Def Jam CEO Weighs In On Mariah Carey’s Album Sales

Published: Tuesday 14th Oct 2014 by David

me-i-am-mariah-deluxe-edition-that-grape-juice

They may have succeeded in turning Iggy Azalea into a household with moves made for the single ‘Fancy‘, but it’s pretty apparent Def Jam weren’t as successful when tasked with promoting Mariah Carey‘s latest studio album ‘Me. I Am Mariah…The Elusive Chanteuse.’

For, for one reason or another, the album failed to fly once it hit stores earlier this year, seeing the singer left with her lowest selling album of her career.

Now, the CEO of her label has weighed in on the release, revealing just why he feels the project did what it did.

His words below…

In a recent interview withBillboard Biz‘, Steve Bartels said of Mariah’s ‘Chanteuse’:

Listen, sometimes an artist — and in the case of Mariah, an artist I’ve worked with for 10 years — makes an amazing album that just doesn’t connect with the audience. Of course that is very disappointing, but it would be impossible to pinpoint that down to just one thing. I’ve enjoyed incredible success with Mariah and many of those hit songs and albums have made Billboard history. But this latest effort just didn’t go all the way.

 

Do you agree?

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  1. truth October 14, 2014

    TGJ always tries to shade Mariah. That Mariah Hate Juice.

    • smh October 14, 2014

      also That Rihanna Hate Juice. That Lil Krim Hate Juce. That Anyone Who Isn’t Beyonce/Nicki Minaj Hate Juice. That Ebola Juice

      • C.J. October 14, 2014

        lmfao! not ebola juice, tho lmao

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  2. truth October 14, 2014

    Since TGJ stans for flops… Where’s the article about how and why Cheryl, Nicole, Kelly and J-No flopped?

    • Soapy Sam October 14, 2014

      They won’t cause they hate Mariah and they’re hypocrites.

    • CherylSoldier October 14, 2014

      Um cheryl isn’t flopping. She just went number one

      • snippetyonce October 14, 2014

        in England boo, try again. When will she break the US?

  3. Beysus October 14, 2014

    If she released it at the time time as #Beautiful and actually put some force behind it, it could’ve been amazing…

  4. ontherun October 14, 2014

    at least he didn’t try to make any excuses. It didn’t connect because she doesn’t coonect to the gp due to her out of touch fastidiously posh/overtly s***/disney princess
    exterior, Which isolates fan groups

    • ontherun October 14, 2014

      *Overtly s.e.x.y

    • KA October 15, 2014

      “at least he didn’t try to make any excuses” no that was JD’s job, and he has perfected it every time something he is involved in fails. Look at all the non sense he spewed with Janet albums that he executive produced.

  5. let’s be real October 14, 2014

    well we all knew this but the reason in my opinion was this campaign was messy as all get out.

    You had the success off #beautiful that lacked promo.

    Then that awful Get Em song (it was awful y’all)

    That terrible AOLG song that had no melody,hook,nothing.

    Eternal was actually a cute song but went nowhere.

    mariahs “im a legend,bow to me” attitude is not appealing at all ,the “dahling” and all that,this generation doesn’t respond to that.

    lastly her voice has changed, which is natural, shes going to have to construct a new sound that lets her sing without. feeling or looking like shes straining

    no more J Dupri. get with fresh young talent who can keep you current but not make you look out of place

    Mimi will be ok regardless but if she wants to appeal to us still some changes need to be made

    • C.J. October 14, 2014

      Excellently put.

  6. Lindsay Lohan October 14, 2014

    Two weeks before her album dropped, it seemed as if Mariah dropped off the face of the Earth too. She didn’t promote. Her promotion for “Triumphant” was way more elaborate, and that wasn’t a big promotion to begin with.
    ,
    It’s sad considering all her talk how she worked so hard on this album, yet she seemed indifferent if and not the public could even hear her work.

  7. Soapy Sam October 14, 2014

    Mariah’s name stays in their mouths….

  8. Stephon Maurice Jackson October 14, 2014

    FLOPriah FLOPrey.

    • Soapy Sam October 14, 2014

      Bi polar off its meds. Seek a therapist stank p**** heaux..

    • tboz’sSideburns October 14, 2014

      @Stephy I Thought you were head cheerleader of the Lambily. #NEXT #GURLBYE

  9. Klee October 14, 2014

    What’s sad is that the album is a really good album too
    I’m an avid fan of her music not her as a person

    But it’s a really good album

    I love Cry . Camofaluge. money. YDKWTD

    It’s true she’s doesn’t need to act like a diva with the darling
    And the shade she throws to new artists doesn’t help

  10. Theman October 14, 2014

    She ain’t throw nothing at anyone.. She don’t have to kiss
    these new artists a**. She said nothing bad.. Stop trying to
    seek validation through her. She has an amazing
    album.. She released the wrong single after “Beautiful”.
    Her voice is great, she just has to work at it.. Being
    a little more subdued would be great.. She just needs
    radio hits !!

  11. Aml October 14, 2014

    Mariah does not need to prove anything to anyone.
    She’s been in the game for 25 years. She is one of the biggest selling
    female artist in HISTORY.
    She has made her mark and will go down in history for her achievements
    In this day of age who 25 years into their career is current?!
    No one just be thankful that Mariah wants to keep making hit records
    TGJ always shading Mariah.
    Why don’t u report on JLOs single flopping to 78 after 3weeks?! They just lick current artists back side
    But do they love TGJ or even heard of them it’s a very different matter

  12. Lover_By_Nature October 14, 2014

    As a long standing Mariah fan, I do agree that the campaign for this album could have been more strategic. However, considering what we have found out since it’s release about her marriage, and the fact that they have been separated since April, maybe that’s where her focus was. That, in conjunction with an already pushed-back album that has been a passion project, well you see where I’m going…

    Sometimes it’s hard to separate entertainers from their personal lives, but like everyone else, personal life can definitely have an adverse impact on their job performance.

