Mariah Carey’s Next Album Won’t Be Out Until 2013

Mariah Carey is planning to drop her new album one sweet day — next year.

Billboard posted a story detailing the marketing plan of Mimi’s camp releasing three different versions of her lead single “Triumphant” (the original urban recording with Rick Ross and Meek Mill; the dancey “Vintage Throwback Remix”; and a ravey “Pulse Club Mix”), and threw in the glossed-over tidbit that the LP is “tentatively due in March 2013.”

That’s eight months from now! Mimi has been hyping up her new album since 2011, and just dropped the lead single. Why test our patience with another eight months to go before the album drops? (Our hypothesis: wait until American Idol‘s live shows so Carey can perform on the program. Either that, or the songs aren’t flowing out as effortlessly as one would hope.)

Randy Jackson, Mariah’s manager (and soon-to-be co-worker on American Idol), spoke about why the singer is releasing different versions of “Triumphant” that appeal to different sections of her fan base.

“The vintage throwback mix will remind fans of remixes she did years ago, and she’s had a lot of Billboard No. 1 dance hits as well,” Jackson says. “She went in and re-sang the vocals, knowing that the two verses on this first version of this single with Meek and Ross were going to be hip-hop verses where people were rapping. We wanted to have something for all of her fans.”

Responding to fans’ complaints that Mill and Ross overshadow Carey on the rap-heavy version of “Triumphant”, Jackson explains, “Most people probably don’t understand this, but you always play to what’s best for the song. You don’t go in and say, ‘Wait a minute. I know they’re rapping on these verses, but I need to be singing on these verses. Me, me, me.’ It just turns out that way.”

Um, of course we expect Mariah Carey to be going “me, me, me”. She’s Mariah Carey. Being a diva is what she does. Why shouldn’t it be her, her, her on her own song?

Jackson also reveals that the “difficult time” Carey was going through that inspired her to write “Triumphant” was her dealing with husband Nick Cannon‘s kidney failure, and supporting him throughout his recovery. Aww. Cannon will also direct the video, which should premiere in the next few weeks. Which is still an eternity before the album is set to be released.