Mariah Carey is undoubtedly one of the most resilient artists in the music industry and she recently reached another milestone by landing a residency in Las Vegas and releasing her third compilation album, #1 to Infinity. But according to the head honcho of her label, L.A. Reid, neither Carey nor her fans should get their hopes up for a No. 1 record on the charts.
In a new interview with Billboard, the chairman of Sony-owned Epic explained that he doesn’t have faith that Carey’s current single, “Infinity,” or any subsequent single will hit No. 1 on the pop charts.
“Mariah Carey made her first hit record in 1991. To even be on the radio at this point in her career is a huge accomplishment, because radio doesn’t cater to veteran artists or legends. Radio caters to in-the-moment stars. … Nobody that put out records 25 years ago is going to have a No. 1. Not Paul, Stevie, Bruce, Mick or Keith. Not Prince, not anyone. So if she can get on the radio, we’ve done damn good. Would we like to have a No. 1? F– yeah, I’m greedy. But it’s not realistic,” Reid explained.
Well, that’s certainly not the response that fans would expect to hear from Reid, but considering how older artists are treated in today’s music world, we’d have to agree that Carey and any artist from her era will have a hard time competing with the Beyoncés, Rihannas and Taylor Swifts of this era.
But that’s not all that Reid had to say about Carey. Read what he had to say about her next album after the cut.
