though.

There’s Got to Be a Way

I did not use to like I Don’t Wanna Cry, in fact I use to really loathe this song because I thought it was so boring and dreary and it honestly just rubbed me the wrong way. I disliked it so much that I’d skip it everytime I’d listen through her 1’s album and rant about why she would put such a boring song on an album with such classics. I really had a vendetta against this track. Now though its not really that bad and is a pretty emotional and passionate song from her, I also love how she crys during the video, really bringing the message home. This is one of my least favorite Mariah tracks and I hardly ever listen to it, but its not a bad listen, I really love the chorus.

The b-side is You Need Me for some reason and my feelings for it hasn’t changed. I also wonder why this is the b-side, when its a b-side on one of the many versions of Love Takes Time.

I Don’t Wanna Cry

Yeah, Someday is a personal favorite song of mine and I can remember those days of me having it on full blast in my diningroom while I washed dishes in the kitchen. Good times. I never get tired of listening to this, no matter how many times I listen to it, it just always sounds so wonderful to my ears, because everything Mariah is singing is just right on point. Its very empowering and is a welcome relief from the past two dreary a-sides. Its like Mariah’s saying she’s not going to be angst-ridden anymore, because its his lose not hers and he’s going to miss her. I also love the keeping score part of the song. Mariah is really into this and that’s part of the reason why this is such an enjoyable song, because she’s feeling herself and its wonderful. That whistle note at the end was in the beggining the main reason why I always put this track on, just wow.

The b-side Alone in Love was pretty all right, I mean just like the previous b-sides it doesn’t stand out as much as the a-sides, but it does manage to leave an impression even if it does fall into the bitter love category. The arrangement is pretty dark and heavy and makes me think of songs like Rock  Me Tonight, which is that song by Freddie Jackson I kept thinking about while listening to this. Mariah gives a good and emotional vocal performance. I can see this growing on me at some point.

Someday (pianoapercapella) is a pretty nice version of the song. Mariah is devoid of the heavy instrumentation of the original and is instead lead by the piano, but her strong vocals manage to make this song stand out and I normally don’t really like acapella’s. There was a point towards the end where the songs stops and Mariah sort of fades in and out, that was pretty nice. The whistle note was more pronounced since it didn’t play as the track was going out and you actually get to hear how great it really sounds.

There are a lot of remixes of this song, and honestly they’re all quite confusing, but I wanted to give Someday (12″ house) a listen and I’m kind a not glad that I did, because its so long-winded. The instruments are really pushed out into the front and Mariah’s strong vocal performance sounds muffled or something, because it just wasn’t as prominent as it was during the original. They keep the high note and just like in the acappella its given the oppurtunity to shine. This is long and I got pretty tired of it after a while.

Someday

I love Love Takes Time so much, I really do. When I first heard it I listened to it non-stop and it just… I love this track. The arrangement is so moody an somber and really reflects the black and white video. It makes you feel heavy and sad. Mariah’s vocal performance was incredible, because you can just feel everything she is saying and it thrums through your entire being, because its just so true. You have to be cautious when it comes to something as heavy as love, because its delicate and fleeting and I just love when she sings, i don’t want to be there alone, the notes and how she takes the song out is just beautiful. This is one of my favorites without a doubt.

I’m not sure why, but on the original release of this she has Sent from Up Above as a b-side, which is odd because its the b-side off Vision of Love. Its not even a remix, what was the point?

Vanishing is all right, but it reminds me a bit of Sent from Up Above, except unlike that track there’s never a point where it gets interesting, its just a pretty dull song. I did like Mariah’s vocal peformance and how she gave this track a pretty soulful edge, but its just boring, despite the lyrics being pretty nice.

The last track on the single is off her UK Maxi single and its called You Need Me and its pretty weird and reminds me of a more underwhelming version of her Someday song. It has stilted pacing that is quite edgy, but also frustrating at the same time, because it almost makes it seem like the track is stuttering. Mariah got really into this, almost to the point that I wanted to laugh, because it was overkill. There’s a whistle note towards the end that was pretty sweet, but like Vanishing this is a pretty boring tune.

Love Takes Time

Mariah’s first single is the smash hit Vision of Love a track by her in which I have always loved, despite not being one of her tracks that I keep on constant replay. The main reason why I like Mariah and next to Whitney she’s my favorite female singer like ever and the one I listen to more than any other is because her music speaks to me like nothing else. I mean its like who can’t relate to a song like this? Its so spot on, because love isn’t always honky dory, sometimes it isn’t even love, its like a taste, something that wasn’t real and that what’s she’s singing about. I love the passionate way in which Mariah is crooning, how her voice overlaps, lower register and higher register, how spot on that whistle note was, and how she took the song out on that note, which is my favorite part. I really wish Mariah would go back to tracks like this, because they’re the love, seriously.

Sent from Up Above isn’t the original b-side to this single, but its the b-side to a U.K. Maxi single, which is just kind of weird. I don’t know about this track, its all right, but I don’t think I’ll be listening to it again. It has an rnb and Gospel vibe which makes the song stand out and gives it a bit of depth. I thought Mariah’s vocal performance was good, but I didn’t really care for it or the back-up singers, until of course Mariah got into it and started to sing in a deep and powerful register, holding a lot of notes and forcing me to pay attention.  This isn’t a bad song, not really.

This last one here was the original b-side and it also included on the U.K. Maxi single, its a mix of three tracks off her first album: Prisoner/All in Your Mind/Someday and all three of them are pretty sweet tracks in there own respective ways. I liked Prisoner immediately if only because Mariah gave a pretty stand-out performance and sounded quite passionate. All in Your Mind  took a minute to grow on me and then Mariah made it interesting and those whistles notes… too much, loved it. Someday is one of my absolute favorites, but I didn’t too much like it here, it was fine though.

Vision of Love

*I’ll be reviewing Mariah’s entire disco as I wait for my artists to release new music, so don’t be surprised to see her singles and albums popping up frequently. I’ll also be introducing a few new artists, anyone who catches my attention. Mariah will be the ONLY American artist featured on my blog. <3