Mariah Carey: Why is she back?

Even more revealing was what she said regarding being biracial, and how she can put the number of people she's been sexually intimate with "on less than one hand" (what does that even mean?). Is that revelatory ?She said it's because she has major issues with protecting her body, and it's influenced by what she "saw in her childhood" - it seemed to imply that she was talking about abuse, but when John Norris mentioned pregnancy and STDs she just nodded and said yeah.

Of course, none of this rationalizes or in any way explains why she prancies around as a human sausage in those godawful Heartbreaker and Butterfly vids, but she said that that's just her image and she really is very sexually conservative. (Why this dichotomy then?) She wants the loving, committed husband, three kids and white picket fence, in her own words.

I don't know what the hell is wrong with me today that I'm actually posting some sort of pro-Mariah thread - I would've guessed me finishing a paper on time would be more likely. But I dunno. She's just another human being. Maybe I'm weary of hating on her, and am projecting it onto Xtina...

I miss the video of "Somedays," one of her very, very few (there are two) semi-good songs (both early 90s ballads - I forget the other one, but the video involved the talent show thing in the church or something where she rises like a bursting tulip fromt he stage) - don't you remember ? She walks through the halls of the school in like a flannel shirt, she seemed normal. What a mindfuck, that Mariah

Also, call me Good Charlotte, but I have a hard time with someone who's been stinking rich for well over a decade who's done nothing but complain about how tired she is and how her crappy acting in a crappy movie didn't make her a bigger star.

Beautifully put, man. Beautiful.

God, but I love/d her 1st album.

LOLZ

(Alex, if you don't take advantage of this opening...)

Bullshit....
http://www.zymetrical.com/images/products/beerhelmet.jpg

I saw mariah on some commercial yesterday for a phone or something, I don't know because I had to mute it because she was "singing" and I was starting to convulse like that guy who has a physical reaction to Mary Hart's voice - can I get an Amen?

I pay women to let me put things in their mouths.

number one on itunes.

She's crap.

Indie music used for non-indie motives - what difference does it make?

saw her waving her breasts around in some new video today. the song was interchangeable with most everything she's been churning out for the last 10 years or so

her songs from the last 10 years or so are definitely NOT interchangeable! and all the hits have been ace.

(even the non hits actually)

and i got news for you alex, she's COMIN BACK AGAIN in a few months.

I'm going to drink a big goblet of Hemlock, then.

Please do.

Nice.

I see she's also pushing a fragrance line these days. Yeah, like the world needed that.

M.

will we smell like her, or what she wants us to smell like?

actually shes mixed

-- +++, Thursday, March 23, 2006 1:54 PM (1 year ago) Bookmark Link

lol

i dunno i'm actually really curious to see what it smells like??

Every time I see this thread I read it as "Mariah Carey: Why is she black?"

me too.

actually shes mixed

-- +++, Thursday, March 23, 2006 1:54 PM (1 year ago) Bookmark Link

lol

-- jaymc, Wednesday, December 12, 2007 2:29 PM (34 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

I simply cover my ears, because I like looking at her.

hahahahahahahahaha why is she black

that's funny

Riotous! Someone should start that thread. Not me.

I see she's also pushing a fragrance line these days. Yeah, like the world needed that.

-- Alex in NYC, Thursday, 13 December 2007 05:26 (12 hours ago) Bookmark Link

ew, does it smell of fish?

it smells like marshmallows.

I was about to ask why do I see an "l" in the header that isn't here. But it seems other people have actually thought of the same thing upthread. :)

ban

Geir Hongro: why is he [fill in blank]?

is mariah carey really worth listening to? i'm not being cynical, i'm just wondering if she has some good material that i might want to pay attention to?

I'd nail her

haha. well, i would too...

double-ban^^

shhhh

Why ban, she's pretty hot. Hopefully she doesn't do those melismas in the sack though.

haha

is mariah carey really worth listening to? i'm not being cynical, i'm just wondering if she has some good material that i might want to pay attention to?

I'm astounded that you've been able to avoid hearing her for this long.

In any event, if you enjoy car alarms and dog whistles and coprophagia, YOU'LL LOVE HER!!!

There is no place for Mariah in this brave new Biffy Clyro world, even if her perfume does smell like Biffy Clyro.

Maybe if Mariah adopted Biffy Clyro's sleeve concepts....

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/4162D0PKS4L._SS500_.jpg

coprophagia

you may not like the way she sings, but she doesn't scat.

Zing!

Sorry Bill, Mariah Carey is not a hooker.

Thanks for the heads-up

u might like some of her stuff charlie!

