Mariah’s World Episode 1 Roundup!

Janice Dickinson.

Valerie Cherish.

La Toya Jackson.

And now, joining the hall of fame of reality TV legends is… Mariah Carey!?

For those out the loop, Mariah Carey is finally doing a reality show. Mariah’s World is the eight-part event airing on Bravo, documenting the superstar’s recent Sweet Sweet Fantasy Europe tour.

Honestly, the show comes off as an extremely eccentric move from the shady diva.

Shows like this have always been considered to be a high-key desperate career Revival (#AvailableOnItunes). Mariah, however, is a legitimate global icon and one of the biggest music stars in history.

The reality is, somebody of Mariah Carey’s calibre does not need to do a reality show.

So, why?

“I have never wanted to do this documentary in my life, in terms of being followed constantly by cameras”, she admits during the first scene (note the usage of ‘documentary’). “There’s so little privacy in entertainment anyway… but, I think if I don’t document this now, I don’t know when I’m gonna do it again. I think it’s gonna be something that I’m really gonna treasure, ultimately.”

Mariah then dives off a yacht into the ocean wearing her gown, diamonds – and, of course, her sunglasses.

And that is why this is an imminently iconic series.

Key Highlights:

• Mariah lounging in extravagant gowns during every confessional scene.
• 4:12 – “That’s what I do when I’m about to fall, I scream into a high note”.
• 8:18 – Seeing Mariah the Mom.
• 8:30 – FOUR assistants helping Mariah put on her shoes.
• 9:43 – Mariah trying to walk down the stairs of her yacht in heels.
• 10:40 – “Somebody said it was ten years ago, I don’t know if I believe that because I wasn’t born ten years ago yet”.
• 12:40 – “Have the sunglasses and the shoes ready”.
• 13:14 – Mariah’s tour philosophy? “I’m on the tour, and here I am”.
• 15:25 – “They’re BLEEEAK dahling, they’re BLEEEAK”.
• 28:58 – “JLT – Job Long Time”.
• 34:02 – “I’m wearing these glasses because we’re in fluorescent lighting, and I have a rule that always states that I will not be seen in fluorescent lighting without sunglasses. I know it’s very 90s, I don’t give a fuck”.
• 40:36 – The house staff asking a blubbering Molly, “you want something to eat?”

Questions for E02:

• Did Molly get the Apple TV to work??
• Does Mariah survive being carried out on the chaise lounge?
• How much overtime were they charged for starting the rehearsal three hours late?
• Does Stella find out that Molly broke rule #1 – no crying?

Mariah’s World E01 Summary:

Music superstar Mariah Carey is ready to show you her world, as she prepares to embark on a colossal world tour.

The show opens with a four minute introduction showing upcoming highlights from the show, a reminder of Mariah’s several accolades, and some commentary from Mariah’s British (?) “alter ego/arch nemesis” Bianca Storm.

The first scene is in Capri, Italy, where Mariah is relaxing on a glamorous yacht with her team and “Dem Babies”. She explains that she is planning her wedding to fiancée James Packer, while pointing out the exotic views. We then meet her nephew Shawn Mcdonald, who vouches for Mariah’s explanation that “we did not grow up this way”. It is then revealed that Mariah’s mother gave her the stage name Mariah Carey, and that she was the driving force behind Mariah. Mariah reflects on her come up, revealing that she moved to Manhattan “as a teenage girl” and that she “lived on a mattress on the floor, writing [her] songs, being a horrible waitress”. She then touches on what it’s like being a mother and a singer, and that ultimately “it’s very rewarding”. We then watch Mariah getting ready to fly back to LA to begin preparations for her upcoming world tour, and we are introduced to Mariah’s ballsy manager Stella. “She’s tough, but she’s an incredible person”, Mariah tells us. Mariah begins the next segment of the episode by touching on her relationship with Stella, and expresses how joyful she is to go on tour and connect with her fans again.

We then watch Stella interview Molly, an overly ambitious but painfully inexperienced “potential new tour assistant”. Stella lists off the duties of a personal assistant, like “having the shoes and the sunglasses ready”. Stella then lays down her top rules – “you’re not allowed to date, and there’s no crying allowed in my office”. Stella is not overly keen on Molly after the interview.

