Mariah Carey‘s marriage may be a done deal, but the diva appears to be pulling all the stops to ensure her career doesn’t follow-suit.

As chronicled here on That Grape Juice, the 45-year-old’s latest album ‘Me. I Am…Mariah. The Elusive Chanteuse’ tanked terribly upon release last May.

And it seems the project’s performance (as well as a series of chart disasters preceding it) have Mimi ready to make a major move. Not so much to pastures new, but to a familiar faculty.

Details below…

Fresh from confirmation that the star has signed a lucrative Las Vegas residency deal, reliable Carey source Roger Friedman over at Showbiz 411 has revealed that the songbird is looking to return to her Sony Music nest. This time with L.A Reid‘s Epic Records.

Originally signed to Columbia Records by ex husband Tommy Mottola, Carey enjoyed the lion-share of her success at the label (a Sony imprint) before leaving for an ill-fated stint at Virgin Records in 2001 (see: ‘Glitter’). Shortly after, she’d go on to sign with Universal’s Def Jam, where she’s been since 2002.

Per the new report, Carey’s main incentive is that her loyalists from the Def Jam days are gone, most notably formerchief Reid. And, as many will recall, it was he who shepherded Mimi back to relevancy after her infamous breakdown. What would follow would be a quiet storm in 2002’s ‘Charmbracelet’ and a full-on chart onslaught with the ‘Emancipation of Mimi’ in 2005 and ‘E=MC2’ in 2008 – highs her career has struggled to achieve since.

From Sony’s end, there’s added attraction in that beyond Mariah being one of the last  true single named entities left in the industry, the bulk of her biggest hits were achieved during her years with them. This immediately makes the ability to revisit/cash-in on her iconic catalogue much easier (see: Barbara Streisand’s recent ‘Duets’ album).

As at writing, Friedman claims Carey’s return to Sony is a “done deal”. He went as far as to add:

“I’m told that Carey dined last week in L.A. with Reid and Epic’s new Marketing/PR whiz Laura Swanson, who worked for Reid and Carey at Def Jam previously. “The band is getting back together,” joked an insider. It’s a done deal.

Exciting developments, if indeed true.

Still, there are a number of caveats here; the most prominent being that it’s clear at this point that more than just a label switch is needed to bring Mariah back to the top. There are some fundamental changes that need to take place, which largely center around image, relate-ability, and performance consistency. But that’s a conversation for another day.

In the here and now, we’ll simply give kudos to camp Mimi for at least setting the wheels in motion.

Your thoughts?