Mariah Carey - Memoirs of An Imperfect Angel [ Summer '09]

NEW MARIAH!!!! Single "H-A-T-E-U" should be dropping soon.

so is it written completely by the-dream or what

Not entirely, she's also working with Timbo. Terius is doing the majority of the album tho, I think... not that much info available, she released the name via her Twitter.

i was so dying when i heard about that tweet

THE FUCKING TITLE

it's gotta change

i mean, i love it, but there's no way

MEMOIRS OF AN IMPERFECT ANGEL

She's an angel, but she's not perfect.

This is her story.

In a world full of angels, imperfection speaks.

(nay, it sings)

llol

Twitter:

MariahCarey: I really can't wait to get home and finish this album!

MariahCarey: I mean, I failed remedial math. How am I supposed to add every time I look at the clock.?! Lol

i love this woman

I thought Surmounter was saying that for a second and I was a little worried!

!!

:]

MariahCarey: Its 0 o'clock.haaaaaaaaaaa

0_o'clock

dnr this was gonna be a Dream thing, touch my body was good but I never actually got round to investigating

i'm excited for you to do that

downloading now...

btw I am v. happy to be on the same page as you wrt music lately Ramz! Sbeen ages!

the only tweet i've ever favourited is one of mariah's:

@MariahCarey The best thing about working at home is I can sing and write in my pajamas..the worst thing is I NEVER LEAVE THE FRIGGIN PLACE!!! Lol

SHE KNOWS HOW I FEEL

o wait i have another favourited which i forgot about!!! it is amazing (americans ignore):

@campbellclaret Akon has almost taken over from Nelly Furtado as best cycling rhythm music

i'm drunk in an airport btw

btw I am v. happy to be on the same page as you wrt music lately Ramz! Sbeen ages!

― ❉❉❉❉❉❉❉❉Plaxico❉❉❉❉❉❉❉❉❉ (I know, right?), Friday, 22 May 2009 22:29 (Yesterday) Permalink

the only tweet i've ever favourited is one of mariah's:

@MariahCarey The best thing about working at home is I can sing and write in my pajamas..the worst thing is I NEVER LEAVE THE FRIGGIN PLACE!!! Lol

SHE KNOWS HOW I FEEL

― lex pretend, Saturday, 23 May 2009 00:27 (44 minutes ago) Permalink

YES, yes to both (i remember that tweet!)

They changed the single to "Obsessed", it's an uptempo produced by Terius & Tricky... supposedly it's an Eminem diss track LOL. It's being sent to radio next Tuesday.

MariahCarey So"Obsessed" is an uptempo fun summer record. We were gonna go w/the ballad Hate U 1st but don't worry,its coming. I tried to make something or all who love Butterfly, and even older albums,but"Obsessed" has to come out 1st, asap!! Its different for me,but clearly,its SO me!

heard about this, CAN

NOT

WAIT

:)

ftr, i'm really digging the song titles

my fav is when mariah stays up til 5 singing and tweets all punchy

MariahCarey: By the way H.A.T.E.U. Stands for something..can anyone guess? The chorus starts w/ "I can't wait to hate you make you pain like I do.."

MariahCarey: The point is you still love the person.."I can't wait to h.a.t.e.u. cos right now I need you..

she lettin dashboard confessional write her lyrics now? sheesh

"heaven awaits those expecting ululation"?

"hogtie a tranny in ermine underwear"?

adorning her imperial?

http://i43.tinypic.com/105bnlv.jpg
ZOMG!!!!!!!!!!!

was just coming to post that :D

dropping today???

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meq336bhn34

mariah carey album titles are real poetry

Night owl Mariah Carey

--------

Bang Showbiz | 06/11/2009 6:50 PM

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Mariah Carey only records her new album at night.

The "Hero" singer - who is currently working on her new record, entitled "Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel" - is driving record producers to distraction with her refusal to work during daylight hours.

Carey wrote on her page on social networking website Twitter in the early hours of Wednesday morning: "In the studio… driving the engineer crazy cos I'm a control freak and once again we're STARTING at 1:16 am..perfectly normal: ) (sic)"

The 40-year-old star posted an update two hours later, saying she was still working on the track.

Referring to her decision to sing all backing vocals on the song, Mariah wrote: "still in the studio. Hopefully I'll finish this one tonite. It has a lot of bv's and I'm doing them but you know I like that mess. (sic)"

The star - who is married to rapper Nick Cannon - eventually decided to stop recording at about 4:15am, when she went to her kitchen to play with her dogs.

It was recently reported Carey has been gorging on calorific treats while making her LP, causing her to pile on 15 lbs.

A source said: "Mariah loves food. Right now she's making an album and eating everything and anything she wants. She loves the curves."

god i love this woman

omg less than 1.5 hours, so anxious

wow a professional musician recording after midnight -- how unprofessional!

we're gonna see more "omg look at the timestamp on that twitter entry" non-stories like this from now on, aren't we

<3 <3 <3 love it

also is it now playing at 2pm? or 3pm? idk

it's playing in like 5 mins, you can listen here http://www.b96hits.com/

btw the album is out August 25th,

so excited, http://www.b96hits.com/stream.php

ugh commercials... soo excited....

oh my god it's back

OH SHITTTTTTTTTTT

it's playing

OH SHITT @ "it must be the weed/ it must be the E/whatever ur poppin"

Mariah just ethered Eminem.

I came in late, but I like what I'm hearing!

you're delusional
you're confused, y'know

OH SHITT @ "it must be the weed/ it must be the E/whatever ur poppin"

― Monday Nite Tranny Party (The Brainwasher), Tuesday, June 16, 2009 8:03 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

o m f g

last man on the earth still you couldn't hit this!!!!!!1

OH MY GODDDDDDDD

hotttness

(srsly, tho... could do without the ridiculous autotune.)

http://3391.voxcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/eminem-bruno-ass-face-01-2009-06-01.jpg

they're playing it again!!!

Oh yay, they're playing it again.

i was like, why you so obsessed with me?

best opening line since britney bitch

yesss definitely the best opening line since "it's britney bitch"

i almost like the autotune

yeah I don't mind the autotune

this better blow up the summer

Two things: 1) The autotune seems tired already, sick of hearing it. 2) This is Mariah Carey!!! No autotune required.

ugh, stop playing "Sugar"

this is realll catchy. i can already hear it in the cars.

this should blow up

come on internet where can i hear this now

youtube will have uploads soon, i'm sure

i thought about ripping it but i'm LAZY

wtf is this shit playing now

not mariah

http://limelinx.com/files/62ce1a6c39e9a7368658428bafc647c3

thankssssssss

thanking u

this isn't amazing but it will probably be huge

it's pretty great tho

jordan you'll like it more with every listen, i know

eh

yeah i know ramz ;-)

im happy that i can feel no shame in using as many winky faces as i want since this is a mariah carey thread ;-)

thanks - i like this on first listen

"and no one here even mentions your name"

^^^ZINGS BECAUSE IT IS TRUE

hahaha jordan

so yeah this is pretty awesome - terius duh

i'm slow, but i just noticed the biggest zing: "WILL THE REAL MC PLEASE STEP TO THE MIC?"

shut the fuck up

ferreal that's i there?

oh shit I didn't even think of it that way, LOLOLOLOL

as;lkjasjahahahahahahaaaaaaaa

"In the studio… driving the engineer crazy cos I'm a control freak and once again we're STARTING at 1:16 am..perfectly normal: ) (

I see Mariah has aged backwards.

this is my new ringtone obviously

In the studio… driving the engineer crazy cos I'm a control freak and once again we're STARTING at 1:16 am..perfectly normal: ) (

I see Mariah can't even type out an emoticon right!

that's what late nights'll do to a girl

if she needs to do a smiley gone frowny face to get through a night of recording, she can do WHATEVER THE EFF SHE WANTS

i don't care if she wears a butterfly tutu and bedazzles herself in gold glitter just to sing a line

:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D:D:D:D :D :D: :D :DS :D :D :D :D

i have to go out now but just need to pop in here to say OMG and :DDDDDD

deluuuusional, deluuuusional

whew we were missing you!