    • aml October 14, 2014

      Amen could of not put it better.
      At least she is started to tour to help promote the album in what way she can. Never think this is the end because her career because she will bounce back again and again

  13. Lmfao_Hoe October 14, 2014

    Mariah does not have to prove anything to this generation or dying industry, her MARK, VOICE, ACHIEVEMENTS, & CATALOG of timeless/ memorable hits will speak on her behalf. The album was good, just slept on like how MJ released Invincible 01 and Nippy’s 02 Just Whitney, both sold well but it takes time if the music is quality, especially when the public is out to ruin you. I gave MIMI a 8/10 score. And as for her marriage we should had noticed this with her song ” Cry ” which is my fav. Thoses lyrics are beautiful.

  14. Kemar (@S_C_Jr on Twitter) October 14, 2014

    The album was very solid IMHO. Like someone above said, had it dropped as planned after #Beautiful, it probably would’ve done better. She also barely promoted it, which I can understand because she was injured and is now going through a divorce; I’m assuming that’s where her focus was. The lip-synching doesn’t help either, not making excuses, but she probably does it because her voice is so unpredictable. She doesn’t know when she’s going to sound good or bad. She needs to get the nodules on her vocal cords removed. Hopefully, she can still release some singles and get back in the swing of things. I hate when good albums go to waste!

  15. Dustin October 14, 2014

    Mariah can resurrect her career by doing a tour where she sings her old hits in a lower key so she can actually hit the notes. If she could book an HBO special and kill it, it could be the shot of adrenaline that her career needs. But she simply must lower the key to a lot of her older material because she can’t hit those notes live with any consistency. I know this isn’t a musical comparison but Ellen did her HBO special when she had been written off and she killed it. Then came finding nemo, the Ellen show and the rest is history. Mariah just needs to remind people that she can be spectacular again. Oh, and she needs to stop working with JD.

  16. Indie October 14, 2014

    The one and only job of the artist in all truth is to make an outstanding product and Mariah Carey did exactly that! The album was BRILLIANT and got the best reviews that she ever had, It was just down to bad timing and NO LABEL Push! The did nothing! since the release there was one official single with Your Mine as the video (sorry but video was boring), Thirsty had no video and neither did You Don’t Know, and in this day in age a single is not a single without a visual.

    If wither of those songs had great videos behind them like Touch My Body, Heartbreaker, Honey even We Belong Together the album would have been acknowledged . The only video was Beautiful which was released a year before and if she had released the album then it would have been a hit! Sadly she got injured so what can you do, it was just bad timing but she’s not to blame she fulfilled her duties as an artist and recorded a fantastic album, possibly the best of her career

  17. gem October 14, 2014

    Mariah had her day. These are new times and this new generation isn’t felling her all that much. She needs to except that and move on with her life.

    • aml October 14, 2014

      and you are child?

  18. Mark111 October 14, 2014

    It’s part of the bizz, male and female. Aretha Franklin, Ray, Stevie and so many greats left a mark, but as time passed, they weren’t selling large units in the 90’s or 30 years into their career. Legend doesn’t qual current or relevant. We seen time and time again when some will be the biggest thing in music (Ashanit, Ciara, Gaga, all the boy bands and so on) and be gone before the 5 year mark. MC and so many others (Usher, Madonna) wants to be current Vs becoming a great and moving on to the next level… legendary status. Sure the hot new and young things are Grande, Katy and so on, but they’re not making a mark and can be GONE tomorrow. MC will NEVER be current. She’s trying to please these young buyers that just aren’t feeling her because to them 40 is OLD. And her true fans are not gonna buy this mess because they will always hold her to her 90’s standards. It’s just apart of the game.

  19. Mark111 October 14, 2014

    MC is the Evil Queen that’s mad cause there’s a new fairest of them all. She let everyone know that she’s afraid of aging. Madonna is the old witch in the woods sucking the soul out of the young girls to stay around. Janet is a tail that you tell around the fire that no one is for sure how it goes. Is she married or not? Does she have 10 kids on an island somewhere or no. Some say she will drop an album, some say she won’t. You just don’t know that facts on that woman.

    • NOLIES October 14, 2014

      Damn you’re an ignorant f**.

  20. NOLIES October 14, 2014

    SMH good luck Mimi.

  21. JOHNVIDAL October 14, 2014

    I´m glad he didn´t say anything bad. It would be ridiculous when talking about a true great like Mariah Carey.
    And yes, her album was great. That´s all I can ask for from someone who is in their 14th album or so.

  22. Jimmy October 14, 2014

    The whole project stunk. That is why it flopped. Not rocket science here.

  23. Navy Nick October 14, 2014

    The album was a grower for me; she released the wrong singles…
    It really is a good album

  24. guest October 14, 2014

    Why weren’t Faded or Make it Look Good singles?

  25. Gregg October 14, 2014

    There are things that are hurting Mariah.. #1. She dresses like shes a s** kitten and its just not cute anymore…. #2 The photoshopping of all her pics is apparent and insulting to us.. #3 That stint on American Idol did more damage to her image than i think her people realize. All these things have just made her into a joke…..She needs to go away for a minute and regroup and come back as a grown woman.

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