Posted: Wednesday 27th August 2008

Mariah Carey needs a hit to boost the sales of her current album E=MC2. Despite lead single Touch My Body being a Top 10 smash in the UK, the follow-up single Bye Bye only just scraped into the Top 30 before plummeting down the charts. Sales of E=MC2, whilst fairly impressive (1.8 million copies sold worldwide), are nowhere near the amount that The Emancipation Of Mimi sold. In a bid to claw the album campaign back, Carey is releasing a remixed version of I'll Be Lovin' U Long Time featuring a rap from T.I.

I'll Be Lovin' U Long Time is an uptempo, summer groove that sees Carey sampling the DeBarge hit Stay With Me. The end result is a sun-drenched track that probably should have been the second single rather than the third. The addition of T.I. on the track isn't really necessary and does nothing to add to it. The catchy chorus should help the song get onto radio and the accompanying video featuring a scantily clad Carey is likely to get heavy rotation on the music channels.

We love Mariah Carey but we can't help feel that she's making the wrong single decisions at the wrong time for this album campaign. Touch My Body was a suitable intro but Bye Bye should have enjoyed a Christmas release, not summer. We'd have liked to see Migrate or That Chick released before I'll Be Lovin' U Long Time. With a re-release of E=MC2 on the cards, let's hope that Carey has a smash up her sleeves to return her to the top of the charts.