Georgia Entertainment Scene
Georgia Entertainment Scene

Mariah Carey suffers vocal meltdown at tour kickoff in Tokyo

HOLLYWOOD, CA - JULY 23: Mariah Carey attends the premiere of Paramount Pictures' HERCULES at TCL Chinese Theatre on July 23, 2014 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures') Mariah = drama. Photo: Getty Images.

Credit: Melissa Ruggieri

Credit: Melissa Ruggieri

HOLLYWOOD, CA - JULY 23: Mariah Carey attends the premiere of Paramount Pictures' HERCULES at TCL Chinese Theatre on July 23, 2014 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures') Mariah = drama. Photo: Getty Images.
By Melissa Ruggieri
Oct 6, 2014

Mariah Carey hasn’t set any U.S. tour dates yet in support of her “Me. I Am Mariah... The Elusive Chanteuse,” but we can only hope that by the time she does, she’s recaptured that Carey vocal magic.

At her tour opener in Tokyo on Saturday, the diva-belter struggled mightily with the high notes, sounded off-key and was distracted by a malfunctioning mic stand that caused her to lose track of the lyrics.

Maybe Carey’s personal issues – she and husband Nick Cannon announced their split in August – have taken their toll. Or maybe it’s time to start changing some keys to avoid these types of public vocal struggles.

The album that Carey is supporting tanked on arrival, selling only 58,000 copies its first week and dropping off the Billboard 200 album chart in eight weeks, the shortest chart run of her career. As of August, “Elusive Chantuese” had sold 103,000 copies.

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About the Author

Melissa Ruggieri has covered music and entertainment for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution since 2010 and created the Atlanta Music Scene blog. She's kept vampire hours for more than two decades and remembers when MTV was awesome.

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