Mariah Carey

Return of the Voice, 2004–present

Carey spent the majority of 2004 making her fourteenth album, The Emancipation of Mimi. In the winter of 2004, she was featured on Jadakiss's single "U Make Me Wanna", which peaked within the Top 10 on Billboard's R&B/Hip-Hop Singles chart. On New Year's Eve 2005, Carey premiered "It's Like That", a song produced by Jermaine Dupri, at the grand opening of the Pure Club in Las Vegas. It received a positive response, and within weeks it had entered the Top 20 of the Hot 100. Billboard wrote, "After years of underwhelming singles, Mariah Carey finally returns with a hot track..." and put it on their list of the week's essentials.

Related Topics:
2004 - The Emancipation of Mimi - Jadakiss - U Make Me Wanna - 2005 - It's Like That - Pure Club - Las Vegas - Billboard

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As of April 2005, Carey had earned an estimated fortune of more than $350 million from her record sales, world tours, and recording advances.

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The Emancipation of Mimi was released in April 2005, and was heralded as "The Return of the Voice", though Carey maintained that "The voice has been here all along. Even if you listen to the oh-so-dissed Glitter, there is a song called "Lead The Way" which is one of my best vocal performances ever." http://launch.yahoo.com/read/news/18015591 The story of self-discovery and remaking one's image, the album received generally positive reviews; Todd Burns called Mimi "easily the strongest album that she?s made in this millennium" http://www.stylusmagazine.com/review.php?ID=2923, and Caroline Sullivan said the album contained "the first Mariah Carey tunes in years I wouldn't have to be paid to listen to again" http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/reviews/story/0,11712,1449385,00.html. It debuted at number one in the U.S. with the highest first week tally of Carey's career, and remained in the top five of the Billboard 200 album chart for twenty one weeks. Following strong radio airplay, singles "We Belong Together" (Carey's first number one single on the Hot 100 in five years) and "Shake It Off" proved to be successes on the charts: the former spent fourteen weeks at number one, while the latter reached number two http://www.mariahdaily.com/newsdesk.shtml. "We Belong Together" was named the "song of the summer" by Kelefa Sanneh of The New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/04/arts/music/04note.html, and reached number-one in Australia and Canada and number-two in the UK, making it a major international hit. It was also named the World's most-played single of the year by the World Music Awards.

Related Topics:
We Belong Together - Shake It Off - The New York Times - World Music Awards

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Following performances at Live 8 and the July 4 Macy's Fireworks Spectacular, new controversy arose as Carey's former mentor and best friend (and the person who helped her get a record deal), Brenda K. Starr, publicly called out Carey on both the Wendy Williams radio show and the "Page Six" section of the New York Post for abusing their friendship; Starr said that Carey only calls her when she needs her for publicity reasons, and that Carey does not treat her with respect. Carey's manager, Benny Medina, countered: "Over the years, Mariah has generously provided thousands in loans, never seeking repayment, to Brenda and her family, as well as a variety of gifts to both her and her children. No request from Brenda has ever been denied by Mariah." http://www.themariahnetwork.com/news/archives/2005_07.html#000924

Related Topics:
Live 8 - July 4 - Macy's - Wendy Williams - New York Post - Benny Medina

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Since 2004, reports suggested Carey had been dating a 29-year old member of her management team and co-executive producer of The Emancipation Of Mimi, Mark Sudack, since 2003. In the March 2005 issue of Blender Magazine, she was quoted saying: "Oh honestly! At this stage in my life, I'm not getting tied down in any relationship." During the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards, Carey was romantically linked to Eddie Murphy, but she stated they were "just friends". On her love life, Carey later stated, "I won't say if I do or don't have a boyfriend. That's my new stance." http://www.mariahdaily.com/newsdesk.shtml

Related Topics:
Mark Sudack - Blender Magazine - 2005 MTV Video Music Awards - Eddie Murphy

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