Mariah Carey performs at the New Year’s Eve celebration in Times Square, New York. File/AP

Singer-songwriter Mariah Carey and Bryan Tanaka seem to have called it quits. Since kicking off her Merry Christmas One and All! tour in mid-November, Tanaka has been absent from Carey’s shows, sparking fan speculation that the pop icon has split from her longtime boyfriend.

Mariah Carey, who’s mom to 12-year-old twins Moroccan and Monroe (who she shares with ex-husband Nick Cannon), is also celebrating the holidays in Aspen without Tanaka, 40, who has traditionally accompanied her to the snowy getaway, reports People magazine. This marks the first time the Songbird Supreme and creative director, who have had a professional relationship since 2006, have not travelled together for the holidays in years.

As per People, the couple was last publicly seen spending time together back in March when the hitmaker celebrated her birthday, which she prefers to refer to as her “anniversary.” At the time, Tanaka shared a photo of himself and Carey smiling and embracing one another on Instagram and shared a sweet message in the caption. He wrote: “This is one of my favourite pictures.

Ever. Happy Anniversary my Beautiful Queen”. The couple first connected in 2006 when Tanaka joined the superstar out on the road on her Adventures of Mimi tour. Then after working together for a decade, the ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ singer and the choreographer became romantically involved in 2016.” The ‘Obsessed’ singer and the dancer, who briefly broke up for a period in spring 2017 before reuniting, have toured and celebrated Christmas together in some capacity since they started dating.

In 2017, Tanaka took the stage with the star during her All I Want for Christmas Is You shows and spent the December holiday with her and her children on their annual Aspen trip. Between hitting the slopes, Carey even took to Instagram to share adorable photos from their festivities together. Carey rose to fame in 1990 with her self-titled debut album under the guidance of Columbia Records executive Tommy Mottola, whom she later married in 1993.

She is the only artist to-date to have their first five singles reach number-one on the Billboard Hot 100, from “Vision of Love” to “Emotions”. Carey gained worldwide success with her albums, Music Box (1993) and Daydream (1995) ― both of which rank among the list of best-selling albums, and spawned singles such as “Dreamlover”, “Hero”, “Without You”, “Fantasy”, “Always Be My Baby” and “One Sweet Day”. The lattermost of these topped the US Billboard Hot 100 decade-end chart (1990s).

After separating from Mottola, Carey adopted a new urban image and began incorporating hip-hop and R&B elements with the release of Butterfly (1997) and Rainbow (1999). By the end of the 1990s, Billboard ranked Carey as the most successful artist of the decade in the United States.

Agencies