Mariah Carey: Daydream

Nine Network Australia special presentation

Saturday 16th December 1995

Featuring a world exclusive interview with Ian "Molly" Meldrum

(Opening titles)

[Cut to VFX: Title slide and animation. "Mariah Carey: Daydream" at right. Daydream pose at left. Fade to black.]

[Super VFX (gold, Mariah font, growing from centre screen): "In just five years, Mariah Carey has become one of the most successful performers of all time."]

[Super VFX (as before): "At 26, she's the biggest superstar of the '90s."]

[Super VFX: "Her five previous albums have sold a staggering 60 million copies."]

[Super VFX: Her latest album, Daydream, looks set to become the biggest of her career.]

[Super VFX: "Last month, Molly Meldrum was granted a world exclusive interview with Mariah Carey..."]

(Part I)

[Cut to interview situation. Mariah in seated on the left, and Molly on the right.]

Molly: Daydream... I mean, the title itself... You know... I mean, do you daydream that much?

Mariah (chuckles): Um... Yeah I do... I mean, no more than other people, but I just thought that the theme and the vibe of some of the songs kind of gave off that sort of dreamy feeling, and... um... so I thought it would be kind of, ah, appropriate.

Molly: Alright... So, we've pointed out... the last five years, over 60 million albums, and you just keep working, working, working. The little girl in you... I mean, has that little girl had a chance to go back and go, "My god," I mean, "It's not just America, it's England, Europe, Australia, South America, South Africa... It's the world." I mean, I'm communicating with the world. I mean, has that really hit you yet?

Mariah: When you say it to me, it hits me... But I don't sit back and think about it... I mean, I'm just grateful for the whole thing... It's incredible.

(Part II)

Molly: Alright, now... Looking at this album, and using one person that seems to have such an amazing influence on you... I'll call him Walter A, because I can never pronounce his name properly...

Molly: I mean he has produced so many amazing people. What does he mean to you?

Mariah: For me... I mean, I learn a lot from Walter because he is a very, very talented and educated musician. But I think that we stretched a little bit on this album, as far as stylistically what you would expect the Walter A Mariah sound to be. Like on songs like Underneath The Stars, a lot of people asked me, "Who did you do that with?" Because it doesn't sound like some of our previous things. It was like, "Let's try this... Let's experiment with sounds. Let's use an old scratch track. Let's use an old road sound..." You know, so it was, like, doing things to kind of create a vibe, as opposed to: "Here's the typical thing that we do..." So, but I've learned a lot from him, and I, also as a songwriter, when I want to go somewhere... because I'm limited as far as my playing ability goes... and the melody ideas come to me so quickly... he's so talented, and I'll go, "No... Yes... No... Yes...," until he gets to the exact chords that I'm hearing. He knows how to get there for me.

Molly: I mean, let's get stuck into the album. The first track, Fantasy, which is the first single, just tell us about it.

Mariah: Well, I had the idea for the melody and the chorus and the lyrics of Fantasy, um... and I was really into it, and then I heard the Tom Tom Club song, Genius Of Love, and I hadn't heard it in a long time. I mean, it's always been one of my favourite songs, and so, um, I decided to check into the idea of putting them together, so we called up Tom Tom Club, and they were really excited about it and into the idea, and we did it.

Molly: Well, quickly explain the video for Fantasy... Which you take on another role of directing this, as well.

Mariah: It was such an undertaking to do this... First of all, to direct the video, and to be in the video that you're directing is a big deal. 'Cause, when you're just directing, it's OK because you're behind the scenes, and you don't have to worry about, like, "Does my hair look good?" ... You're worried about, "Is this shot working?" You know... But, I mean, when you're there, you're on camera, you're behind the camera... You're doing the whole thing. So, it's very intense. And also, I haven't been doing this my whole life, I just did it because I wanted to try and get my vision across.

(Part III)

Molly: One Sweet Day, I've got to tell you, is brilliant. Totally brilliant.

Molly: Again, you and Walter A wrote this song. You work with Boyz II Men on this, who also contributed to the lyrics, I believe. Just tell us this whole story.

Mariah: I had the idea for this song with Walter... And I think that the chorus was basically there... the idea, "I know you're shining down on me from Heaven," just... as living life, as you lose different people that are close to you, or people that you've known, um, that have maybe lost someone close to them. It kind of changes your life if you grow up and it doesn't happen to you until, like, you reach 20 or something. It's weird. As opposed to if you're a little kid, and you know, things have happened over the years. So I think that it changed my perspective when I lost different people in my life. So I had the idea for the melody and the lyrics, and I decided to stop, and not finish it, because I wanted to do it with Boyz II Men. Because I just thought that the chorus was, like, crying out for what they do... their vocals are really incredible, especially on a big song like that... the way they layer their vocals and things, and just their singing in general. And so, um, we got together... And it was the first time we'd ever met...

Mariah: Yeah... We'd seen each other at awards shows and stuff, and we were always like, "Hi," but we never spent any time together at all. So they came in, and we hit it off right away. They're really just cool and normal people. And, um, we... I played them the idea for the song and they were sitting there and they were kind of just looking at each other when I finished, and they just said Nate wrote a song for his road manager, who passed away, that had basically the same lyric and fit over the same chord changes.

Mariah: It was really, really weird. So he started singing it over my track, so we put the songs together.

[Super VFX (lower screen): "Live World Exclusive Premiere, One Sweet Day, Featuring Boyz II Men"]

(Part IV)

Molly: Now one of your school friends has been quoted as saying, that when she gets with you, you still laugh... "She's still the funny person she's always been... She's still the same." Does it worry you that fame can change you?

Mariah: I don't think that it's changed me... that much. I mean, if at all. I guess, it changes your state of being, because you can't just, like, take a walk down the street if you feel like it, wheras I used to be much more free. But, um, I think, if anything, it really changes other people around you. Like people that you go to school... people you grew up with, you know. If they are not really strong, really, really good hearted people. Or even if they are, jealousy can be a really, really strong emotion. And that's kind of been the screwed up aspect of this.

Molly: Going from A to B, from where we came from today to the studios. And you come in a car, and you look out the window, and you see just everyday people, just walking along the street, laughing, talking to people, being able to shop in any shop they want. That you can't do now. Do you look... maybe with envy that, "I wish I could do that again?" You know.

Mariah: Well, I think I still could in some ways. I mean, I couldn't just walk around without a way out, in case something happens. I don't know. I think that this is what I set out to do, so I have to just deal with it, and be grateful for everything, and know that you take the good with the bad.

Molly: And I just want to say, that I've known you for now... what? Four of five years? You haven't changed that much, and you're an absolute delight.

(Closing Credits)

Special thanks to Sony Music Entertainment Australia Executive Producers: Mark Fennessy and Carl Fennessy