"Is it surreal to think your career is at this point right now? Because there was a period after 2003's "Try This" and even after "Stupid Girls" in 2006 when your singles weren't taking off in the U.S. Was that time frustrating for you?
I never looked at it that way. I was always on the road in the U.K. and Australia, and things were really great over there. Then I got to come home and be left alone. And you know what? It gave me lot of time to create my show and to become a performer. I would go on 22-month tours and work my ass off, and it's been the biggest blessing of my life that now I am a touring artist. It got me out of the popularity contest that music can be sometimes and gave me time to hone my craft as a stage performer. I'm also grateful, and I got to come back and do the Grammys [in 2010]. That was my "A-ha."
For [the new album] "The Truth About Love," was it a struggle to get back into writing after you had your daughter, or did it come naturally?
I was calling it an experiment until it wasn't an experiment. I had 40 songs and it worked out. I'm like a faucet -- there's nothing going on in my head when I'm off. I write in a journal and that's it. But that first day in the studio just opened up the faucet.
The songs talk about all phases of a relationship, but you must be aware that people are going to hear songs like "How Come You're Not Here" and "The Truth About Love" and assume that you're having marital problems again.
It's funny. I wrote "Family Portrait" when I was 21 and my parents divorced when I was 9, so I tend to hold onto things. I'm still exorcising some of those demons. And look, I'm in a relationship that I've been in for 10 years and it's never going to be perfect. Carey always jokes, "You're always just mad enough at me to write a song." "Yep. Thanks, baby, you're my muse."
You've gone out of your way to ignore most of your first album, "Can't Take Me Home," on your greatest-hits set and recent tours -- but it had three big singles. How do you see that record's role in where you are today?
It's a huge part of where I am now. It's funny -- my best friend, he's always like, "When are you going to do 'Hiccup'? Can we get some 'Most Girls'?" I try so hard to fit them into my shows and they just don't end up making any sense to me somehow. For this last tour I had this whole salsa number to "There You Go" and it was going to be so beautiful but it just didn't fit in.
So, you've faced your fear of heights...
But I haven't yet faced my fear of my first record. [laughs]"
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