Mariah Carey Talks: Please Meet Mimi

The singer's new disc shows a more personal side. She talks about making statements, watching American Idol, and working for Jay-Z.

Mariah Carey is re-entering normal. After her 2001 Glitter hiccup and its attendant breakdown, the Long Island girl with the eight-octave range returns with the forthcoming album The Emancipation of Mimi. Forget the drama and the paranoid Web site messages.

Mimi finds Mariah back on track, emphasizing escapism and, amid those trademark ballads, hanging with a mob of platinum hip-hop partners like Snoop Dogg, Nelly and Jermaine Dupri, who produces the snappy first single "It's Like That." Carey spoke to VH1 about writers block, nasty videos, and her pals Randy Jackson, Ol' Dirty Bastard and Jay-Z.

I told a friend I was interviewing you and he said, "Yeah, Mariah Carey. Where's she been?"

Mariah Carey: Well, here I am

Where have you been?

I've been on tour and I've been making an album for a year and a half, which is the longest it's ever taken me to make an album, with the exception of my first record. This is like such a labor of love for me.

Why did it take so long?

I did 19 or 20 songs. I would do something and love it, and I come up with different ideas of people to collaborate with. Accidents would happen that would be like incredible moments. I was working with the Neptunes and I ended up doing a collaboration with Snoop and then with Nelly because we were all doing our records at the same time. That was just a great moment where it wasn't like you couldn't plan it or even ask for it.

Have you ever gotten writer's block?

You know what? I don't know that I've had writer's block, because usually when I sit down with somebody - whether I start singing a piano player riffs to play or they go into a chord progression and I start singing melodies on top - we can create something. That's my outlet and it always has been. But I feel like I'm more prolific at this moment than maybe ever.

So what are you being emancipated from?

I went on a long tangent about what the title meant when the name of the album got leaked, because everybody was like "Mimi? What does that mean?" Nobody understood.

It's unusual because your titles are usually one definitive word.

Right, but everybody started having their issues about that.

When you get up to four words, suddenly a statement is being made.

Well, here's what it is: Nobody calls me Mariah except my mother and she doesn't even really call me that. Me and my friends have a million nicknames that we use for each other, but Mimi was a really personal nickname that only people I really love and care about call me. When I proposed the concept of the title to L.A. Reid, the CEO of Island Def Jam, he was like, "I love that, because it's the side of you that I'm hearing in this album, a free-spirited person.

What's the "It's Like That" video going to be like?

I don't know and neither do you! [Laughs] That's just a saying, I'm not being mean.

It's being directed by Brett Ratner, so I'm guessing explosions, boats flipping over and a Chris Tucker cameo.

Well, we would love that. Brett Ratner and I did the "Heartbreaker" video together, which is one of the favorite videos that I've ever done. The best thing about it was that it had a sense of humor. That's the thing that Brett brings to the table. He knows me as a person, so he knows that fun side of me, which is what this whole album and project is about.

Do you ever catch one of your old videos and go, "What was I thinking?"

Constantly! I love "Honey," or the video for the song I did with Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, "Breakdown" or "Heartbreaker." But there were ones that everybody was always like, "You're about your voice and who really cares about the video?" Which was okay and I'm glad they thought that way, but it's nice to make fun videos, too.

Everybody on American Idol is trying to be the next Mariah Carey. Has the show vindicated you as a singer?

Are they really? Because everybody talks about it to me, but I don't watch the show except to see Randy Jackson!

Is it amusing to see Randy playing judge?

Yes, because I've known Randy since before my first album came out. If it's on and someone's watching it at my house, I'll look at the TV and be like, "What's Randy doing?" because it's funny to me.

What did he have to say about your voice when you were working together?

We had collaborative moments. He was my musical director on a couple of tours. We'd discuss things; he's not like, "Oh, I think you should do it like this." He's not being annoying in any way.

Speaking of old collaborators, were you surprised to hear of Ol' Dirty Bastard's passing?

Yes, I was very upset. He was a really unique person, an artist. It's a loss and it's difficult for everybody who cared about him. He was totally unique. He didn't try to be like anybody else. Because of that, it made him stand out. His style of rhyming yet singing yet just going on a tangent with whatever kind of ad lib stuff he would be doing in the background on certain records was always hot.

Since Butterfly you've embraced an urban sound. As a fan, what's been the most exciting development in hip-hop?

It's amazing that so many people that I've watched their careers explode, like Jay-Z and Jermaine Dupri, [have become] the heads of record companies. It's a major accomplishment in terms of how far hip-hop has gotten. It's really nice, because I remember when I was really, really young starting out the executives who turned their nose up at hip-hop and looked at it as a fad. Now I'm like, "Ha ha!"