14 DAY TRIAL // Mariah Carey has been postponing her 14th studio album for some time now, but that’s not say she’s given up hope of ever releasing it. The only thing she’s given up on is the traditional strategy employed for the release of an album, so she’s planning on going about it Beyonce-style.
In December last year, when the world expected it the least, Beyonce dropped her fifth album in full on iTunes. She called it a visual experience because, along with the tracks, fans also got official videos for most of the songs and short films that explained the message behind them and the journey the star had taken when she recorded them.
To make matters even more interesting, “Beyonce” had not even been announced. Not even Beyonce’s backup dancers knew that the project they were working on was an actual studio album. The release was an instant hit, mostly because it overturned the traditional strategy employed in the industry in such situations.
Such strategy implies a very long and expensive promo campaign, coupled with frequent releases of singles and music videos. Mariah Carey has had several new singles out already but, with the exception of “Beautiful,” they didn’t quite make a dent in the charts.
So Mariah is rethinking her approach and she’s going to drop her upcoming, fourteenth album as a whole, she tells Billboard in a new interview. The full piece isn’t out yet, but the preview online edition promises a lot of goodies for Mariah’s loyal Lambs (the fans, that is).
For instance, she says that the tracklisting, artwork, and actual tracks will all be released at once digitally, about one week ahead of the physical release. However, the diva wants to be the one who announces the album title because, she explains, it is inspired by a “personal possession of mine that's part of an entity that I've had almost all my life.”
“You would think I would be all about the singles-driven situation, and I am in a way, but with this particular album I want my fans to hear it as a body of work. This is my life since we last left off. Just picture a dot dot dot, and then here's the album,” she continues.
The album will include both ballads and bangers, with Mariah going through her entire music collection so far before deciding on the sound that would dominate on the material. Collaborators will be plenty too, including Rodney Jerkins and Jermaine Dupri (who is also Carey’s manager), Mike Will Made It, Hit-Boy, Trey Songz, and Nas.
“[There is also] a special guest star that I'm not allowed to reveal,” Mariah smiles.
The Billboard preview issue doesn’t say anything of a probable release date but, hopefully, the full interview will be a bit more generous towards fans on this account.