On the couch with Mariah Carey

Our “first time” happened in bed. I mean, my first interview with Mariah Carey, nicknamed Mimi, way back in 1999 when she was in Hong Kong to promote her album, Rainbow. Mariah was tired after several rounds of interviews with more than two dozen journalists from around Asia and, toward early evening, she requested that we do the interview in her hotel room, with us six journalists seated around her bed where Mariah reclined like a modern-day Cleopatra.

Two weeks ago, we did it again. I mean, have another interview, this time with Mariah reclining on a couch, as friendly and as down-to-earth and as accommodating as ever, even violating a “no-photographs” rule and agreeing to pose for picture with me after I gave her a copy of my first Conversation titled In bed with Mariah Carey. It happened at a suite of The Peninsula in Tokyo where Mariah was promoting her new album, E=MC2.

Her face spelled H-A-P-P-I-N-E-S-S. Very obviously, she has made it “through the rain,” to quote the now-classic song titled Make It Through the Rain which she recorded during a slump in her life and career a few years ago. A song that has become a favorite piece among aspirants in singing contests.

But, of course, the fact that she’s on honeymoon mode explained the glow around Mariah. Last April 30, she surprised the world by getting married to singer-actor Nick Cannon at a sunset ceremony near the ocean in the Bahamas where Mariah owns an estate. They reportedly met in 2005 but started dating only last March.

The proposal was straight out of a romantic movie.

Here’s how People magazine described it:

On April 25, Cannon took Carey to the roof of her New York City apartment to see the Empire State Building, lit pink and lavender to honor her album E=MC2. As he often did, he gave her a Ring Pop candy shaped like a big jewel. But inside the wrapper was a 17-carat pink-diamond ring created by Jacob & Co.’s Jacob Arabo. Her reaction? “He has ribbons around it, so I said, ‘I think mine’s broken’,” says Mariah. When he dropped to one knee, “she ran away and got all shy,” he says. Finally, she said yes — twice. Cannon, who filmed it all, proposed again to get a perfect take, this time on a helicopter. “That,” says Carey, “was beautiful.”

Congratulations, Mariah! E=MC2 turned gold upon its release in the Philippines. (The album/CD is released in the Philippines by MCA Music Inc.)

“Oh, thank you!”

You were in the Philippines a few years ago. How did you find it?

“Oh, I had an amazing time in the Philippines and I’d love to go back. The crowd at the concert was fun; it was a really, really festive crowd. After the show, I had a chance to go to the beach and that was really beautiful; one of the most beautiful beaches that I’ve seen in my whole life...and I’ve been to several of them. I want to thank my fans in the Philippines for their love and support. Please extend my love to all my fans in the Philippines.”

Why did you call it E=MC2?

“Well, there’s a lot of reasons but, you know, it’s just fun and having a good time, and ‘MC’ is my nickname...and, you know, there’s a lot of different reasons. I like people to interpret it in their own way.”

How did the album come to be?

“Well, it’s just some sort of a combination of different moments, really. It begins with a song called Migrate which has a ‘dark’ kind of a feel; I just love its beat. Everything happens for a reason and E=MC2 is really one album that represents my life right now. It’s some kind of a soundtrack of my life.”

Of course, “E” in the album’s title stands for Emancipation (which happens to be in the title of your immediate past album, also a hit), doesn’t it?

“Well, I say that sometimes when, you know...As I’ve said, other people have a different interpretation of the word ‘E.’ But really, I think it is sort of like a dose of who I am. You know what I mean — as a person and as an artist. And so, that’s what it is. It’s kind of like about me.”

“Emancipated” from what?

“Well, from a lot of things. I mean, I think that as we grow old and we learn more about ourselves, we become a little bit more free. It’s difficult to be free if you don’t really know where you come from, or if you are not in touch with your feelings. It has taken me a long time to get to that place because, uh, you know, I have gone through rough roads along the way. They’ve been amazing times, though. Freedom and emancipation and all those good things are really important to me.”

You are such a beautiful survivor.

“Oh, thank you!”

To everybody, most especially your fans, you will forever be the diva.

“Oh, I’m very grateful for that. I believe that I owe it to the fact that I’m a person who has a lot of spirituality. I believe in God very strongly but I’m not necessarily a religious person. I have devoted and dedicated fans; I really care about them. Some people that I’ve met, you know, they see their fans and say, ‘Oh, ‘em people are crazy!’ Some people have told me that.”

