That L.A. Reid is a crafty guy. When Janet Jackson went down with the flu on Tuesday, forcing her to back out of this week's "Saturday Night Live," he replaced her quickly with Island Def Jam's other diva, Mariah Carey.
The switch keeps one of TV’s prime music performance spots in the Island Def Jam family, as the label gets ready to release “E=MC2,” the follow-up to Carey’s multi-platinum comeback “The Emancipation of Mimi,” on April 15. Carey is expected to perform the album’s first single “Touch My Body,” already rapidly climbing the charts, and another new track.
Jackson’s exit will unfortunately hurt sales of her “Discipline” album, which falls from No. 1 to No. 3 this week after a 68 percent sales decline, even as her single “Feedback” breaks into the Top 20 for the first time.