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About THE TRUTH from USA: I pride myself on being a critical thinker who values truth and justice above all else.

Migrate (45,493) by THE TRUTH from USA I just reread your post and realized that we might actually know each other. Very funny really. Yes, control issues have resulted in chronic disappointments for MCs fans. I agree that she should have stayed with Handprint. (Tuesday 22 July 2014; 12:18)

Migrate (45,491) by THE TRUTH from USA Truth be told, without Tommy she never would have had the massive support from Sony or any other major. Although WB was courting her simultaneously it was not at that level, Tommy championed her obsessively almost to the point of losing his job. Record companies were not investing in artist development on that level back then. She was a remarkable emerging talent back then but labels were very conservative and radio had to be aggressively primed for her. Yes Benny was a powerhouse, as was Sandy Galen but none of these super managers lasted for very long and with good reason. You have to be manageable or a have a genius marketing mind like Madonna. Mariah doesn't want leaders around her, she wants sycophants, hence; JD, and Nick. Not to be rude but if Butterfly drinks are an indication of what's in store, I'd say sending flowers or balloons to Benny Medina might be a great move on her part. (Tuesday 22 July 2014; 9:46)

Ageism particularly Edward (45,478) by THE TRUTH from USA Hi Edward, your observations about Madonna's album packaging, promotion, and success of her tours speaks to her success at recognizing and often leading trends. This has always been her genius. She manages to stay relevant at her advanced age. Madonna historically had brilliant mentors like Jellybean, Freddy Demann, Seymour Stein, etc. Her marketing strategies have always been inspired. Never much of a singer but always genius. Anyone calling Madonna "an exception" I'd ask, "Mariah isn't one?" I do think it's unfortunate to hear people mentioning Mariah, Cher, JLo, and Madonna etc in the same breath when we're talking about singing and songwriting, even post 2001 she's in a stratosphere all her own. Also, please everybody stop blaming JD for her failure, he's a junk manager but she hired him. As far as her marketing to a youth market, she should have just stayed true to the fans who made her a star rather than chasing the kids. Say and believe whatever you like about Tommy Mottola but he was a brilliant mentor and you can actually track her downward trajectory to their break up. Just because you divorce someone doesn't mean you need to now drive 180 mph in the opposite direction just to show you can. (Monday 21 July 2014; 22:18)

Over 40 taboo for women at radio? (45,467) by THE TRUTH from USA Hey John. Have we all forgotten that in 2012, Madonna at age 53 released MDNA which debuted at #1 on Billboard. "Give me your Lovin" off the aforementioned album garnered her 38th top ten single (at radio) and the associated tour was the largest grossing tour of the year, and the 10th highest grossing tour of all time. Let's stop making excuses for post 2001, celebrate her prior accomplishments which are legendary and unprecedented in scope, and accept that without a strong mentor and the humility to follow that mentor's direction there is not likely to be a bright future for MC at radio. (Monday 21 July 2014; 16:22)

PJW and Nicky (45,246) by THE TRUTH from USA The "damage control" was simply changing the internal company narrative. You really should read more carefully before responding and obviously you would realize that perhaps someone who had an intimate relationship with Sony at that time is commenting. In any case, best of luck with all of that. This forum has too much emotional chatter for me. (Sunday 6 July 2014; 19:58)

Shelly / Nicki / heritage (45,239) by THE TRUTH from USA Mariah passed for whiteun till she got her deal at Sony. When her heritage was discovered by Sony, there was a mad scramble to come up with a solution and that was the whole Black/Irish/Latino story and "Hey, we can work the Latin market too." Initially everyone at Sony was talking about the white girl who sang like Whitney but then when the truth was disclosed, Sony had to change the internal corporate narrative as well. You guys are all making a big deal out of it, I was pretty much casually mentioning something I came across online which I discovered. No biggie really. Let's all just hope she can pull a rabbit out of a hat with her next single/video/tour/sugar drink and yes of course, we're all sending a prayer out to her father. (Saturday 5 July 2014; 21:30)

Nicki (45,225) by THE TRUTH from USA Relax and take a breath Nicki. Nobody was, "judging a child", but let's be honest with ourselves, she has been anything but candid about her, "difficulties growing up as a biracial child". I think most people of color would not call, "passing" a "difficulty". Acknowledging your heritage once the record company discovers it and has to do damage control is something else. (Saturday 5 July 2014; 13:30)

Anniversary of Alfred Roy Carey's death (45,220) by THE TRUTH from USA I found this online, first admission I've seen where she admits lying about her heritage. I couldn't find one picture of them together. "Mariah's relationship with her father was much more distant. First of all, he wanted to give her a very strict upbringing that didn't suit her mischievous character. Also, her parents divorced when she was only 3. For example, when Mariah hummed at the dinner table, her father would immediately tell her to keep quiet. Mariah would directly get up from the table and continue singing. Of course, it'd make her father angry. After the divorce, Alfred and Alison moved to Washington D.C. In the beginning, Mariah used to visit him quite often. Nevertheless, she recalls with embarrassment that she used to hide so that the other kids wouldn't see her with a black man. Mariah would tell them that her dark complexion was due to her Italian origins. Progressively, those visits became less frequent. Not that long ago, her father wasn't even aware of her success. He believed that she had only released one album thus far. For a laugh, Mariah and her mom would call it 'the album'. On July 4th 2002, Alfred Roy Carey lost his battle to cancer." (Saturday 5 July 2014; 0:13)

Jaker20 (45,115) by THE TRUTH from USA I can't be sure but maybe that reference had to do with MCs sister Alison (ex crack addict) having two of her kids (Michael and Shawn) raised by her Mother Patricia. And yeah, that whole post WAS a little over the top... personal issues maybe? (Thursday 26 June 2014; 11:24)