EM SONNED BY MARIAH

I haven't heard this yet but it's already making me very happy.

high qual http://www.thefader.com/articles/2009/6/16/freeload-mariah-carey-f-gucci-mane-obsessed

<3 gucci's ad libs on this "uhhhhhh - mwah"

if you're sexy and you're fine baby put your hands up
and tell your ex boyfriend to get his bands up

even i can't believe that gucci mane is harmonizing with mariah carey on the lead single from one of her albums

remix whatever

i'm out at jermaine's

this chorus is a slowburner

You a mom and pop, I’m a corporation
I’m the press conference, you a conversation
Ooh boy why you so obsessed with me?

HE'S ALL UP IN MY GEORGE FOREMAN

^^^^ best Mariah-ism ever.

EH..... more like best paul wall circa 2006 ism ever

oh... :( well it's still funny

it is

<3 gucci's ad libs on this "uhhhhhh - mwah"

the harmonies on the ohhhs are hot

this is very highschool party w beers <3

so much

Mariah Carey – Obsessed 11 minutes ago
Mariah Carey – Obsessed 9 hours ago
Mariah Carey – Obsessed 9 hours ago
Mariah Carey – Obsessed 9 hours ago
Mariah Carey – Obsessed 9 hours ago
Mariah Carey – Obsessed 9 hours ago
Mariah Carey – Obsessed 9 hours ago
Mariah Carey – Obsessed 10 hours ago
Mariah Carey – Obsessed 10 hours ago
Mariah Carey – Obsessed 10 hours ago
Mariah Carey – Obsessed 10 hours ago
Mariah Carey – Obsessed 10 hours ago
Mariah Carey – Obsessed 10 hours ago
Mariah Carey – Obsessed 10 hours ago
Mariah Carey – Obsessed 10 hours ago
Mariah Carey – Obsessed 10 hours ago
Mariah Carey – Obsessed 10 hours ago
Mariah Carey – Obsessed 10 hours ago
Mariah Carey – Obsessed 10 hours ago
Mariah Carey – Obsessed 10 hours ago
Mariah Carey – Obsessed 10 hours ago
Mariah Carey – Obsessed 11 hours ago
Mariah Carey – Obsessed 11 hours ago
Mariah Carey – Obsessed 11 hours ago

o_0bsessed

lol is that from my last.fm?

haha yeah :p

:)

this song is blowing my mind on headphones

gucci's "huh wows" at the end of this remix are killin me

this beat is very "so good"/"friend lover" in its glistening goldenness

got u all fired up with ur napoleon complex
see right thru u like ur bathin in windex

you a mom & pop
i'm a corporation
i'm the press conference
you a conversation

those are so tricky

er terius

Hey! Thanks for the LOVE re:Obsessed today!!! Those of you waiting on a ballad...(Cont)
about 4 hours ago from TwitterBerry

Will get several ballads and all the "trinkets and whatnot" that you asked for! (Cont)
about 4 hours ago from TwitterBerry

I know everyone has their fave style of "MC song" and this album has something for everybody...YES, WE HAVE BIG BALLADS!(Cont)
about 3 hours ago from TwitterBerry

"trinkets and whatnot" <3 <3 <3

oh wow gucci waits til the fade-out to just drop "me & mariah...go back like oscar mayer..."

must be the weed, it must be the E
cuz you be poppin, hood
you get it poppin

i love the way she says napolean complex

huge lols @ WE'VE GOT THE BIGGEST BALLADS OF THEM ALL

4:20..how is everyone?
about 1 hour ago from TwitterBerry

so is this good?

i can't stop listening to it

duh

4:20..how is everyone?
about 1 hour ago from TwitterBerry

― it must be the weed (Tape Store), Thursday, 18 June 2009 09:47 (9 hours ago) Permalink

hearing this 1st time now. isn't autotune on MC a pretty dumb idea though? considering it being dead now? plus she can sing.

pretty good, expected something hookier

pretty much my thoughts too. didn't really notice/wasnt really bothered by autotune

i think the chorus is extremely hooky!

also the autotune thing -- just because she can sing doesn't mean it's anymore/less stupid for her to use autotune

i mean, a lot of the time, autotune seems like more of a stylistic decision than a utilitarian one.

i cannot get "why you so obsessed with me" out of my head

autotune makes perfect sense for a trend-happy diva like mariah, who's pretty shameless about jumping on bandwagons but will try to make them serve her rather than the other way round - thought she did that brilliantly w/autotune on 'migrate'. autotuned to high heaven but in such a way that it couldn't be anyone but her.

this is difft, the autotune doesn't seem to serve any purpose but all that means is that i don't notice it that much.

yeah i have no prob with autotune at all, and honestly didnt notice it in the song!

At the very short "ooh" right before the chorus the autotune is pretty blatant though! (ie very discrete, not discreet)

The payback is the ur-ur-ur-uuur-ur/ur-ur-ur-uuur-ur thing where the (still autotuned ok) singer is clearly just stepping in for a synth patch.

i have no problem with the autotune if done right, but i definitely noticed it right away.

(not that this is bad)

i do think it serves a purpose, though. gives it a summery feel.

this album will make everything ok.

nymag is into it

http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2009/06/song_of_the_summer_mariah_care.html

thank god!!

im just joshing - ny mag is pretty great on the whole but when they write about music it's embarrassing

you're right

played this for my friend Ben last night, who's both very picky + not typically into this kind of stuff. he loved it -- said it's summer ready.

also, 1 of the first things he noticed is mariah's alto, which is actually one of my first reactions to the song. "wow mariah's playin up her alto"

it's hot.

PS -- the other night, my boyfriend was at the bar and heard :

Obsessed --> Lindsay Lohan "Bossy" --> RuPaul "Supermodel"

courtesy of the DJ. he texted me right away.

it's amazing how current this sounds, while still sounding so 1998

album cover revealed

3 mariahs

The reason I chose to use 3 images for the cover is cos there are a lot of different emotions and stories revealed on this album. I knew...
23 minutes ago from TwitterBerry

It might leak 2day so I figured might as well give it a nice debut:) Hope "You like this and you know it"(sung like "its like that" haha
7 minutes ago from TwitterBerry

a lot of different emotions:

http://www.mariahcarey.com/bin/galImg/siteFiles/16c5243554.jpg

hmm

happy, happy and sultry

lol point taken

nice dress tho

and i have to tell you, i have no problem with happy mariah. it's cute

that tweet made me go back to 'it's like that' though. them chickens is ash and i'm lotion!!!!!!

hahahaha definitely

on fri night i was really bored so i decided to watch the rest of "you don't mess with the zohan" when i caught it on starz and uh MARIAH CAREY IS IN "YOU DON'T MESS WITH THE ZOHAN"

there is a volleyball (or dodgeball? something) game between israel and palestine and mariah sings the national anthem and then adam sandler's palestinian rival goes to mariah's dressing room to see her and he is then eventually confronted by the zohan and there is a small skirmish before things move elsewhere. mariah has lines and stuff.

