Mariah Carey: The Spin Cycle Begins

noah | August 17, 2009 11:00 am
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So, Mariah Carey’s been getting
bad press about her forthcoming, and already twice-delayed, Memoirs Of An Imperfect Angel, and it’s starting to overshadow the record just a wee bit. How best to rescue the buzz from eating itself? Well, apparently Mariah’s people have decided to enlist factually challenged gossip Roger Friedman, who’s never afraid to cover his sleeves with PR-company-donated hearts, to help kickstart the latest phase of the Mimi spin cycle into action. Did you know that, contrary to every piece of press that accompanied its release, “Obsessed” is not the first single from Memoirs, and never was intended to be? I guess both those iterations of its Brett Ratner-directed video were just a really expensive vanity project!

Mariah Carey—despite idiotic postings elsewhere—is gearing up for her big new CD release. Mariah feels so strongly about “Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel” that she’s even re-hired the PR powerhouse that made her second-stage career such a success. She’s back with Cindi Berger of PMK HBH. It was Berger who made her “Emancipation of Mimi” the biggest hit of Mariah’s career. Smart move..

Of course, no Friedman item is complete without at least one error of fact, and this one has a quite interesting twist: According to an old item by Friedman himself, Carey fired Berger in May 2004—a little less than a year before Emancipation‘s April 2005 release date. (Never mind that the biggest hit of Mimi’s career was probably Daydream or Fantasy, both of which were released in the last decade.) Berger, for her part, is already in full-on spin mode, telling People that all the appearances Carey has canceled over the last few weeks, including her spot on Today, are going to happen eventually. Friedman also wants people to know that Mimi is ready to Get Serious for the Real First Single:

The first single from Mariah’s CD will not be “Obsessed”—that was just a summer trifle, and it was a lot of fun. The real first official single is said to be a powerhouse ballad along the lines of “Vision of Love.”

“Just a summer trifle”? Someone had better tell whoever’s running her Web site to adjust that copy, then. Rumors about the second-but-really-first single from Memoirs point to a trip down the “desperation cover” road, with word on the street suggesting that it’s going to be a take on Foreigner’s “I Want To Know What Love Is.” Odds on her changing at least one of the “you”s in the song to “Nick”? Mariah Revs Up New CD, Returns To Powerhouse PR [Showbiz 411] Why Is Mariah Carey Canceling Events? [People]

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