Mariah adding Tucson to her charmbracelet
It was third-grade girls I remember being most infatuated by Mariah Carey as she started the steep climb that, by the end of the 90s, had earned her the title of Billboard Magazines Artist of the Decade. Her Charmbracelet Tour brings her to the Tucson Convention Center tomorrow for the singer's first concert in the Old Pueblo.
One picture is forever fixed in my memory during the early Mariah Carey era: 17 little 8-year-old girls from my daughters school in sleeping bags strewn haphazardly wall to wall in the living room and our dog PJ gingerly making his way across the room, not stepping on anyones head. There were lots of giggles and chattering - and Mariah singing in the background.
Those little girls, mine included, graduated from high school last year. They're young women now, having survived the trials and tribulations of those teens years and come out stronger for them. And it occurs to me that Mariah's career so far has mirrored their growing-up years.
Back in those innocent years, the girls - and Mariah - just made you smile. They were so creative at that age, so willing to please. And so was she. "Mariah Carey writes all her own songs, really?" I asked my daughter, Sara, who was the one who introduced me to the singers five-octave voice and songs including "Love Takes Time", "Hero" and "Make It Happen". "Wow, see what girls can do when they work hard for something?" I told Sara. Mariah was an influence and an inspiration.
Years passed, and those little girls hit their teens and everything that went with it: boys, overwhelming temptations, boys, bad choices, boys and emotions they hardly were old enough to understand. You could be there for them, give them guidance and always empathize. Who hasnt been through that period?
And as my daughters radio blared the emotional troubles of Mariah, I found myself empathizing with her. Even though she was well past those teenager years, wasn't Mariah paralleling them with her young fans? I sympathized with her emotional state. I shook my head as the DJs and the tabloids talked about how she felt competitive with Jennifer Lopez. Lopez's movie, "The Wedding Planner", was a hit; Mariahs "Glitter" wasn't sparkling. (Too bad she couldn't look into the future to "Gigli".) I wondered, if only for a split second, how much of that silliness was true and how much was just hype.
Then came the breakdown, the not-so-role-model-type antics and finally I just exclaimed what every mother of a teenage girl had on her mind: "Girl, what are you thinking?" But that was a couple of years ago. And it doesn't negate these facts: The singer is the top-selling female artist in history and has 15 No. 1 singles, two Grammy Awards and eight American Music Awards. She even rushed past the Beatles as the artist with the most weeks in a row at the top of Billboards Hot 100 Singles chart.
Since her breakdown, she has formed her own label, MonarC Music. And her often biographical music shows an emergence from her depression. In "Through the Rain", the first single from Charmbracelet, she sings: "I can make it through the rain/ I can stand up once again on my own/ And I know that I'm strong enough to mend/ And every time I feel afraid I hold tighter to my faith/ And I live one more day and I make it through the rain."
Mariah seems to have survived her period of trials and tribulations - and come out stronger for them. Some of those former little second-grade fans are planning to be in the audience. (Tucson Citizen)
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