Mariah Carey says she was robbed…of her ideas.

Before Carey was put on mandatory vocal rest earlier this week, and ultimately canceled a Las Vegas show as a result, the 45-year-old “Infinity” singer sat with the Los Angeles Times for an extensive Q&A about the Vegas residency, and more.  

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During the talk, Carey was asked about recording new music, which revealed the alleged thief story.  “L.A. Reid and myself, we’re going to go in and go hard and think about the best move for the next record. And we’ll see,” she said. “But the last thing I’m going to do is give away more intellectual property. I’ve literally been robbed. I had an idea for something and someone took the exact same thing, and that was a little unnerving.”

She wouldn’t elaborate, however. “It’s too big a scandal. The person literally lifted the entire concept, and the title, and the visuals. I just couldn’t believe. But it's OK, it wasn’t meant to be, obviously. Or maybe it's meant to be again under a new headline.”

The minor setback hasn’t discouraged Carey’s positive outlook. In fact, she says “happiness” is the one word that describes her life at the moment. 

(Photo: Ethan Miller/Getty Images)