Five weeks after her split from Australian billionaire fiance, James Packer, Mariah Carey has either gone public with her new man, back-up dancer Bryan Tanaka, or is showing off her shrewd business skills by staging a new relationship to help promote her upcoming reality TV show.
Whatever the reason, the singer, 46, was spotted in pictures published by the Daily Mail on Thursday, wrapping one leg around the 33-year-old as she kisses him while standing in the surf in Maui, Hawaii, after they finished their third of three concerts in the tropical paradise.
In other snaps taken on Monday, Tanaka, who has a storyline in Carey's Mariah's World, shows off his impressive dance moves by dipping his boss over one knee and later carrying her from the water in his arms.
TMZ reported last month that Packer "grew jealous" of Carey's relationship with Tanaka and used his casino ties to ban him from Caesar's Palace, where Carey was performing, after confronting him about their relationship.
She also appears in many of his Instagram pictures.
However, with the pair strategically facing the hidden paparazzi on the secluded beach it could all be just a ruse ahead of her E! reality show that debuts in Australia on Monday, where Tanaka's crush on the All I Want For Christmas Is You singer will be explored.
A photo posted by Bryan Tanaka (@bryantanaka) on Nov 18, 2016 at 1:42pm PST
Last week, the singer was elusive when she spoke about Packer with Ellen DeGeneres as she promoted her "docuseries" ("not reality TV show").
"Now it's a whole friggin' thing... I think I'm doing well," she said, before trying to deflect and asking DeGeneres: "How are you?"
Carey continued: "Everything happens for a reason. Things are the way they are."
The talk show host pressed the singer on whether Packer wanted to be left out of the television show. Previews have already shown the casino mogul star, in other scenes Carey tries on wedding dresses.
"Allegedly," Carey said. "It's kind of difficult to talk about it at the moment. So I'm just going to compliment you on these decorations once again because they are fabulous, and I am here, among them."
After taking aim at tabloid Woman's Day recently for their reports about their split, she added she was "trying to avoid" magazine reports.
She also wouldn't reveal who took these 4am bubble bath Instagram snaps:
A photo posted by Mariah Carey (@mariahcarey) on Sep 9, 2016 at 3:25am PDT
A photo posted by Mariah Carey (@mariahcarey) on Sep 9, 2016 at 3:10am PDT
"It was 4 in the morning and I decided to take a bath, and then I was bombarded by somebody, I'm not going to say who it was," she said. "And by the way, I'm wearing a bodysuit under that, nobody can see. They think I'm nude, but I'm not."
When asked does she always wear diamonds in the bath, she explained: "They're not going to fall off … do you really want to take them off? These are hard to take off. It takes so long, and I'd already ran the water."
