We have the following equation: on one side, there's Mariah Carey, a multi-platinum singer, a diva with a voice that has enchanted us from back when high-wasted jeans were still in fashion, an artist in the true sense of the word. Sure, she too has had her ups and downs, the most sad down being when her record sales started to linger and then drop quickly, a period that started approximately when she released her critically-panned movie 'Glitter'.

Exhaustion and continuous mockery drew Mariah into hiding and isolation. She sought treatment for depression and anxiety attacks, laid low for a while and then made what has got to be the most impressive comeback in the history not only of music, but of entertainment as a whole. That was back in 2005, when Mariah released the universally acclaimed and chart-breaking 'The Emancipation of Mimi'.

On the other hand, we have Janet Jackson, a fiery performer who is credited by most as being one of the founders of pop music as we know it today. With energetic moves and breathtaking beats, a whispery voice and countless smashing hits under her belt, Janet is definitely a one-of-a-kind performer. She, too, has seen lots of ups and downs: and most critics also include in the latter category her 2004 and 2006 albums. '20 Y.O.', Janet's last album to date, had all the necessary ingredients and yet, inexplicably, it failed to impress both the critics and her loyal fanbase.

What these two singers have in common is producer Jermaine Dupri, the man who was not only behind 'The Emancipation of Mimi' but also behind '20 Y.O'. He also happens to be Janet's long time beau, but that's not going to influence his future career choices, he says, especially not after he became more cautious - he learned from his mistakes when he took the fall for Janet's disappointing album, by leaving Virgin Records, where he was top executive.

Jermaine believes he has found the perfect way to bring both divas back into the spotlight and the idea is as unoriginal as it is likely to succeed - pitting Janet and Mariah against each other... in terms of albums, of course. Says the producer: 'I'm going to do Mariah, and we're going to make it seem like we're in competition to see who's going to have the biggest album of the year.' Sure, he's not going to work against his girlfriend since, here too, he has learned a valuable lesson from the past, namely, not to produce any more Janet albums. Instead, he leaves all the work in the hands of LA Reid.

Hopefully, all this competition will turn out to be a good thing. On one hand, Mariah still kept in the spotlight with numerous concerts and gigs, while Janet stopped touring altogether (she was supposed to go on tour to promote the album '20 Y.O', but canceled all plans when the album was nearly shelved because of the poor sales). In the end, it doesn't even matter who wins because we, as fans/consumers, only stand to gain from a good old fashioned race to the top! Both albums have been scheduled for a tentative release later this year.