yeah, easily the best part of that movie. um...besides watching it in a movie theatre with four or five israeli friends of mine, which was pretty classic in and of itself. other than that, awful awful movie with blatant bias and terrrrrible jokes. answers the question "how many jokes can you make about hummus before it ceases to be funny?"

that said - the sport is Chhhhecky Seck aka Hacky Sack.

but mariah is pretty awesome.

u delusional, u delusional

tellin the world how much you miss mee, but we never were, so why you trippin?

video http://videogum.com/archives/music-related-content/thats-your-boyfriend-mariah-ca-1_079331.html

ALRIGHT we're at no. 11, baby

oh fuck, this is perfect:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFEa-q3TlM8

oh man

i can't wait to love her vox on this track

um, hello guys, it's been more than a half hour, why are there only two of us talking about how awesome this is? earth to ilx, earth to ilx!

ummm

@MariahCarey Any so called "leaks" or unapproved songs that are on the web are absoluotly NOT accurate nor repesentative of my album!
about 7 hours ago from TwitterBerry

(it's a great song tho, but kinda obvious that the-dream's voice isn't meant to be on it)

tweet obv written by her publicist

yeah, that's so not mimi

i really wanna hear this album now.

album pushed to september.

so, is Obsessed peaking at 11? somebody give me a prediction cuz i'm concerned.

so, Eminem wrote BACK

...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzHnNPLWsDQ (nsfw)

:/

honestly that just makes me like "Obsessed" even more... he sounds REALLY angry and Mariah is like "um...y u so obsessed boo?" it's funny.

and it proves her point that he is obsessed... he kind of ethered himself, they supposedly dated for six months but only had sex once? and he "nutted early"? I don't blame her for denying it... lol.. and who still saves voice message from 8 years ago? Geesh. He is such a lame

you think that was really her voice? sound weird

I'm not sure :-\ btw I don't think the song will peak at #11, it might actually reach #1 afterall because of this drama lol

The Gucci Mane remix came on the radio today and sounded absolutely fantastic in the car - came home and downloaded it, but doesn't seem as good as it was in the car :[

it was all bouncy and fast and grate, now it's just kinda blah...maybe I need to pump up the volume and get a decent sub

i love the remix in a car

you guys dont think all the drama is an orchestrated attempt to sell more mariah & em records? seems plainly that to me

no

it was all bouncy and fast and grate, now it's just kinda blah...maybe I need to pump up the volume and get a decent sub

― a being that goes on two legs and is ungrateful (dyao), Sunday, August 2, 2009 6:22 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

maybe it depends on the download? depending on what version i listen to at home, the bass is in and out. needs a heavy bass.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRdoOT5iUd8

i love when she does her hair like that

oh man i'm such a dopey stan but the chorus to that is about the lushest and prettiest thing they've ever done

i can't wait to hate you...

http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/content_display/industry/e3i8b177543696059c9f8bf65c96e387447

id rather hear that eminem answer back than mariah's non-song about him.

ok stan

tape store, is that going to be a mariah song? shit sounds like it came straight out the love / hate sessions. it's fucking awesome.

also i'm a bit unsure if that video's labeled correctly, that sounds much more like a LOS beat than tricky.

yeah, that's for mariah (at least that's what everyone else says...also he shouts "MC!" at the beginning and he's singing "get your ass over here and make love to me" to a man)

and there's a clip of her singing it

...

is gonna be hott

like, really hot. her voice climbin to the top of the words "hate u"

alright, yeah i havent been keeping up i guess. and it does kinda sound like it should be somewhere between "purple kisses" and "luv songs"

oh wait are you referring to something besides "hate u" i guess

hmm, sorry, i'm tipsy

haha yeah i think TS and i are talking about "they don't know me"?

'h.a.t.e.u' sounds wonderful w/mariah's vox.

apart from 'obsessed' and the foreigner cover, the 4 songs i heard were all very pretty, very dream-y midtempo stuff...really nice. titles like 'standing o' and 'candy bling'. on 'impossible' i swear i heard the line "love you like a milkshake" and then later, "love you like a sugar daddy, love you like a pimp caddy".

omg

hello

i would like everyone to know that "I Want To Know What Love Is" is slated to be the second single, when the album drops

(thanks TS)

yeah, but it's being spun as the "real" first single from the album, which makes "Obsessed" maybe the most successful lead single to be swept under the rug in a pretend-it-never-happened reboot ever

i got that impression too. but what does "spun" mean. i mean like how can they spin it as never having happened when it's still like, happening, on the charts.

also, what do you think of this decision?

also, i don't know that obsessed was necessarily planned to start with. seemed like the "first real single" was always supposed to be something else, and then they just kind of threw it in.

i think it's a craven and weak-willed decision and it's a good song that deserves to be worked for a while longer

i say 'spin' because if the song went straight to #1 they would've never delayed the release date or wavered about whether it was the lead singler

singler

you think they're not gonna work obsessed anymore? would be so stupid.

but what do you think of IW2KWLI as the next single?

have not listened to her version yet. is it kinda like when she did that Def Leppard song?

lol that's what i'm hoping, but bigger (i haven't heard it yet either)

interesting that her version is still produced by Tricky, so i guess they're not going all the way left w/ a rock/pop arrangement

right! exciting

Obsessed back at 11

it occurred to me that maybe it's not the label so much as Mariah trying to move on to the next single, if she actually is afraid to call Eminem's bluff

Man, if they fuck this album with poor poor single choices like the last one, I'm going to be really annoyed.

lol some dude. like she doesn't want nude photos leaked?

rumours of some single called "100%" mentioned on jermain's twitter... wtf

jermainE

this is that 100% snippit supposedly from the movie Precious

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZEIwj9GbCE

here it is

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXb71B5-g2c

i need other opinions on this song please

it's kinda...just there, isn't it? i guess it's a little less geared toward urban radio than i would've expected from Tricky (which i guess it the whole point of doing a song like this -- comments on the youtube are like "yay the return of 90s mariah!") but other than it's exactly what what you'd expect her doing this song to sound like.

i already got a "oh this isn't the original?" when i played it in the office this morning

and yes it is SOOOOOOOO 90s

i feel like this is the beginning of what'll happen at some point in her 40s when some label will sit her ass down and say listen, you need to do something for Hot AC, but she'll wanna keep wearing hot pants and doing songs with whoever the big rapper of the moment is

lol <3

i am officially coining it a toyota corolla moment because that's exactly where you would hear this song. in the corolla on your way to the store.

lovin it.

but u know, some ppl are claiming this will be her last album for a while, hence "memoirs" and that "standing o" track

:/

Obsessed number 7 on the hot 100

knew that song had legs

werd. also, album leaked. will be listening tonight.

nope, can't find it. and i won't listen to the amazon clips.

wow, first mariah album with no guest rappers since '95

whoa

seems ballsy

next thing you know no more hot pants either

i'd love a webmail btw

i don't have it, i was just looking at the tracklisting

unless you meant surm then nvm

oh thx anyway dude, surm said it leaked but i cant find it anywhere, it's not even on what

i can't believe i'm asking this but what is what

haha it's a torrent site (what.cd). torrents are blocked at school here anyway but i still use the site it for notification of leaks

yea, some people said it had leaked, but i can't find it anywhere.

uh, i'm really not sure how i waited this long to listen to Obsessed on like, real speakers

THUMP

IN

from the terius thread:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBRBtni1oEw

heard the whole thing. fucking great album. was gonna post more but am basically asleep now. even the prologue is epic, one of the first lines is "it's dangerous to be in the vicinity of where you are".

