MARIAH CAREY

I'd clicked the television channel accidentally. It was the People's Choice Awards. Her name was mentioned, and there were cheers, loud applause as I saw this vision the other night.

Girl/woman encased in white, very low cut -- almost full bosom-revealing (two inches above the nipple I'm guessing) -- tight, almost girdling, white gown, sort of like a body-suit (chest to knee), that flared out into a floor length skirt, as this woman/girl stood up.

I thought should I change the channel?

I couldn't change. I'd heard the name. I wasn't sure if I'd ever heard Mariah Carey sing. I certainly hadn't seen her before.

I was fixated on her as she negotiated the trip from her seat in the audience -- stood up -- not straight -- she bent over -- there was a shot of her full-to-the-brim, very round-breasted cleavage, and proceeded with her two male escorts.

Then, she sort of minced, almost waddled in her white, ultra-high, spike heels (I thought five-inches was the highest heel available but these must have been six inch heels), to the stage, where she seemed a little off balance, mentally, emotionally, physically.

Was it because she was thrilled, or looped on something?

No. Mariah Carey said "Hiya" in the most loveable, natural-sounding, down-to-earth, seductive, charming way. And laughed, and said that friendly, informal hiya again, and murmured a few things about how great it was to be there, and get an award, and who ought to be thanked -- mentioning names and credits of beloved people she absolutely had to thank for getting her the award -- that large, crystal People's Choice award they handed her.

The award looked awkward, too large, too pointed -- I'm not sure why but I thought it was sort of ... phallic.

"I'm going to do a post on Mariah Carey ... got to do a post on her," I said to myself while I was thinking -- What an outfit! What a warming, utterly friendly warm tone of voice! She really loves the audience! No wonder the audience loves her! She must be a marvelous singer!

So, I've browsed what's recorded -- browsed what's on YouTube -- looked and listened. And read about her.

She's forty.

She's called an "American pop and R&B singer-songwriter, actress." Her mother was an opera singer. As a school girl, she did all those things young girls do, when they can sing, dance, and do parts in plays. When she was eighteen she met a Columbia records executive, who married her, guided her into her first five, top-of-the-chart singles.

At twenty something, in the nineties, she took full creative control over her looks, and her music, (predictably), separated from her husband, and signed with Virgin records. She had a breakdown. Then, she did "Glitter," a film and its soundtrack that sort of bombed. Then she began the climb back up to the top, to the forefront of popular music. Where she is now.

In 2000, the World Music Awards named Carey the best-selling female artist of all time, and she has recorded the most number-one singles for a female artist in the U.S. ...etcetera ... The credits, the records she's broken in terms of albums, hits, sales of her albums and singles go beyond Elvis Presley's.

If you've heard her, seen her -- you don't need a boiled-down biography. But I hadn't. I wanted to know about her background, and I've spent a few hours listening, and watching her perform biggest hits.

What she is -- is an actress, acting out sexy, sensual scripts she's written – lyrics, music, choreography, costumes by Mariah (and her staff) -- tone poems about herself day-dreaming, with men and boys longing for her, in beautifully crafted seduction scenes. But the acting in them is so full-out, that it distracts from her voice.

It's a big voice with a large vocal range that seems to be able to do anything, go anywhere – soft, hushed, whispered, belted out, and capable of rippling, occasionally, into exciting hot rhythms, as she's into demonstrating, illustrating, being the words and the music.

The song and the music isn't on your mind. Her face, hands, torso, legs, her smooth, perfect skin -- everything about her body is.

The hiya girl/woman, the low-down, sophisticated, slutty, sweet, affectionate, elements of a gorgeous woman, confidently thinking you love me, I love you, you can't resist me -- is in everything I've managed to listen to, and see.

I found myself directing her, choreographing her in my mind, shouting at her -- do less -- much less -- don't work so hard -- no more cleavage, no more stroking, caressing yourself -- it not boring, but it's too much.

I put some click-able things in this post, for you to look at, listen to and see what you think.

Mariah, the actress, talking about playing an unglamorous social worker in the film, "Precious."

Mariah Carey performing her song "Obsessed"

Mariah Carey, performing "We Belong together"

(P.S. JC and I have been doing videocasts, and I'm seeing myself as I was as a dancer, as a performer, and as I am now. And my note to myself is LESS, DO LESS -- LESS IS MORE.)