#1 [url]

Apr 26 11 2:14 PM

BeyondIdolization wrote:
I think a lot of people confuse commerical success and star power. Mariah barely had any star power with Daydream. She barely did any interviews or magazine covers, there was no scandal/drama surrounding her, she was anonymous/boring, she didn't have any endorsement deals, she didn't win any Grammys, etc. During TEOM she had all of these things PLUS great commercial success. That is the definition of star power.
You make a valid point, but at the same time, are they really that separate? What's the point of star power if no one buys your product? And can you really be as popular as Mariah was in the mid-90s without having some sort of star power? I do agree with you that the two qualities aren't the same thing, but I also don't think they are entirely separate.

Also, Mariah's TV specials in 1993 and 1995 received pretty good ratings from what I remember. She was commanding an audience. She was also able to book performances on both the AMAs and the Grammys in 1996, which was a pretty big deal back then. It's not like she was a non-factor. As big as she was in 2005, she still wasn't really selling magazines (remember how the Vibe editor said their Mariah covers were among the worst sellers), and I don't think a network special (had she had one) would have been bigger than the ones in the 90s.