"i was oh, so acquiescent - but i learned my lesson"

all very intimate and midtempo - no obvious singles apart from "obsessed"! - apart from a couple of insane reprises towards the end. 3 out of 3 for terius! (there's nothing like his most consciously out-there production jobs though; better ref points are "i luv your girl" and "my love")

yayyyyy. i suspected the no obvious single thing. sounds like it works nonetheless?

but, i'm guessing this won't the album to score 2 more no. 1's...

still, fucking excited

lex, how do you feel about the whole "this is the romantic How To Be A Lady vol 1" observation?

I think "Up Out My Face" is a pretty obvious single...

it could work as a single, as could "standing o" which is AMAZING esp when she gets all pitch shifted, but it's not "hell yes no 1 smash right there"

where u been brainwasher??

"romantic how to be a lady" - hmm no...it's much less immediately weird than HTBAL or LvM.

how's that angels cry one people are talking about?

does it sound like vision of love?

has this leaked or are yall just ~connected~

i think they're just ~connected~. kev i have a feeling you and i are going to agree about this album.

guys should i have a listening party

i would say yes but it's a pretty intimate and subtle album...

leaked..

omg

obviously, right after i leave home

!!!

going to go ahead and mirror lex's sentiments

wow

up out my face reprise one of the best moments of her career easy

what song's melody does "angels cry" jack? i can't put my finger on it

Sounds a bit like One Sweet Day to me.

it's like, a sped-up ave maria?

i wa wondering the same thing -- i couldn't put my finger on it. i kept thinking tori amos.

More of a stretch but I kinda hear Alanis' Uninvited in there as well.

OMG you might be RIGHT!

no wait! chris just told me. "you light up my life"

but i still hear uninvited in there too

"If we were two lego blocks, even the Harvard University graduating class of 2010, couldn't put us back together again when I break"

o_O

"Put all your shit in the elevator / It's goin down like a denominator"

late pass but "h.a.t.e. u" is amaaaazing

the vocals on the chorus esp

i gotta weigh in with some dissent here!! i think post-electrik red & post-solo stuff that this strikes me as boring. maybe i'm not invested enough in mariah to get off on "dream really made a good 'mariah' album" but i think this is just really even keeled and kinda boring in stretches. i know that the point of mariah isn't for her to be some electrik red (or even beyonce) style cypher for some of dream/tricky's more adventurous ideas, but i hate this idea that they made a more "safe" album because it's mariah. i think the back half of this is way better because of the reprises and preludes and interludes. it sort of breaks up the constant, even flow of the album up until that point. also the stretch with the reprises is like the only part of the album that's fun!

haven't heard the album but it is kinda odd if they made a more 'safe'/straightforward album given how fucking bonkers mariah and her fans are

it's not that unweird. also front side has better songs anyway

the first 10 or so songs are super straightforward - the only thing that makes them a bit different from normal mariah ish are terius' lyrics, but even those seem out of place. like i don't think mariah chills in the bed bumping jodeci and it's kind of silly to hear her singing "i want to bring you back like the odb" but idk

i wouldn't use the words safe or straightforward, given that this is extremely different for her -- definitely a leap. the words i'm playing with are solid and chill, which is what i expected based on the hype. definitely her most RnB oriented album, imho. very autumnal, and unusual.

also darker.

those are as much mariahisms as dreamisms tho - i mean that's the whole thing about what she's been doing over the past 10 years, corralling all this gratuitious hip-hop argot & references into her stuff because she's so taken by it

i agree and disagree: this isn't going to outrank HTBAL or LvM when i, like, make my 09 list (though...one listen so far, can't judge this soon), but it's a v difft beast and a v fine album on its intimate terms. the entire thing feels like an internal monologue.

autumnal is a good word for it!

i don't think mariah - or terius! - has made an album this subtle and drifting before. but it still has the luxuriousness we've come to expect from both. it's very them, but also very unexpected.

the line about legos and the harvard graduating class of 2010 is dope tho

i agree completely lex. very intimate, and honest.

Yeah, this did seem really restrained (and waaaay different from Emancipation of Mimi and E=MC2) on first listen, but I need to spend more time with it before I say more.

isn't that what you guys expcted tho? that is totally what i expected, given the collaboration.

i expected something a bit...bigger-sounding! like jordan said.

also i have to note that the first couple of times i heard emancipation, i thought it was totally safe and a bit whatever. i was wrong!

also noting the contrast between e=mc2 being absolutely packed w/potential hits (none bloody USED) and this...which is...not.

Yeah, my first impression of E=MC2 was way off so I don't trust myself here.

yeah, at this point, i think the reactions have a lot to do with expectation. because for what they are, almost every one of these songs is stunning -- operating in the vicinity of its own style. and there is nothing on here as disappointing as a couple of the midtempos on e=mc2.

it's funny, jordan, cuz you seemed to love the ballads on Fantasy Ride, which are kind of similar in style. moonlit, etc. i think maybe your reaction has to do with the fact this whole album is along those lines. but extremely high quality.

yeah but the fantasy ride ballads don't come after 6 other songs that sound pretty much exactly the same

i guess i just knew it was going to be homogenous that way, when i heard the dream was doing the album. i don't think i mind it that much.

i understand an argument for homogeneity on a macro level but i kind of just feel like it's a waste for these guys who are at the top of their games and can make really adventurous & idiosyncratic r&b that also appeals to a wide audience, some of these songs just feel like a waste to me. but maybe they'll start to separate themselves the more i listen. i'm willing to give this one a lot of listens since it is dream & tricky

yeah honestly i know i'm a stan but i can't see myself being disappointed by a bunch of terius/tricky ballads in 2009

"ribbon" is massive too

xp, uh, and mariah? :) i'm not even arguing for homogeneity, i'm just not taken aback by it. i think -dream's textural themes lend themselves to that sort of consistency throughout an album. but, i do know what you mean. there were definitely moments during the first listen when i felt antsy, and like stagnant.

ok :)

it's very pleasant to "argue" with you ramz

good <3

"ribbon" is massive too

― cank yankers :( (k3vin k.), Tuesday, September 22, 2009 11:03 PM (12 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

otm

you guys are right that it's a very subtle album - this is the nature of much of dream's album-oriented work, for better or worse - but i definitely hear some singles. "ribbon", "standing o", "up out my face", & "more than just friends" are all radio-ready imo. i still can't figure out what "angels cry" reminds me of; it's much more obvious than what you guys were saying (@l shilpey to thread). in a perfect world, "h.a.t.e. u" would be huge, but not sure that's got the legs to climb on radio

you guys are right that it's a very subtle album - this is the nature of much of dream's album-oriented work

explain yourself

"Angels Cry" kind of has a "You Light Up My Life" thing going on in the main melody

the line about legos and the harvard graduating class of 2010 is dope tho

― iirc flair (J0rdan S.), Tuesday, September 22, 2009 4:18 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

lmao trying to picture how those things figure into a mariah carey song btw

you guys are right that it's a very subtle album - this is the nature of much of dream's album-oriented work

explain yourself

― iirc flair (J0rdan S.), Tuesday, September 22, 2009 7:09 PM (24 minutes ago)

in an interconnected-songs/suites/no super obvious singles kind of way. not a v grand statement

well either way subtle is a not a word i would use to describe either dream album and certainly, certainly not the electrik red album

i would call ne-yo "subtle", maybe

yea some dude that's what i said!