Please cleanse this thread.

when all is said and done and people look back on 20th/21st century female pop...

...there will be only one

and her name is mariah...

More so than Madonna? I dunno, dude.

hell yeah, it'll be like madonna who...

i mean, take away the gimmickry and what ya got ??? an astute business woman but not much else

...strip away at mimi and you still got a voice with an impressive vocal range that oozes sex in every breath

song for song put up madonnas best and compare it to mimi

no one even comes close shes unfuckwithable...

...and yet oh so fuckable

whats cool is that i don't think we've seen the best or worst of mimi yet...

I do agree.

"saw her waving her breasts around in some new video today. the song was interchangeable with most everything she's been churning out for the last 10 years or so"

same goes for <insert pap you're listening to>.

"More so than Madonna? "

if you discount the shit madonna's been churning out of her ass these last few yrs? then yes. otherwise? hmmm, probably still yes but mariah has made some great songs.

Madonna's last ten years have been her best ever. Mariah Carey has become even worse recently than she had used to - I mean, I prefer even MOR schmalzy ballad pap to so-called "contemporary" R&B crap.

Please cleanse this thread.

-- The Reverend, Thursday, December 13, 2007 6:41 PM (Thursday, December 13, 2007 6:41 PM) Bookmark Link

mariah has made slaughtered some great songs.

There, corrected.

With the exception of "Without You" and "Against All Odds", I dunno how good those songs were to begin with either.

mariah carey was never hot. just barely in her butterfly video. she is not hot.

Mariah CRAPPY morelike

i used to HATE mariah's switchover to like hot 97 rNb stuff. but now i think it's the best thing ever. her voice is perfect for the material, and frankly, i just can't stop listening to the Emancipation of Mimi.

it has just enough old-school charm without being cornball, and the production is clean and rich, and packs a punch.

she's a girly girl and there's no question that she makes powder puff pop, but it's smart, well-written (by her) and FUN. and her voiiiiice....

...is the equivalent of ten thousand squeaky trainers in Milton Keynes Shopping Centre the Friday before Christmas.

what the fuck happened to ilm

ILM was approached by some hoodies in Milton Keynes Shopping Centre but saw them off singlehandedly. The police have praised his actions.

hehe. okay dingbod name a beautiful female voice, just so i know what you're into

Cathy Berberian

beautiful female voice

If by "beautiful" you mean to imply all the restraint and subtlety of a glass-shattering air-horn, then yes.

i mean, just cuz someone belts doesn't mean they sound like a horn. whitney sounds much more like a horny than mariah does. or christina, for god's sake.

Mariah certainly doesn't make me a horny.

yeah, obvs the ballads are rubbish but you gotta love tunes like fantasy and heartbreaker.

"Fantasy" is only OK because of "Genius Of Love" and ODB input.

thanks for clearing that up.

yeah, obvs the ballads are rubbish but you gotta love tunes like fantasy and heartbreaker.

um, she has lots of great ballads:

Vision of Love
4th of July
Breakdown
Fly Like a Bird
My All
Stay The Night
Don't Forget About Us

etc.

OTfuckinM

fly like a bird killllls me

fair nuff, not really a ballads kinda guy.

add me to the list of people who keep seeing "Mariah Carey: Why is she black?"

well alex, i've heard her stuff - the singles at least - but am wondering if i may have overlooked something. i'm not a huge pop fan (usually) so there's probably not much for me, personally, to like.

but i am interested in what people consider to be her best work. what do you think, surmounter?

and stevienixed, i don't listen to papp! whatever that is. :)

haha pc user confirming what I always suspect -- when people say whatever pop singer's ballads suck they're usually actually saying they hate pop ballads in general.

that's about half right in my case, yeah

dunno, there's not much pop i like, really. mariah i sort of like cuz she's a bit more r'n'b. but not "proper" rnb like d'angelo or something. that's why i like timerlake, too.

okay, i would say: the album, Music Box, is really, really beautiful. it incorporates a lot of smooth-tempo gospel and rich harmonies that are knee-buckling. this is early mariah, so you have a tasteful arrangement speckled with amaaaazing uptemo songs like Dreamlover and Now That I Know. Dreamlover, in retrospect, sounds even more graceful now. The production is subtle, swanky and classic in the true sense of the word, and Mariah's voice is tremendously clean.

Emotions comes earlier and is a paired-down effort in the same vein but with a more utempo vibe. Very strong song-writing.

