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“I’m a poet, so I can’t add. I don’t talk numbers. Who can say in this climate? I can’t put my finger on it, but it feels good.”
—-L.A. Reid on Carey's first-week sales

ISLAND’S MARIAH MAGIC

Label Pulls Off Incredible Idol/Oprah Parlay for Carey’s New Album
Island is pulling out all the stops for the release of Mariah Carey’s new album, E=MC2, the 11th of her career, on April 15.

It’s her first release since 2005’s massive comeback The Emancipation of Mimi, which topped the year-end charts, selling 10 million copies worldwide and nabbing three Grammys.

“When I came in, I realized Mariah was already on track,” says IDJ Chairman Antonio “L.A.” Reid about Mimi’s success. “All she needed was someone to believe and bounce her ideas off. More than anything, my contribution might have been to inject confidence because she’s amazing. I honestly can’t take credit for anything except being in the right place at the right time with an artist who was already very dedicated to what she does.”

The first single, “Touch My Body,” just became Carey’s 18th career #1 single, surpassing Elvis Presley’s record of 17, and second only to The Beatles’ 20, with an airplay audience of more than 115 million. The video is #1 on the Yahoo Music video chart, Yahoo Launchcast and AOL Music. A customized online Mariah widget has been viewed over 4.26 million times.

Mariah will appear on a pair of American Idol shows, including the Idol Gives Back two-hour special on April 9 and, on the week of release, April 16, she will perform on the hit Fox show as a musical mentor to the finalists. She will be a special guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show on April 14, a day before the album hits stores.

Reid gives full credit for the rollout to IDJ publicity queen Laura Swanson, stating: “She understands how to launch a superstar.”

“Mariah’s talent is truly unbelievable,” says IDJMG President/COO Steve Bartels. “She made it easy for us by delivering an incredible album. The success of the first single was phenomenal, and the entire staff is working tirelessly to make sure we make this the biggest launch, and year, for Mariah ever.”

The superstar diva performed “Touch My Body” on SNL last month, an episode that will be rerun May 3. Last week, she performed the song, along with “We Belong Together,” after the season premiere of MTV’s hit series, The Hills.

Other TV appearances are slated for Live With Regis & Kelly, Good Morning America and The View, with Allure and Parade magazine covers also on tap.

The new single, “Bye Bye,” was rush-released to radio this week after leaking.

“I just tried to get all the right ingredients in the pot and know when to turn the fire off,” laughs Reid when asked about first-week sales estimates. “I’m a poet, so I can’t add. I don’t talk numbers. Who can say in this climate? I can’t put my finger on it, but it feels good.”

About the album being postponed a number of times, Reid says: “We wanted to make sure the record was right. We were prepared to release it last November or December, but we didn’t want to rush it, so we waited until now.”

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