Island RecordsMess with Mariah Carey's music and you'll never hear the end of it. The five-time Grammy winner shamed a sound engineer for uploading the incorrect version of her new single, "The Art of Letting Go," to her official Facebook page three days earlier. Carey penned the lengthy note to her "Lambs" at 3:30 in the morning on Thursday, Nov. 14.
"I'm sitting on my bathroom floor, very upset by some news I just got from a close friend and employee. Lucky her, she was 'nominated' to deliver this message to me after the long awaited 11.11 moment and the Jimmy Fallon show, knowing how upset I would be," Carey shared. "Not because the world has come to an end or something, but because this 11.11 listening party was so important to me on a core level as a musician, who cares so much about how my fans hear my music for the first time that I didn't even allow a snippet to be released until 11 on the dot."
"To cut to the chase," she continued, "a mistake was made by a brand new sound engineer whose only task was to press the space bar and upload the song to Facebook, while my team, and an incredible group of people from Facebook, partied while listening to the properly mixed & mastered version of 'The Art of Letting Go' on repeat from my iPod on my home speakers. Clearly, I was focused on answering your questions during the Q&A. There was no reason for me to wonder if the final mix we were listening to in that room together was different than what you were listening to!"
"Like I always say, I am involved with every record I make, from the inception to the completion of the song. Every nuance of the beat or vocal matters to me," the former American Idol judge explained. "Even if the differences may seem slight to you, I had put time, effort and emotions into 'The Art of Letting Go' and the real mix is how I intended for you to hear the song."
Instead of removing the wrong mix, however, Carey decided to upload the new one and let fans compare the differences. "I want you to hear it like you're hearing it for the first time with me, and I will answer any questions that you have, pertaining to the song," said the singer, who's sold more than 200 million albums worldwide. "You know that I don't comment on gossip, I typically don't respond to things like this or go into so much detail to the world, but this is something I'm upset about and I wish I would have known sooner."
Carey acknowledged that her Facebook rant may seem unnecessary and over-the-top.
"There's no doubt in my mind that this sounds like a self absorbed diva on a 'woe-is-me' tangent about a couple of ad libs or some other triviality, but the reality is this is me, focusing solely on the record, wanting you to hear it and experience it the right way," she argued. "I love and appreciate you so much for taking the time to even glance at this 20-page 'diva in distress' thesis. Thank you for letting me vent, this is another reason why Facebook rocks! You'll be hearing from me soon. Here is the REAL version of 'The Art of Letting Go.'"
The married mom of two then asked fans to comment if they can notice the differences, if they can see why she prefers the mastered track, where the differences occur and if the official version elicits a more emotional response. "Let's talk about it," Carey wrote. "I'll be here waiting!"