The X Factor could give Mariah's career a second life

It seems Mariah Carey is recognized for just about everything except her music these days. A little more than three months after giving birth to twins with husband Nick Cannon, MC has stayed behind-the-scenes for the most part in 2011 - playing mother to her new daughter Monroe and son Moroccan rather than focusing on her music career. In fact, the only time we've heard from her since she gave birth in early April was when we heard that she was attempting to sell photos of the twins to a tabloid last month. However, we have to believe that Mariah will get back into the studio at some point. True, it's been awhile since she released a true solo project - her last effort, Merry Christmas II You, was a holiday album - but with 13 albums under her belt since 1990, we seriously doubt that motherhood will put a damper on her musical output. Recently, rumors started to swirl indicating that Mariah might play a large role on the upcoming season of Simon Cowell's The X Factor. She stands to serve as a mentor to the contestants on the show. And, you know what? We think that would give her a great opportunity to get her career back on track. And to prove it, we put together a list of the 5 ways The X Factor could give Mariah's career a second life. Give it a try, girl. 1. The X Factor would automatically make Mariah Carey relevant again. When it debuts on Fox in September, there's no doubt that The X Factor will get a ton of attention. With Cowell, L.A. Reid, Paula Abdul, Nicole Scherzinger, and Cheryl Cole all involved in judging the competition, it'll likely be just as popular as American Idol. So Mariah's involvement would instantly make her relevant again and get people talking about her. For better or worse, that's a good thing, because right now, all people are talking about is Mariah Carey, the mother, not Mariah Carey, the singer. 2. Joining the show would give Mariah a chance to see what people want to hear today. Mariah's been MIA for a couple of years now. So it's likely that she doesn't know what people are into when it comes to music. By mentoring up-and-coming singers on X Factor, she could learn a lot from them while she's teaching them everything that she knows. It'd be a win-win for both sides. 3. The X Factor stage would be the perfect place for Mariah to make a comeback performance or, better yet, premiere a new single. Ask Jennifer Lopez how much of a difference it makes to drop a new single and then have an outlet to promote it to millions of people every week versus simply dropping a single and then crossing your fingers and hoping it gets picked up at radio. J-Lo's career got a huge boost when she joined the cast of American Idol and then dropped a new single at the top of 2011. It got attention that it might not have gotten otherwise as a result of her involvement with the show. 4. The show would allow people to see how much Mariah understands about the music industry. Mariah is seasoned in every sense of the word. She's been around the block a few times and she understand what it takes to build a successful career. But there are a lot of people who probably don't understand just how smart she is. So The X Factor would give them a new perspective on Mariah and (hopefully!) paint a much better picture of exactly how she operates behind the scenes when it comes to music. 5. The visibility provided by X Factor would encourage Def Jam to give Mariah a chance to release a new album. Right now, Def Jam probably doesn't have a whole lot of incentive to release a new Mariah Carey album. She's been out of the limelight for a couple of years, her last non-Christmas album, Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel, didn't do great sales-wise, and no one is really clamoring for a new Mariah album at this point. But if she chooses to join The X Factor, all of that would change and Def Jam might actually approach her about recording some new music. And at this point in her career, that's exactly what she needs if she wants to release another album anytime in the near future. The X Factor sounds like exactly where you need to be this fall, Mariah. Now, will you accept the challenge? (MCA)