Friday, June 19, 2026

Mariah and Justin Bieber Were Too Expensive for “X Factor”

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Last week I reported that Mariah Carey and Justin Bieber would be performing on “X Factor.” They were scheduled to sing “All I Want for Christmas Is You” on December 15th. But now I’m told that Carey’s set up — band, dancers, back up singers, make up, lighting, not to mention nannies (just kidding!) etc– was just too rich for the “X Factor” budget. The price would have come in around $300,000. Hey, it’s tough times for everyone!

“Mariah hasn’t performed live in about a year,” says a source. “She wanted to make sure everything was perfect. She certainly doesn’t sing to a track.”  And so a dream dies. But the possibility still exists of Carey singing on next year’s premiere, Meantime, I am told also that Mariah’s album with under-the-radar manager Randy Jackson is proceeding well. This could be her last album for Universal Music Group if she decides to join L.A. Reid at Epic/Sony. And Justin Bieber? Despite his enormous teen popularity, his Christmas album is being outsold by Michael Buble at a rate of 2 to 1.

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Roger Friedman
Roger Friedman
Roger Friedman is the founder and editor-in-chief of Showbiz411. He wrote the FOX411 column on FoxNews.com from 1999 to 2009, where he covered Michael Jackson, and previously wrote the "Intelligencer" column at New York magazine in the mid-1990s, where he covered the O.J. Simpson trial. He also edited Fame magazine. His bylines have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, Vogue, Details, and the Miami Herald. He is a voting member of the Critics Choice Awards (Film and Television branches), and his movie reviews are tracked by Rotten Tomatoes. With D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, he co-produced the 2002 documentary "Only the Strong Survive," which screened at Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

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