Mariah Carey plays with a lump of lavender clay in New York City on Sunday, one day before she premieres "The Art of Letting Go" during a listening party on Facebook.
The five-time Grammy winner is using the clay as a form of physical therapy; she had dislocated her shoulder, experienced nerve damage and fractured a rib in July at a video shoot for "#Beautiful." The injuries required her to wear arm slings, until now.
"Finally the sling is gone," Carey tells Mashable. "I was like, 'If I have to take one more picture with the bling sling, I don't know what I'm going to do — it's not POW!"
Despite still recovering, Carey is ready to debut "The Art of Letting Go" song at 11 a.m. ET on Monday to her 14 million Facebook fans, which she describes as her "Lambily" because her fans are called "Lambs." The listening party will include a Q&A.
"Facebook is global, and I always have to keep in mind that my fans are all over the world," Carey emphasizes. "I wanted to make sure everybody was able to hear the song at the same time. To interact with the fans while they're listening to the song for the first time, it makes me happy. I like to see what my true fans are feeling. ... And I know this is a song that is from my heart, completely. It's a real moment for me, dahhhling."
"The Art of Letting Go" is the title track from Carey's upcoming 14th studio album. It's a soaring ballad — with lyrics most anyone will find relatable — that shows off the hallmark range she's demonstrated since her first album arrived in 1990. Mashable got to listen to the song twice before Monday's Facebook premiere.
Carey says this song is about the "ability to let go of things, people, emotions, situations, anything that has bogged you down for a long time."
"I like to leave things very ambiguous so my fans can interpret the songs in the way that they choose to, and that's why I never really say, 'Well this happened to me," she says. "Sometimes it's a true story, every single word of the song, and maybe this one is, too, but you'll never know."
Rodney Jerkins produced the song, and Carey's new manager and longtime friend, Jermaine Dupri, chose to release "The Art of the Letting Go" as the next song because he says it has a message fans need to hear and take to heart. "They'll understand the direction of the album with this song," he hints, describing the ballad as "the 2014 version of 'Vision of Love.'"
Carey admits "it's certainly not an exact replica of 'Vision of Love,'" but she did say it has the similar starkness and not-overproduced feel of the demo of "Vision of Love."
"I really hope the fans like this, and I hope they're in a place where they can listen to the bottom end, the bass and the different parts of my voice," she says. "Sometimes when we just listen on our computers, you lose the low end of the record."
Carey wants fans to pay close attention to one particular part in the song.
"They have to listen very closely to the lyrics, especially the last two lines of the second verse," Carey notes.
"I would like to have people apply that to their lives in any way they see fit. And that's why I wrote it. It was an organic moment that happened to also be timely and very real. There couldn't be a more real moment in my life for that line on this actual day — for reasons we won't get into. But to sum it up, it's about helping someone else get through their moment, while I'm getting through mine as the writer and the performer."
When asked whether she can give details for her upcoming album, Carey stayed mum.
"I can not. No, I mean, look. The problem is this: I really don't want to reveal things until I know the exact date for the album," Carey says.
Dupri, however, gave another slight hint, taking into account input on social media.
"I believe this record sets the tone for her fans, and I want them to understand that we pay attention to everything that they say and everything they send us online because the artists really care about the relationship with them," Dupri says.
Dupri, who previously teamed up with Carey on 2005's "We Belong Together," conceptualized the Facebook listening party, and as Carey's new manager since October, he quickly got her on board with the Facebook partnership.
"What we're doing is actually giving music directly to Facebook," Dupri tells Mashable by phone. "Most artists upload their music to Facebook using SoundCloud, YouTub and Vevo, but we are the first that are giving the music through the Facebook player."
Musicians such as Jay Z ("Holy Grail") and Bruno Mars (""Gorilla") have premiered music videos via Facebook's video feature, but Carey is debuting only audio.
He and Carey are excited to see the instant feedback from Facebook users, though, Dupri points out that this "exercise" isn't a ploy against traditional distribution routes.
"I don't want people to think this is to avoid radio or any regular outlet; this is an exercise to do something that none of those other outlets can do, basically," Dupri adds.
Carey agrees: "The global aspect and the immediate access and ability to interact with my fans during the song premiere are the main reasons we're doing this. The fact that Facebook is global, that is super important to me."
Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.
BONUS: The 10 Most Epic Celebrity Twitter Fights
Looking for a way to amp up the drama, Amanda Bynes took her Twitter sass to a whole new level in May with a seemingly unwarranted attack on pop star Rihanna and Chrissy Teigen of Sports Illustrated fame, calling both stars ugly. In one particularly notable moment, the former child star suggested Chris Brown's 2009 abuse of Rihanna was a result of her being "not pretty enough." Ms. Bynes, that is a new low.
