Let’s assume that Mariah Carey doesn’t answer the doorbell wearing nothing but thigh-highs, panties, and push-up bra. Let’s also assume that the mansion in the singer’s new “Touch My Body” video isn’t her own. Some things are simply concocted for entertainment purposes, right? So where does Mariah really live? What does Mimi’s crib actually look like? Architectural Digest got to the bottom of that question. Its latest issue features a photo spread of Carey’s NYC triplex. Here are some shots of the place. Let’s assume that Glitter is rarely shown in the screening room, and don’t cry when you realize there are no pics of the white piano once owned by Marilyn Monroe.

Yesterday, Island/Def Jam honcho L.A. Reid hosted a few journalists in his office for a special preview of Mariah Carey’s upcoming E=MC? album, tentatively due April 15. While Reid looked on, Mariah’s A&R man and long-rumored beau Mark Sudack played 12 of the album’s cuts from his laptop, often passionately (and adorably!) singing along. On the album, there was drama, there was death, there was disco. What follows is a track-by-track breakdown of our impressions of the album. Note that this isn’t the final track sequence, that L.A. ticked off the producers list to us but it is by no means etched in stone and the tracks that we heard weren’t always mastered.

One final note: so much of this album is sung in Mariah’s chest voice. The vocal gymnastics and whistle notes, while there (’cause, duh, it’s Mariah!), take a backseat to clear, purposeful singing, and Mariah sounds better for it. Oh yeah, Mimi’s back.

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Yesterday, Def Jam honcho L.A. Reid invited a group of journalists into his office to play tracks from Janet Jackson’s upcoming album Discipline (due out Feb. 26). Janet fans worried that the absence of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis (her longtime producers who’ve been shaping her sound since 1986′s Control) should fear not: the combination of pillowy, multi-tracked harmonies and virtually non-stop dance tracks results in an album that out-Janets Janet. Easily her most dance-oriented album since Rhythm Nation 1814 (and possibly her most dance-oriented album ever), Discipline is the album so many fans have been waiting for. Below are our impressions of the nine tracks Reid played:

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Listen up, lambs! Mariah‘s back with a new album, wearing nothing but a hat. Mariah’s follow-up to The Emancipation of Mimi is slated to drop in April, and the album cover and title have allegedly leaked. Called That Chick, Mariah stated in early January that she hadn’t yet arrived at an album title and hinted that it might be “the exact opposite” of Mimi. British site Discopop alleges they got a listen, and revealed track titles like “Migrate,” “Lovin’ You Long Time,” “Touch My Body” and “Bye Bye.”