i do thing jordan's right that a coupla more poppy songs like Up Out My Face for contrast would've really helped the cause of this album

(well to be fair tape store called Light up my life)

yeah honestly i know i'm a stan but i can't see myself being disappointed by a bunch of terius/tricky ballads in 2009

― cank yankers :( (k3vin k.), Tuesday, September 22, 2009 5:03 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

didnt u discover terius/tricky in 2009

hahahaha

posts very much in character

no, and the point wasnt how used to them i am but that theyre at the top of their powers, david

i'd say get a new shtick but u've got no discernable posting style from which to deviate

iirc

Yeah. I'm almost glad the album got pushed back to the fall. As surm said, it's a very autumnal album, in contrast to the bombast and warmth of E=MC2. The personality that emerged full force on E=MC2 has stuck around...progressively stranger turns of phrase, perspective shifts, use of funny accents and patois at times, but it's been recontextualised. I start to drift somewhere around The Impossible but the first 3/4 of it are really something. Part of me wishes Terius had given Mariah more big pop tunes, but following My Love on his last album, I was pretty much expecting stuff like this. Somewhat surprised that Terius himself doesn't feature on the album besides background ad-libs, but that's nice in a way. Mariah is hermetically sealed off from the rest of the musical universe in her own mind for the first time in a while.

last line so otm. and yes i think My Love is what made me expect this.

"my love" would be one of the three best songs on here, now contrast that to it's place in the hierarchy of lvm songs

i haven't listened too carefully but yes it's def. more subdued than the others. i wish there were a few more big jams like obsessed.

i think the christina milian album will be what we were sort of thinking this one would be

that's exactly right about my love, too

it's been out for a day, man. let it sink in a little. we both liked "my love" the best the first week LVM leaked

xp

we all think "i want to know what love is" sucks though, right? ok

and yeah, while I liked "my love" the best on LVM the first week, its pleasures are very immediate. there are already a decent number of tracks on here i would place above it.

It's a Wrap and Up Out My Face for sure, probably Candy Bling and Ribbon. At any rate, preference for My Love over this album is really a preference for The-Dream over Mimi generally. Despite Mariah's presence and its chord progression's similarity to Touch My Body, My Love is very much of a piece with Terius' sort of deal. Or maybe some of the ride-or-die ballads on E=MC2, where it could conceivably fit in with the Jeezy and Jermaine and Damien Marley guest spots. Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel has different goals as an album, I think.

Blargh. That was incoherent. I should really be studying for the LSAT right now, instead of jamming to Mariah Carey.

i would also place a bunch of songs on this above My Love. and i think the "different goals" line rings very true.

actually kev i really, really like I Wanna Know What Love Is. I love the vocals, and i love the 90s feel to it. coulda been a decade ago easy.

OK, I guess what threw me off on the first listen was the lack of any major eye-popping hits (despite Lex's warning). I had figured she wasted no time following up E=MC2 because she was after those last two #1s she needs to break the Beatles' record. The relaxed, classy vibe here seems to disprove that theory.

Anyway, It's a Wrap clicked for me in a big way tonight.

actually, that's a good point re: the immediate pleasures of "My Love." breezy and fast. maybe some of these songs will leave a lot of room for repeated listening.

well i think we can def agree that it has different goals as an album. what those goals are is the problem.

YES, "it's a wrap" took me twice. very Aretha to me.

also, "classy" has been one of my biggest descriptors for this album so far.

It's early yet but I have to say: Inseparable sounds like a weaker retread of Shake It Off (and is that a bum note in there or what??), and I think I'd probably be content with The Impossible as the last track.

inseparable has stood out as the weak one for me as well.

"doctor, i was too patient"

"we could ketchup like tomato"

"it's going down like a denominator"

not sure any of those are worse than the windex line

ok maybe the ketchup one

lol @ the-dream, lyricist

haha the windex line is awesome imo

um yeah

agreed

you all are going to realize the power of "more than just friends" very soon, i think. i'm gonna get shit for this, but it reminds me of aaliyah

i got that one last night. on headphones. overwhelming. and i get the aaliyah ref.

this album is very 70s. in a very modern way.

Inseparable sounds like a weaker retread of Shake It Off

nice catch

"more than just friends" is a real standout here i think - it has that bouncy "touch my body" piano, and i think it has one of the catchier choruses and some cute & hilarious lyrics - "i'm steady fiendin for you like them fries at mcdonalds"!!

love you like a freeze pop
love you like a milkshake
love you like a high school girl on a first date

is mariah on a diet?

love you like sunsets
bubble baths on a jet
love you like kool-aid
louie millionaire shades
love you like sugar daddies
love you like a pimp caddy
love you like a holiday
dunkin hots [?], yellow cake

"p is for power": "y is for yes! vanilla!"
"more than just friends": "i wanna be on your lips like gelato"

maybe that gelato line is about her pussy but i'm going to choose to believe that it is

yay jordan is happy

i'm happy too because my boyfriend just texted me saying "i really like inseparable"

i love when someone else sees something where i didn't

Re: gelato line. someone (either mariah or terius) exclaims ICE CREAM! in the background right after, because clearly that metaphor needed to be explained further.

i feel like this is the beginning of what'll happen at some point in her 40s when some label will sit her ass down and say listen, you need to do something for Hot AC, but she'll wanna keep wearing hot pants and doing songs with whoever the big rapper of the moment is

― pfuckboy (some dude), Friday, August 28, 2009 10:38 AM (3 weeks ago)

"angels cry" is this song

"Obsessed" up to no. 6 on hot 100

WAIT NO THAT COULD BE WRONG HOLD ON

11 :(

the thing about this album that's easy to forget when you get caught up expecting poppier material is that this is probably the best midtempo work of her entire career

"It's A Wrap" and "Ribbon" are the two cuts off of this one for me... the whole thing is excellent tho, definitely better than E=MC2.

Betcha Gon Know is perfect. I love pissed-off vengeful Mariah.

Mariah is hermetically sealed off from the rest of the musical universe in her own mind for the first time in a while.

this is right, and i think that this has blindsided people a little b/c part of the point of memoirs is that its a full-length collab with the-ubiquitous-dream - so it's impressive that mariah and terius have come up with a work which is so cocooned away like this. while also being so obviously them, with their penchants for self-reference and pop culture, from the way "inseparable" briefly interpolates "time after time" to "candy bling"s similarity to "i luv your girl".

it's absolutely packed with ridiculous lyrics too.

and no superglue can fix this shhh - when i break, i break, i break
not even a welder and a builder can rebuild this shhh - when i break, i break, i break
not even a nail technician with a whole lotta gel and acrylic can fix this - when i break, i break
if we were two lego blocks, even the harvard university graduating class of 2010
couldn't put us back together again

i'm the same mimi
fame ain't changed me
butterfly flow like muhammad ali
wish i could bring you back like the odb

oh yeah, against all odds the "elle magazine booklet" that comes w/the album is super-cute and fun!

in short, i love it even more than i knew i would.

"It's A Wrap" is so gloriously 90s.
Also So get out of my face I'm hung over makes me so happy.