The episode then cuts to Mariah, who is sipping Diet Coke as Stella chases a designer in Ireland creating graphics for jumbo screens. Mariah is agitated to hear about modified renderings she did not approve.

Mariah is now laying down some vocals at the piano with Big Jim Wright, the tour’s musical director, and reveals her anxieties about getting the music right for every country. She then sings an impromptu song about Big Jim.

The next scene shows us Mariah having a dress fitting for her upcoming wedding – “just a little tiara” would set the look off, she says.

We then meet Anthony, the tour’s creative director. He explains that his position is to get everything “magic”. He informs Mariah that “people never feel like you are that accessible to them”. This prompts Mariah to dive into the pressure of living to what people expect Mariah Carey to be like. “They want her to have glamorous clothes, they don’t want her to have glamorous clothes – can people make up their minds?!” They then practice some choreography, and go over ways Mariah can improve her stage presence. Anthony then presents some backdrops to an underwhelmed Mariah. “When they don’t involve me, then I hate it, because it’s not what I like”, she clarifies.

Anthony then holds a choreography rehearsal, and we are introduced to Bryan Tanaka, a dancer who has been working with Mariah since 2005. Mariah expresses her concerns about the tour’s “grand reveal” – Mariah being carried onto the stage on a chaise lounge. The dancers then perform a segment of “Heartbreaker”, to Mariah’s delight.

Mariah is now getting her makeup done by her artist Kristofer Buckle. “Do we really want that much of the sparkly bronzer?” Mariah asks in a British accent more frightful than Madonna’s. Mariah then tells him that Danielle, a hair dresser, is “not coming on the tour”. Kristofer gives an insight into the elusive Danielle and Team Mariah’s outlook on Stella, who supposedly started “firing everyone”. Mariah counters this by saying she “needed somebody like Stella”.

In the next scene, Mariah and Stella are talking about the pressures of the tour, juxtaposed with planning a wedding. “Dare I say it, but do you postpone the wedding?” Stella states to an alarmed and overwhelmed Mariah.

Mariah is then making edits to her tour remixes with her engineer. “A lot of artists get told what to do – with me, I’m in the studio, I’m in the edit bay, I’m there, this is what I’ve been doing”.

The episode then cuts to Molly’s apartment, who breaks the news to her boyfriend that her “cryptic” interview was a success and she will be joining Mariah Carey’s upcoming world tour as her assistant. “I just feel like Mariah and I are gonna be best friends”, she tells her doting boyfriend, who is concerned about Molly’s frequent tendency to call him whenever she cries.

Mariah then makes the executive decision to postpone her wedding and focus on her tour, much to Stella’s masked joy. “I’ve been dealing with this prenup, and it’s not the most romantic thing I’ve read”, she bluntly states. Mariah then shows up to the last US rehearsal at 10PM, and doesn’t leave until the early morning.

Now at the venue in Glasgow, Anthony is helping prepare for the first rehearsal two days away from opening night. He has a minor dispute with the costume designer about some technicalities of the outfits – “it’s showbusiness, you cannot take it personally but I do”, the designer passionately declares. Anthony then begins getting stressed out because it is two hours past rehearsal time and he has not heard from Mariah or Stella. The elusive Mariah finally lands in Glasgow three hours late, because Mariah’s nanny packed her passport in her suitcase. “It’s just, it’s just, it’s just, it’s just UNFATHOMABLE” Stella rants in a confessional scene.

At the hotel in Glasgow, Molly struggles lifting one of Mariah’s cases up the staircase. She then becomes frantically stressed because she cannot set up Apple TV in Mariah’s room. It is her top responsibility – “If she can’t have the Apple TV playing while she’s sleeping, then she can’t sleep. If she can’t sleep, she can’t perform. If she can’t perform, there’s no show. If it’s not there, everything else falls apart”.

The episode concludes with Mariah finally arriving at the venue, ready to begin rehearsal and sharing her apprehensions about the tour’s incompleteness.