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COVER STORY
Mariah Carey walks into the room and you have to suppress the desire to either kiss her hand or carefully mist her with Chanel No. 5.
Even worse, when she curls up luxuriously under a blanket on a couch in her manager's well-appointed sitting room, you want to snuggle with her.
Needless to say, any of these actions on the part of her interviewer would bring the National Guard.
Because Mariah is the $200 million woman. Carey, the girl next door with the startling seven-octave vocal range, is among that elite group of superstars known throughout the world by her first name.
Yet, when you're sitting across from Carey, you get the vibe of a smart, talented and open artist who knows exactly who her audience is and is comfortable calling the shots.
Now, after 34 million albums sold in the U.S. alone, Carey wants to try her hand at acting.
"I'd love to do things that aren't about me," said Carey, wearing all black with a tiny diamond-encrusted crucifix at her neck. "I'd like to try some smaller parts, some with an edge, to show the different aspects of my personality, to show a different side of myself and not necessarily be the star."
New project
A project is being written for Carey by Cheryl West, author of the off-Broadway play "Holiday Heart" which Carey was affected by. Carey, 27, already has one soul ballad ready for the soundtrack.
"I was always in plays and usually had the lead but of course singing was always my first love," she said. "I did want to act as well, but because I started writing songs so young and got into singing backup for people and demos, I got more into that end of things. And that became my main focus."
For the past year, including during the making of her new album, "Butterfly," Carey studied acting four times a week for three or four hours a day. The result, she said, is her most nakedly emotional work to date.
"It was draining, since a lot of the acting exercises dealt with things I blocked as a child," she said. "In going back and...