In the thick of her career, you have Daydream, Butterfly and Rainbow, which are all solid in terms of production, song quality and texture. Honey is a single not to be under-estimated even though it signaled a strong departure from Mariah's more traditional beginnings, taking on hip-hop's slinky, sexy take on pop. This effort could at first be considered unoriginal or meager, but it offers a subtle elegance in its layers, and continues to emphasize the power of Mariah's voice as a textural instrument. All the Mariah's cooing in your ear are enough to drive a man crazy.

The Emancipation of Mimi is the latest record and as far as latest records go, it doesn't disappoint in the least, blending horns, beats and layers into a fusion of rNb pop goodness. Shake It Off is one of the best pop songs I've ever heard -- the cleanliness of the production and Mariah's acrobatic head voice are mindblowing. And songs like We Belong Together, One and Only (Parts 1 and 2) and Fly Like a Bird, along with most of the songs on the album, are surprisingly capable of holding their own (this is, of course, an understatement with regard to We Belong Together).

For me, Mariah's music is addictive because of the way she layers her voice, and because of the voice, itself. Her breathy head voice is unrivaled and her chest voice is nothing to scoff at either. And what makes her so adept at performing her songs is her ability to jump around between the high and low registers so comfortably. Not to mention the high notes.

Check out Bliss off Rainbow for a taste of how densely she can pour it on, and how entertainingly she can play with her range.

"Honey"is great. I love those runs at the end IIII- NEEE--NEEEEEEEE-NEEED IT. And the video is so classic.

without a doubt

I do kind of wonder though if Mariah recent inclination towards basically whispering is because she's destroyed her voice or because she "prefers to sing that way"(like she claims).. as amazing as "Fly Like a Bird" is, Emotions-era Mariah would have DESTROYED it. But anyway, I can't wait for her new album though the list of producers is kind of meh (WHY IS SHE WORKING WITH STARGATE? PEOPLE SHOULD STAY AWAY FROM THEM).

I like how, in the world of ILM, anyone who phonates when they sing is automatically screaming, honking or belting.

honest to goodness!

i saw this crap documentary about "grunge" and they claimed that it died in '94 because of pop "coming back" with mariah carey and boybands...wtf, different audiences completely.

Well, bullshit pop ala Mariah did "come back" with a sickly fuckin' vengeance, no?

no.

you really think kids buying stone temple pilots cds suddenly went out and started listening to toni braxton or something?

there is good pop and bad pop innit.

Hang on -- what are we debating here? That Mariah and boybands are different audiences?

or that Mariah and boybands cater to different audiences, I should say.

And as far as "grunge" or "alt.pop" or whatever you'd want to call the 90's boom of non-slick pop crap goes, I think people just burned out on the too much/too soon aspect of it and looked for something else. Unfortunately, the next big thing to take its place was inanely vacuous pop crap.

..like Mariah

saying i think that doc was a load of bollocks because OBVS grunge and mariah had different audiences.

and pop can't "come back" because by definition it's always popular.

true - but I'm sure a lot of folks bought Nirvana's Nevermind who weren't devout Sub Pop/Amphetamine Reptile/SST/Dischord heads.

and pop can't "come back" because by definition it's always popular.

In this case, I'd suggest "pop" refers to a style and sensibility of music, and not the literal definition of "popular", but whatever.

there's always the glitzy, showbizzy, dancin' around style of pop.
there was in the early 90s.

is "pop" your code for "black"?

Wow.

Fuck you, by the way.

true - but I'm sure a lot of folks bought Nirvana's Nevermind who weren't devout Sub Pop/Amphetamine Reptile/SST/Dischord heads

probably kids into metal or whatever.

also, relax.

You call me a racist and tell me to relax. Go fuck yourself.

He didn't call you a racist, Alex.

(I half-agree with both sides of this argument, btw.)

nah, don't think you're racist.

pc user was merely implying that Alex is a racist.

I wouldn't not surprised.

I would not be surprised*.

To back up to ballads, I love me some Aaliyah (though I'm always a bit worried that she's the "safe" hipster r&b choice) ballads, and love some Rufus and Whitney ballads, but the vast majority of Carey stuff that I've heard just bores me to tears. She seems like the very epitome of melismatics and ornamentation over substance. But I also don't understand what people like about Alicia Keys either, so I might be a bad listener.

i need to hear some aaliyah for sure

(though I'm always a bit worried that she's the "safe" hipster r&b choice)

Why do you worry about this sort of thing? Why not just like what you like instead of worrying how it will go over with your chain-wallet'd Oberlin friends?

I would not be surprised*.

I've been a fairly regular contributor to ILX since about 2001. Calling someone a racist based exclusively on their testimony regarding pop music is so fucking offsides I cannot even begin to put it into words. COME TO THINK OF IT, I DON'T OWN ANY BARABARA STREISAND ALBUMS EITHER -- CLEARLY I'M AN ANTI-SEMITE!