Alec Baldwin quit Twitter again this summer following an article by journalist George Stark of the Daily Mail. The piece falsely accused Baldwin's pregnant wife, Hilaria Thomas, of tweeting during the funeral of James Gandolfini. The rant is still causing a stir for the 30 Rock star, as conservative activists demand that Capital One drop him as a spokesperson due to the homophobic nature of his tweets. Baldwin has since apologized for his language but not for defending his wife.
Hell hath no fury like a fandom scorned. British GQ got a taste of that hell when the magazine released its One Direction covers in July. The tagline under Harry Styles' cover, "He's up all night to get lucky," evoked such rage from Directioners that GQ's servers couldn't handle the influx of hate tweets.
It was only a matter of time before these two butted heads. After Hilton posted a photo from an alleged eyewitness who spotted Bynes jumping on a trampoline, Bynes replied with her usual onslaught of "ugly" tweets. Eventually, Bynes insisted Hilton commit suicide. No stranger to death threats, Hilton expressed his concern for Bynes and his hope that she receive treatment.
On May 31, Bynes eventually retracted her statements about the blogger, saying, "you're not ugly! I was lying because we haven't talked in person in a long time. Please stop being mean on twitter! Thx!"
How nice.
In one of the most famous Twitter feuds of all time, Perez Hilton ended up with a black eye after calling will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas a "f***cking f*ggot." While it's unclear who exactly gave Hilton the shiner, will.i.am posted a vlog insisting it was not him. Regardless who actually threw the punch, Hilton took to Twitter to seek help from the police. You know, because 911 is too old school.
In a more recent Twitter feud, Hilton found himself on the wrong side of Lady Gaga's little monsters when he was seen in the lobby of Gaga's apartment building in New York. Gaga accused Hilton of stalking her, despite his insistence it was nothing more than innocent house-hunting. Gaga's fans also let their claws out, voicing death threats and derogatory comments about Hilton's six-month-old son.
Hilton, who was once friends with the pop star, insisted that the "real" Lady Gaga was different than her public persona, calling her "cruel" and insisting he was "still healing, removing your knife from my heart" after the two's apparent fallout.
Plenty of celebs take to tweeting after a breakup, but it's hard to beat a Kardashian when it comes to drama. Rob K took to the Twittersphere to bash ex Rita Ora, saying she cheated on him with no less than 20 other men. While Ora remained mostly silent on the subject, one errant tweet did surface before it was quickly erased: "Rob’s d--k was wack, I had to go get it somewhere else."
Kardashian didn't take kindly to the insult, hinting he had gotten Ora pregnant. That exchanged remained on the site only briefly before it was taken down.
One party who did remain positive throughout the feud? Rob's sister Khloe, who offered some advice: "Cheaters never prosper @RobKardashian ill be home today... Try and smile little brother."
While Chris Brown was no one's favorite person after the abuse scandal surrounding girlfriend Rihanna, one comedienne in particular, Texas-based writer Jenny Johnson, wanted to let the R&B singer know just how she felt about him. A little bit of harassment went a long way, and it didn't take too long for Brown to delete his account, but not before he tweeted: "Just ask Rihanna if she mad??????"
Brown's account has since been reactivated.
Now that Brown has returned to Twitter, fans can follow his breakup drama with on-again, off-again girlfriend Rihanna. The tumultuous trainwreck that is the Rihanna/Chris Brown relationship just won't go away, with the breakup feud continuing through August.
RiRi tweeted an image bearing the words "If I drop all my hoes for you and we still don't work out you owe me some hoes." While the sentiment seems pretty clear, Brown's "She's not mine if she's everybody else's" tweet definitely left no room for doubt about the reason for the pair's latest breakup.
After the acid-tongued Handler jabbed Cannon's comedy tour, saying: "I just heard nick cannon is starting a comedy tour. Who’s going to do the comedy?" Cannon was clearly a little peeved at the tweet, but didn't really let loose until Handler posted a TwitPic of grape soda with the tweet "pls drink this before you tweet me again." It was at this point that Cannon wilded out (sorry not sorry for that one), letting loose the slew of angry tweets (plus a few more) that you see above.
Leave it to Internet favorite Patton Oswalt to create one of the punniest feuds on this list. When radio host John Tesh sent out a request for new hashtag ideas, Patton Oswalt gave a couple of suggestions, none of which seemed up to Tesh's high standards. Read the full conversation here.
Image: Mariah Carey; Facebook; WireImage
অনলাইনে ছড়িয়ে ছিটিয়ে থাকা কথা গুলোকেই সহজে জানবার সুবিধার জন্য একত্রিত করে আমাদের কথা । এখানে সংগৃহিত কথা গুলোর সত্ব (copyright) সম্পূর্ণভাবে সোর্স সাইটের লেখকের এবং আমাদের কথাতে প্রতিটা কথাতেই সোর্স সাইটের রেফারেন্স লিংক উধৃত আছে ।