"It's A Wrap" and "Ribbon" are the two cuts off of this one for me

^

surprised to find myself pretty into this for the first five tracks, but 'inseparable' (whilst still being a presentable track i suppose - likely wouldnt have minded it later on) really disrupts the flow, and then 'standing o' is just very poor. not being blessed with the mariah crazy i found it a bit meandering from then on but it's early days yet though and i could see myself playing this a lot and yeah - i like it.

before the album arrived 'obsessed' and the foreigner cover (GOD-awful) had made me strongly suspect mariah was leaning way too hard on her slavish fanbase (not sure her singles game will ever return tbh), but in the end i think it's a pretty canny move for her right now and one just about well deployed enough to successfully play off the general fug of sentiment towards her both blatant and latent.

at the risk of missin-the-point tricky stanning, 'ribbon' is so good though - i realise there's probably like other lyrics and a song in there too and stuff but that hypnotic blissout mantra of the hook i could just let go on forever. such a satisfying oasis of pure tidal feeling in the middle of all the chatty chatty wiseassness.

LOVIN ON MY MIND - LOVIN ON MY MIND - WRAPPED UP, PACKED UP, RIBBON WITH A BOWWWWW ON IIIIIT

totally agree w/r/t to inseparable breaking the flow.

before the album arrived 'obsessed' and the foreigner cover (GOD-awful) had made me strongly suspect mariah was leaning way too hard on her slavish fanbase

the album as a whole seems like the sort of thing that'll hook fans who miss rainbow and butterfly back in though - you're right in that there was that whiff of desperation about the lead singles though (and i like "obsessed"; didn't care about the foreigner cover by itself, but it works a ton better as the album closer).

(not sure her singles game will ever return tbh)

the last album almost entirely comprised potential singles! though yeah she didn't exactly demonstrate the capacity to use them.

i don't think u can bank on anything with her. the difference between the last album and this sort of evidences that.

"the languishing" is a perfect example of how this is a combination of Rainbow and Butterfly. altho Rainbow was wayyy poppier.

Rtc otm, though "standing o" has a dope fading coda.

STANDING OVATIONNN
CONGRATULATIONS
GAVE you MY HEART AND ALL YOU DID WAS POUND ON IT

totally agree w/r/t to inseparable breaking the flow.

thirded. this was the first song to get dropped off my ipod.

Yeah inseparable isn't bad, it's just kinda dull and flat

haha as much inane love as i have for 'languishing' (like, how are you not supposed to - that is THE 90s chord sequence preset) it's kinda disturbing to think of the pavlovian enthusiastic reaction i'd doubtless have if there was a big goth "the" stuck on the front of it.

the main problem with 'standing o' is it being such a 'take a bow' ripoff - the idea of mariah competing with something, or really even just the intrusion of outside reality itself in the context of this album is abrupt and jarring.

another thing is that i can't imagine anyone not feeling somewhat resentful towards the 'up out my face' reprise with regards the banger that might have been - on a more balanced album they could have gotten away with that but as it stands you suddenly lose patience with the midtempo stuff you'd hitherto been quite happy with.

i might have used it as a prelude, right after 'ribbon'.

lyrically this album is really strong & you can definitely see the 'progression' that dream has made as a lyricist away from some of the more boilerplate stuff on l/h to the post-kelly shit on lvm like "all up on you like a monster truck" & "all up on you like a white tee on a thug" - def seems like he has a vault of ridiculous metaphors that he's pulling from at this point

yeah, it is definitely Up Out My Face that makes me feel like, couldn't there have been more like this on here?

it was kind of given Obsessed was a unique track, but i just feel like there should be 2 more tracks like Up Out My Face. instead of inseparable and like, angels cry.

it's just annoying that the greatness of the midtempo trax can kind of be overshadowed by the sheer number of them

i thought that might be an issue but i automatically mentally divide the album into three now - "betcha gon know" thru "ribbon" is a really strong start, then "it's a wrap" through "the impossible" is tons of fun w/the 90s feel and ridic lyrics, then the closing few big ballads.

"inseparable" is inessential yeah, still haven't decided what i think about "standing o" yet. i loved it at the playback, or at least i put a million ticks by it in my notes, but it's kind of..."side effects" except not incredible, right? well, early days yet i guess. i'm enjoying feeling my way around this album a lot.

i'd LOVE to know more about the breakdown of who did what between terius and mariah. everything from the lyrics to the production seems as much him as it does her.

i'm the opposite - i'm fine w/ the midtempo stuff and kinda wish "they don't know me" was put on the album

xp LOS da mystro co-produced candy bling i think

this whole album seems to have the production style that arose with "friend lover" & "so good" & "rockin that shit" - really glossy, shiny synth tones

yeah i really can't see the joins between what might be mariah's or dream's lyrics, let alone chart any sort of progression for either. would have imagined they had a pretty instant rapport going.

would love it if it turned out terius was responsible for rhyming "jermaine" with "so so lame" though.

so shorthand it for me - is this better than love vs. money?

ok, LOVING "ribbon"

haven't had a chance to hear the whole album yet

i dont think anyone's going to say it's better than love vs money, but it's in a similar vein. imo:

love/hate:how to be a lady::LVM:memoirs

xp yeah ribbon is the prime cut here imo

i really don't want to come off sounding like i don't LOVE this album. i do, and i definitely like it more than How To Be A Lady. that's just me -- i love HTBAL, but i hardly want to put it on.

i'm just... still getting used to this. i find it so, so different for her.

is "subtle" a good word for it? i can't decide

i think we already decided subtle wasnt the best word for it - "dense" works better imo

right, i thought subtle was already tabled. yeah, dense. i think that's the perfect word actually.

<3 the space-age pimp vox at the end of "the impossible", reminds me of

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_ffPVq4aUU

here's my "mindblowing" list, so far:
betcha gon know
hate u
obsessed
candy bling
ribbon
it's a wrap
up out my face
more than just friends

it's a substantive list!

i rly do think "betcha gon know" sounds like the darkest thing i've ever heard her record.

yeah i'm having trouble writing about "betcha gon know" but i do love it

"ribbon" is absolutely stunning

ok, i also think "languishing" into "i wanna know what love is" segment is mindblowing.

love/hate:how to be a lady::LVM:memoirs

― w/r/t/c (k3vin k.), Thursday, September 24, 2009 3:40 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark

what does this mean? where is the connection?

is it blasphemy to say that i like "candy bling" better than "ribbon"

ok, i also think "languishing" into "i wanna know what love is" segment is mindblowing.

the piano!! in that context what's otherwise a rote mariah powerballad cover feels like the fulfilment of a long and arduous journey

I KNOW! such a simple thing, but it's crazy. and HER VOCALS

end of a long and arduous journey pretty otm.

also jordan i can totally see that

wow Impossible growing FAST

love/hate:how to be a lady::LVM:memoirs

― w/r/t/c (k3vin k.), Thursday, September 24, 2009 3:40 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark

what does this mean? where is the connection?

when HTBAL came out, i thought it sounded more like l/h than lvm; i think memoirs is sonically more similar to lvm than the other two

is it blasphemy to say that i like "candy bling" better than "ribbon"

― iirc flair (J0rdan S.), Thursday, September 24, 2009 6:52 PM (2 hours ago)

not blasphemy, as it's also an excellent song. i really think "ribbon" and "more than just friends" are gonna be the canonized tracks off this, the ones that everyone votes for in their year-ends and shit

i just wanna state the obvious and say wtf @ making "i wanna know what love is" the single - there's so many hits here

dude i don't know. it seems like it could work. like, what else on here besides Up Out My Face would get radio play?