So you are in touch with your fans.

“Oh yes, I am. When I do a concert, I go down the stage even if my partner would tell me, ‘MC, don’t go down there!’ Look, I like being part of the crowd, I like the feeling. It’s something different. I know others seldom do that, but I do. I love it when my fans show me clippings of articles about me or books and magazines about me. Getting personal with them is a wonderful experience.”

You have gone through so many things. How did you do it? Where do you draw your strength from?

“I definitely draw my strength from my personal relationship with God. I’ve been able to pray my way through tough times and things like that. You know, I think that’s important for people to know that everything is possible. You know, no matter what kind of mess you are going through, there’s always something bright around the corner. There’s always something beautiful.”

What inspires you to write songs? Do you write better when you are happy or when you are sad?

“You know, I’ve written some songs when I was really, really sad; and then again, I’ve written successful songs when I was really, really happy. Some songs I wrote while I was going through difficult times. I wrote some songs that discuss issues that were difficult but that turned out to be something that healed me.”

So, music can be a form of therapy as it is with many artists.

“Yes, it can be. I do think that music is very therapeutic not just for me, you know, but also for people who listen to it. A song can put lonely people in a good mood, you know.”

Would you say that you are happy now more than ever?

Yes, I can say that. This is a very happy time for me. Nothing is ever perfect...there’s always something that you have to deal with. You know, things about you that people don’t necessarily understand, like artists like me are doing what they do for a living. It’s not as if every day is a holiday. I love music and being creative.”

You look as smashing as ever. As I’ve said, you are such a beautiful survivor. How do you keep in shape?

“It’s just diet and exercise. Boring!”

As an equation for surviving, what’s the magic “formula” behind E=MC2?

“Well, to me it’s all about never losing faith in yourself...always believing in yourself. People ask me all the time, ‘Oh, how could you go on? People were writing you off and treating you like...’ whatever it is...’You would never gonna succeed again!’ You know what, people looked at me like that before I became famous. So I can’t even entertain what other people think. It’s about me continuing to make music or whatever the project is. You know, people told me that I could never act again and I was fortunate to make two films which are coming out this year. It’s all about faith, about God and never ever giving up.”

Obviously, stardom hasn’t changed the basic goodness in you.

“I still look at myself as the same girl as I was before I joined showbiz. I still remember being a little kid. I often tell myself, ‘Don’t ever forget what it feels like to be a kid.’ You see, adults misunderstand kids so much that they forget what it is like to be a kid. I still remember when I was struggling and I had only one pair of shoes. The friend I had at that time is the same friend I have today. She and I would sleep together on a mattress on the floor of our Manhattan pad. She used to help me get waitressing jobs. But I was so bad...I was 17 and I was too young to be serving food. I also got fired because I was listening to my Walkman all the time, to my demo tapes. I was a complete mess in that regard.”

How was your childhood like?

“I grew up in New York...without my mother. She was a former opera singer with the New York Opera and a vocal coach. She was the dominant force in my life because I didn’t have my father (an African-Venezuelan; her mom, Irish) around. I saw my father every now and then but it was my mother who raised me. She allowed me to develop my personality from a very young age. She introduced me to all those artistic people. She was a strong-willed woman; she married my father against wishes of her family. That was in the ’60s when marrying a black man was a no-no. She eventually separated from my father and married a white man.”

What about your school life?

“I had fun in school but I also had this feeling that I was different, that I was a mixed-race kid. I was insecure about my looks. It took me a while to get over this feeling. There’s a line from one of my songs that says, ‘I’ve learned there’s an inner peace I own, something of my soul that they cannot possess. I won’t be afraid of darkness because there’s a light in me that will shine brightly...’  and another line from another song, ‘They can try but they can’t take that away from me.’ Meaning, no matter what anybody says, if you have that power within yourself you get through it. And that’s what got me through everything in life because I had a kind of screwed-up childhood.”

During our first interview almost a decade ago, I asked you to describe yourself in three words...

“...what did I say?”

You said you were “workaholic, insecure and optimistic.”

“Oh, did I say that?” (Laughs).

(Note: For more on Mariah Carey, watch The Ricky Lo Exclusives on Tuesday, June 17, 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. on Q-11, together with fellow foreign artists Air Supply and The Osmonds.)

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