Calling someone a dick or a douchebag or a moron is one thing. Calling them a racist is something a great deal more damning and not something to be taken lightly.

lol oberlin.

i need to hear some aaliyah for sure

Wait, did you just say you've never heard Aaliyah? And this is Surmounter talking? My head hurts.

i know! i mean, only like one song... this is imminent.

how is that even possible.

did you not have a radio growing up.

I am absolutely astounded.

nice to see alex in nyc posting in bolded caps again.

i like "one in a million" but that's more of a slow jam isn't it? overall i find ballads dull.

alex, i don't think you are racist.

is now a good time to point out that I keep misreading the thread title as "Mariah Carey: Why is she black?"

calling people racist (sexist, homphobic, heterosexist, eurocentric, etc etc) is the sport of choice at ILX.

Hahah, BIG HOOS, me too.

"Why do you worry about this sort of thing? Why not just like what you like instead of worrying how it will go over with your chain-wallet'd Oberlin friends?"

Because I recognize that I'm a dilettante when it comes to modern R&B, so I don't want to make broad pronouncements about liking or hating r&b ballads based on what might be an outlier to the genre.

Oh, and because I want to bait ILX poptards like you.

I'm always a bit worried that she's the "safe" hipster r&b choice

I think you're right. I blame Timbo.

is now a good time to point out that I keep misreading the thread title as "Mariah Carey: Why is she black?"

i think everyone misreads it as that.

see upthread, mentioned here and there.

what nails it for me and mimi is her lisp, soooooooo sexy...

...and her harmonies. the low one, the high one, the whispery one, the off key one and the sexy one, all layered up to produce one sickly sweet syrupy gooey mess of a song

just smear it all over you and get your partner to lick it off...

...yum

madonnas tunes cant do any of that...

hahahahaha

this thread sucks

ethan's post is funny though. mariah is pretty great.

I do kind of wonder though if Mariah recent inclination towards basically whispering is because she's destroyed her voice or because she "prefers to sing that way"(like she claims).. as amazing as "Fly Like a Bird" is, Emotions-era Mariah would have DESTROYED it. But anyway, I can't wait for her new album though the list of producers is kind of meh (WHY IS SHE WORKING WITH STARGATE? PEOPLE SHOULD STAY AWAY FROM THEM).

-- The Brainwasher, Friday, December 14, 2007 4:31 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Link

the thing is, i know exactly what you mean, but even if it did signal some deterrioration of her voice, i would still want it exactly that way (like on Fly Like A Bird for ex). i didn't used to appreciate her breathiness, but i look for it now. but you're right, an Emotions-era rendition would be pretty stellar.

she love everything jay say, jay does

WHY IS SHE WORKING WITH STARGATE? PEOPLE SHOULD STAY AWAY FROM THEM

Stargate are good for acts that aren't particularly melodic to begin with (Beyonce etc.), but people such as Lionel Richie, who are able to write better melodic songs without the aid of Stargate, and without those annoying dance rhythms in the background, should stay away from them.

Lionel Richie wrote "Hello", he wrote "Still", he wrote "Easy", he wrote "Three Times a Lady", he wrote "Truly", he wrote "All Night Long". There is no way that Stargate will get even close to the greatness of those songs!

Good grief.

beyonce sounds very tuneful to me

Mariah certainly doesn't make me a horny.

-- Dingbod Kesterson, Friday, December 14, 2007 10:26 AM (5 days ago) Bookmark Link

beyonce sounds very tuneful to me

...she sounds like a whiny ol whorebag to me

not worthy of mentioning in the same breath as mariah...

Why is ILM so awful lately?

"All Night Long" has some pretty annoying dance rhythms going on in the background.

Lionel Richie will never write a song even a nanoillionth as good as "Baby One More Time."

Why is ILM so awful lately?

Yes, god forbid someone doesn't share your taste.

^^^^ LOOOOOOOOOOOOL

Mariah should have guested on The X-Factor. She would have shown that Same Difference who's boss on the circus front.

It's not anyone in particular's taste, just rather the general clusterfuckedness.

Merry Christmas!

=P

beyonce sounds very tuneful to me
...she sounds like a whiny ol whorebag to me

not worthy of mentioning in the same breath as mariah...

-- pollywog, Thursday, 20 December 2007 04:54 (8 hours ago) Link

even if she sounds like a whiny whorebag to you, her melodies can still be very strong, contrary to what Geir proposed. you may not like how she sings them but every single by Beyonce has had a pretty catchy melody, in my humble opinion.