Yuan response (45,073) by THE TRUTH from USA Hi Yuan, Dubai is awesome. Here's the thing, Beyonce when she left her "father's management" was no where near a the level Mariah had achieved in her career or had she achieved the milestones successes in terms of sales or charted hits. When you speak of that level of superstardom you're talking Michael Jackson, Mariah, U2, Rolling Stones, artists that have 20 plus year track records of writing and performing their own material with billions of dollars worth of revenue being generated. Beyonce is and always will be a construct, an assembly line, prefabricated product of the music industry machine. As far as Mottola, we pretty much agree it seems, my only point was that he was chasing Mariah from the day they met and he didn't wait to be "legally separated from his wife" to begin his courtship. (Tuesday 24 June 2014; 1:33)

Two reality checks (45,048) by THE TRUTH from USA 1. Tommy Mottola began courting Mariah immediately after meeting her, sending massive bouquets of roses etc, he was not separated from his wife at that time. 2. Anyone who believes that Mariah does not have 100 percent control over her album and single art is completely living in fantasyland. Superstar artists always have complete control over album and single art, something can be vetoed by the label in theory, but it almost never happens. As self conscious as she is, does anyone believe this fiction about her not choosing that single art? Let's wake up and smell the coffee. On the bright side, if she is responding to fans indignation about the airbrushing that is meaningful and perhaps a hopeful sign that she will try reconnecting with her fan base. (Monday 23 June 2014; 11:10)

Carly (44,658) by THE TRUTH from USA Carly, that's sweet that you want to believe she is deliberately trashing her career and brand so that she can relaunch her career from scratch without the interference or oversight of record company moguls but let's be serious, nobody in their right mind deliberately ruins their brand so they can start over. You build your brand so that you can exploit it, marketing 101 and everybody knows it. Let's enjoy the music we have from her and be honest with ourselves; recognize that something has been terribly wrong since 2001 and it continues to get worse. (Wednesday 11 June 2014; 19:59)

Jermaine Dupri (44,650) by THE TRUTH from USA Most everything that bares saying at this time has been said except of course where it regards JD. How incredibly embarrassing that this egomaniac would write that letter on twitter or wherever he posted it. What is he, a twelve year old? Bad enough that he has ridden the "Mariah Train" to the bank and produced a giant flop for her but to then go and have a tantrum online is just incredible. After having Super Managers the likes of Sandy Galen, Benny Medina, Irving Azoff, and yes... Tommy Mottola, hiring JD is well, what can I say other than, crazy. (Wednesday 11 June 2014; 15:46)

Lip synch (43,699) by THE TRUTH from USA Strange that she didn't even make an effort to make the lip synch look less contrived. Was pretty much a giant cluster %$&k on stage too. (Friday 16 May 2014; 17:58)

Respecting your fan base (43,436) by THE TRUTH from USA I don't know how many of you, many of whom have been around since VOL are a little put off by the whole aging in reverse thing. The latest album cover and magazine pics look nothing like the (2014 version of the) 45 year old superstar we have all come to know and love. Does anyone else find this refusal to live in reality a bit difficult to take? Wouldn't we appreciate more authenticity after all the support and loyalty we've shown through the years? I think most of us fell in love, not the image and would love to hear more and see less. (Saturday 10 May 2014; 20:27)

Re. market (43,400) by THE TRUTH from USA Daryll, you said it perfectly. Common sense marketing, look at who actually listens to and buys your music and target them. You also have to grow up with your fanbase, not abandon them in an attempt to chase and secure a youth market that could care less about the hits you had twenty years ago. Yes she could absolutely own the AC market for half the money she and her team spend chasing nonsense like the Rick Ross Record. (Friday 9 May 2014; 18:39)

Letterman (43,358) by THE TRUTH from USA Nina, it is ridiculous to say that MC can't sing live anymore. She has sung live brilliantly recently ie right after the Jimmy Kimmel Show. She has a medical condition that causes her to be inconsistent in all areas of her life. Haven't you noticed her fidgeting and sometimes erratic rambling? This is not new and while splashing does exacerbate it, drinking is not the cause. She is being ridden to the bank by a cabal of folks who are taking advantage of the ever worsening condition she's been in since 2001. Mariah's accomplishments are legendary and her fans should really stop waiting to celebrate over her rotting corpse. Her release comes out soon, and it'll be great or it won't, will be a success or not and it's as simple as that. She's still one of the best things to ever happen to pop music, period. (Thursday 8 May 2014; 18:31)

Preorder (43,228) by THE TRUTH from USA Paul, the pre-order mechanism makes controlling chart position (for a digital album) easy for the promotion team. It's easy to watch and ensure a number 1 digital debut. The music biz has been run like this since the beginning, there are always tools to game the system. It's not necessarily good or bad, it's just a reality. (Friday 2 May 2014; 19:36)

Mariah's managers (42,276) by THE TRUTH from USA These are the managers I know she had, but I can't think if I missed anyone. Help please? Jermaine Dupri Red Light Entertainment Sandy Galen Benny Medina Chris Lighty Randy Jackson/Irving Azoff Randy Hoffman (Mottola's guy) Louise Mcnally ("when she was self managed under Monarch") (Friday 21 March 2014; 21:15)

Environmental activism (41,128) by THE TRUTH from USA I agree, Mariah is the greatest pop vocalist of our time, but she never supported Cry Die. Skull is the bomb. That was a good record, great message and Mix Master Mike from The Beastie Boys scratched on it, Paul Pesco who played guitar on Mariah Carey's Emotions and Music Box played on it too. Environmental activism? She's a great singer but she shouldn't front. (Tuesday 11 February 2014; 19:51)