Mariah Carey 'Emancipates' Her Career

With eight Grammy nominations, Mariah Carey is firmly back in the arena of super stardom.

She's up for three of the most prestigious awards: best album, song and record of the year.

The Early Show national correspondent Hattie Kauffman

"Naming it 'The Emancipation of Mimi' had a lot to do with me saying, 'Okay, this is me the person as well as the artist formerly known as Mariah Carey,' " she told Kauffman. "I'll always be Mariah Carey, recording artist, whatever you want to label me as, but the thing is, this is very special to me because it's a labor of love."

Kauffman reported that not so long ago, Carey's career was in a nose dive and she was released from her record company. But now, with 8 million copies sold, her new album marks an unprecedented revival.

"All I can really do is thank God and thank my fans and really just try to enjoy this moment for them, too, because this is their moment, too," Carey said.

Many music writers are calling Carey's success the biggest comeback in pop music but the singer says she never thought it was over for her.

"I've never lost faith in myself. I've never not believed in who I am and my real fans never have either," she said.

She also told Kauffman of the tremendous satisfaction she feels in touching the lives of her fans.

"I always think, 'This is so personal, nobody's going to relate to this but me, this is so specific to my life,' " she said. "And then those are the songs that, mainly, a lot of young girls will say, 'This got me through the worst time in my life. Thank you so much for writing it.' That's the reward. That's the truest reward."

It has been 16 years since Carey's debut and in that time she's sold 150 million albums, according to Kauffman.

And she's experienced all the different sides of glamour.

"The glamorous life is fun sometimes," she said. "Sometimes it looks glamorous but it's not glamorous. Like our feet hurt, and we get to take off our shoes when we're behind the scenes."

Tune in for all the glamour of the Grammy Awards on Wednesday night on CBS.