NELLY is inspired by Mariah Carey for his career comeback.

The Hot In Herre hitmaker has never matched the success of his first two albums, 2000’s Country Grammer and Nellyville in 2002 but insists he will never give up because he knows he can regain his popularity one day.

“Look at Mariah Carey. She has a little break. People look at it like it’s over. They have to throw dirt on her,” he said.

“Then all of a sudden, she’s the biggest thing to hit the stage again. Even bigger.

“You see what I’m saying, and I think that happens. So when you look at it like that, you’ve got to apply yourself.”

The 36-year-old star even wants to use the negative comments of his critics to further fuel his desire to achieve chart success again.

“I feel like, if people want to count me out — which I don’t know how you would count a guy out with 30 million records sold — then OK, I’m going to use it to my advantage,” he said.

“And I just felt that, since you don’t want to acknowledge me, or if you want to act like I don’t exist then good, don’t check for me. But you will eventually hear from me — and it works better that way.”