also More Than Just Friends is haunting my waking dreams

"ribbon", "standing o", "more than just friends", and "angels cry" on some adult contemporary

this is some pure terius stannery i recognize, but i love how on "candy bling" she draws out the "b" in odb like "wish i could bring you back like the ODBEEEEEE" - reminds me of how there is that slightly impassioned enunciation in the same manner on "friend lover" ("gotta be at work by niiiiiine")

i think the bridge and everything that follows it of "candy bling" is the best part of this album

dude you think "ribbon" would get played on AC? that's like the most hip-hop song on the album?

surprised no one is talking about "it's a wrap" - one of my favorites certainly

so. good.

no no just the last one i mentioned xp

the swank on It's a wrap is so understated and perfect

one of my favorite things is listening to terius demo other artists' songs that he wrote

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSD6CY-SolQ

i also love how he doesnt make neutral the gender nouns/pronouns

At this point, I really think the powers that be are trying to destroy MC with the absolutely dreadful single selection. They killed the last album and look to be doing the same thing with this one.

well, i seem to be playing this on addictive loop. terius and mariah did it again.

if it wasn't for dj quik & kurupt, my year-end albums of 09 could well have been led by a dream 1-2-3.

^^^

that said i haven't decided whether to count taylor swift as 08 or 09 yet.

lex what should be the next single iyo

"h.a.t.e.u."! or maybe "ribbon"

ha those are my two favorite songs. i def think "ribbon" would be the best choice

I'm officially hooked on this too.

Next single has gotta be either Ribbon or Up Out My Face.

Next single has gotta be either Ribbon or Up Out My Face.

^^^^

So long as It's a Wrap gets a release.

Up Out My Face is not getting out of my head.

neither is Ribbon or Candy Bling

Candy Bling is the most fucking perfect thing for this weather

^^^

i understand why it was left off, but i really hope this sees the release it deserves somehow:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRdoOT5iUd8

i think this is inappropriate but i just got into inseparable

man I let "Obsessed" and the enthusiasm of this thread get me to listen to the album, even though it quickly reminded me that Mariah doing midrange talky verses is my vision of hell. the more Terius-karaoke type tracks like "Betcha Gon Know" and "Standing O" are basically unlistenable to me. "Up Out My Face" is catchy, though.

i was highly anticipating this post

for a sec i heard the "we treated love like a sport" line as "tweeted"

Inseparable is not so bad after all. There are only two songs I generally skip. Standing O is kind of shrill and out of place, and Angels Cry is very much the Bye Bye of this album: bland and overly safe.

Really love H.A.T.E.U. and could definitely see it being a single. It hits the same pleasure center as We Belong Together without at all sounding like a rewrite.

agreed lou, to a T

i was highly anticipating this post

― truth bomber ginsburg (J0rdan S.), Sunday, September 27, 2009 5:25 PM (1 hour ago)

me too, i wanted him to like this :(

betcha gon know is one of my favorite songs on the album.

no i was highly anticipating the post where shipley shits on this album because i knew he was going to hate it

i definitely don't hate it, plenty of songs i like or think could be growers. really don't think MC is a particularly good vehicle for his songs, though, at least not for a full album.

i kind of agree that its a weird choice for her. im not sure the end result is as bad as i would have expected it to be, tho its certainly a lil underwhelming compared to the-dream's sorta ideal sound (which he sorta inconsistently replicates after the 1st record imho), but pretty satisfying if u dont look at it in contrast to those things

i see the underwhelming thing. but i also hear a real subtlety in the songwriting, if not the production, that will probably lend itself to repeated listens more than some of her other albums.

"inseparable" has 1 too many 'inseparable's in the chorus

for a sec i heard the "we treated love like a sport" line as "tweeted"

― guccislamic deejihad (some dude), Sunday, September 27, 2009 5:38 PM (6 hours ago) Bookmark

ditto.

i randomly like languishing a lot. and of course ribbon and up out my face.

apparently mariah is unhappy with the album.

whatd she say abt it?

someone on another board said a former rep of hers says she is non-publicly upset with how it turned out and angry that it wasn't produced to her liking

the vocals on hate u are nuts

"feels like such a lost cause"

also "up out my face" vocals - mariah using her alto like i've never heard it before

the real question is how we feel about that dying baby sample

that um what?

lol. that THING in hate u, which totally sounds like the same dying baby that was in that aaliyah song

come on i'm not making this up

haha I know what you're talking about and I hate it!

haha ok i hear what you mean. "H.A.T.E.U." is really one of the most forgettable songs on the album to me, finally hearing it now it's weird to think it was being considered for the lead single at one point.

Was just listening to TLC's Fanmail and I could swear that's Mariah's voice singin the chorus of the title track. Does anyone know if this is true?

So excited to pick this up after work tonight.

xpost

No, it's not her on 'FanMail'. It's Chilli and it doesn't even remotely sound like MC.

I like the dying baby noise a lot. Possibly because I like its similar-sounding cousin so much in Gaga's "Paparazzi"

smh
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music/2009/09/29/2009-09-29_mariah_careys_memoirs_of_an_imperfect_angel_hides_her_vocal_perfection_behind_fl.html#ixzz0SV3qqPS1

yeah the vocal production on this is really weird.

from the new york times:
Even more troubling are the perplexing, jumbled lyrics full of daffy references and batty assertions. On the unintentionally hilarious “Up Out My Face,” she insists, “Not even a nail technician/ with a whole lotta gel and acrylic/ can fix this, when I break, I break.” On “Obsessed,” she tells an ex, “See right through you like you’re bathing in Windex.” (Inexplicably, two songs, “Standing O” and “More Than Just Friends,” echo “Umbrella,” a move unnecessary and outdated.)

um. what i want to know is, how is Up Out My Face unintentionally hilarious, especially when she cackles right after the technician etc lines?

also... more than just friends sounds so much like Umbrella, right?

...

the technician line is easily one of my favorites on the album. talk about missing the point.

interesting review from Ann Powers at the LA Times: "Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel will stand out in Carey’s catalog as an experiment that illuminates her place in the pantheon without either boosting it or damaging it. I wouldn’t be surprised if, a decade from now, Carey cites this effort as a personal favorite. It’s that kind of wholly decent effort: a self-exploration that settles on its unpretentious insights by not pushing too hard"

that nyt excerpt is kind of baffling - like the harvard graduating class of 2010 lyric! obv it's supposed to be playful and "different" - aside from whether or not those are good lyrics that review really misses the point

the couple reviews i've read for this have been pretty awful, the one i posted and surm's.

tbf that one was from the new york post

tru

This review counts Inseparable and Standing O among the highlights! Also, LOL at referring to E=MC2 as Energy Equals Mass Times the Velocity of Light Squared.

lolll

one thing i like about that review tho is the way it gets the feeling of "betcha gon know," saying mariah is "throwing shade" in that song. that's exactly how i felt about it from the beginning -- the whole eerie, midnight sound of it -- like she is throwing some shade.

Mariah Carey's latest effort "Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel" is in a tight battle for the no.1 spot on next week's Billboard 200.

Released Tuesday, Carey's "I Want To Know What Love Is" led album is predicted to sell anywhere from 160k - 170k. Unfortunately for Carey, Paramore's "Brand New Eyes" is also on track to sell the same.

In reports issued by Billboard and Hits Daily Double, Carey's album has a fighting chance at scoring the top spot which would make "Memoirs of An Imperfect Angel" the diva's seventh no.1 debut (only topped by Barbara Streisand). If Carey nets the no.1 spot she would also tie with Madonna, who has seven no.1 debuts under her belt.

"Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel" features production from The-Dream and Tricky Stewart along with the hit summer anthem "Obsessed".

Led by the single "Touch My Body," Carey's 2008 effort 'E=MC2' debuted with over 463,000 copies sold.. The album later spawned the hit singles "I'll Be Lovin' U Long Time," "I Stay In Love," and "Bye Bye".

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/uu280/theprophetblog/Mariah%20Carey/imgcoverlargek.jpg

back in the day we were in love we're not in love anymore but some days i sit and wish we was in love again

hypnotic

lol ok she's not pregnant

??

http://img.brothersoft.com/screenshots/softimage/a/adobe_photoshop-59748-1.jpeg

In Touch Weekly has an exclusive with Mariah Carey. “I’m going to be a mom,” is the cover blurb. The more accurate headline would be “I’m going to be a mom ... someday” (sorry for the spoiler, but I’m here to help). You’d think an exclusive with Carey would sell on its own merits — instead, the magazine spins a portion of the interview where Carey said that at some point she and her husband Nick Cannon definitely want to have kids to make you think Carey’s actually pregnant already.

Just noticed the ad libs trailing into the fade out on 'It's a Wrap'.

So get out of my face...so hung over
Been sitting here all night leave me alone.
Since quarter to three, I've been drinking patron
Watch the credits role, its a wrap.

this album only gets better. Betcha Gon Know, Candy Bling, Ribbon, It's a Wrap --> the end of the album, minus Angels Cry, is definitely mariah at the top of her game.

i love how the impossible just keeps going

but i have to say the production on Hate U is really weird

the end of the album sorta sucks tbh - i can do without any of the full songs after "more than just friends," though "angels (interlude)" is amazing and "languishing" is nice too

i've come to really like the super-minimal, throwback feel to the impossible. it reminds me a prince track, combined with like bjork's "possibly maybe," what with the sparsity of the arrangement throughout

i love how the impossible just keeps going

― surm, Sunday, October 4, 2009 2:52 PM (Yesterday)

this song has been stuck in my head for the past week... it's probably my favorite now....

love you like a freeze pop.........

so far that song and Candy Bling have been the biggest "growers" for me. the looping hypnosis of Candy Bling is kind of eerie

"ribbon" is by far my favorite still

at the risk of missin-the-point tricky stanning, 'ribbon' is so good though - i realise there's probably like other lyrics and a song in there too and stuff but that hypnotic blissout mantra of the hook i could just let go on forever. such a satisfying oasis of pure tidal feeling in the middle of all the chatty chatty wiseassness.

LOVIN ON MY MIND - LOVIN ON MY MIND - WRAPPED UP, PACKED UP, RIBBON WITH A BOWWWWW ON IIIIIT

― r|t|c, Thursday, September 24, 2009 8:53 AM (1 week ago)

OTM

WRAPPED UP, PACKED UP

a whole album of ribbon/up out my face/more than just friends songs would be perfection

i can't do anything but agree with that, though i'm not sure i see any common thread b/w them other than "awesomeness"

they're like bouncy and thick!

Go to 2:45 for The Old Grey Whistle Test.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hMemCvXkik

no way

It sounds like she's spreading butter on a bun.

amazing.

ugh i can totally see her releasing "Angels Cry" as the 3rd single. :[

btw the whole View interview is gold

they show a clip from Precious. girl is for real.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8NCKJNBhtY

this the 2nd half-ish of the interview -- 2:40 for the clip

lou put "betcha gon know" perfectly -- deliciously evil. i love when says "to have somethin like this happen in my own bedroom" and then she kind of does this whitney "ah!" before going into the chorus

:)

but i have to say the production on Hate U is really weird

Is there anything besides the dying baby that bothers you?

YES. i love the chorus vocals, but the verse vocals sound soo canned. like someone pressed "RnB vocals" on the computer.

also it coulda been more textural.

i've booked tkts for precious at the end of the month :)

helll yeah. ryan and i are worried we are going to make too much noise when we go see it...

i like that my friend dan just said "omg she's in like r kelly mode" about "betcha gon know"

whaaaaa

mariah carey feat. big boi, oj and gucci - h.a.t.e. u (remix)

oh man this is great & totally unexpected

WAIT WHAT WHAT WHOA. WHERE? The usual suspects?

"omg she's in like r kelly mode"

OTM. Not just Betcha Gon' Know but a lot of this is in Kells territory.

Lot more full length stories with characters in these songs. Can't put my finger on exactly how, but they seem more situational and specific even if the emotions of heartbreak and love are the same as on Mimi and E=MC2.

Betcha Gon' Know, It's a Wrap, etc. The donuts and coffee and waiting up all night. The use of continuous set pieces within songs. The narrowly specific love stories between two people rather than the overblown epic fantasy type stuff of E=MC2 (Love Story, Loving U Long Time, I Stay in Love).

H.A.T.E.U. Remix is a total recontextualisation. Think it's a Jermaine Dupri beat...it's not Terius and Tricky but Gucci and Big Boi make up for it.

link

What I have so far

Big Boi:
I can't wait to hate / No escape
The situation is not that great
Say, I know we ain't A-1
There's a lot at stake
Hear what I say, hon
Since day one I was the real deal
No beef just me and this whip appeal
Shit, I just wanna peel off in the whip
Feel me before somebody gets killed
Really I kinda see it all as spilled milk
Let that cat get it up this time
No regrets, no worries
Snow flurries; No blizzards
Cold shoulder, Cold blooded, Snow Lizard
And now that I'm older I told her
To go find something to play with - I'm colder
Than a polar bear's toenails
Brrrrrrrr
Then I showed her to the door, players

Gucci:
Yellow like my Lamborghini
Got her in a red bikini
So much money, make a wish
I can be your dreamer chick
Many plenty women dig me
So ??? she clone me
Yeah her girlfriends hating on me
She can't wait to leave me lonely
Found ??
Damn we such a major talk-up(?)
?
Leave me you be crazy baby
Me You can go crazy places
Fly you, buy you crazy bracelets
Lately I been working crazy
I know that you waitin' patient
Bed at night you think of me
If I was you ?
Always out there chasing money
I feel you ironically
Gucci Mane make money scream
All these boys be hating on me
I thought you stayed down with me
You got me back in the streets

http://usershare.net/vq0x6h3xvl8o

oh YES that remix

I really like the "many / plenty" crazy/baby/places/bracelets

Lex...you've heard this already? And didn't tell us?

no i'm only listening to it now!! didn't know about it until you posted

wowwwwwwwww

it's gonna sound good in the heat

OJ Da Juiceman:

Ooh shawty hate me
no longer wants to date me
she say that i'm a lost cause
she even hate my dirty drawers
try to keep it real
every time she try to shake me off
i'm ok, i'll be good
every day filet mignon
H.A.T.E. on Young Juice
But you can't leave the juiceman 'lone
every time I come around you sneak and try to use your phone
girl you should know that juiceman ride 'round on this chrome
insane jewelry, dirty pinky, half a million on my home

i love how they use the whistle notes in the background!

Sorry. thought "oh YES that remix" = "oh yes, THAT remix"

also, gucci is fucking difficult to transcribe. mad respect to Jordan et al.

this pwns the original

is this for the remix album?

Let that cat get it up this time
No regrets, no worries
Snow flurries; No blizzards
Cold shoulder, Cold blooded, Snow Lizard

^^immediate fav lines on the rmx

Correction, I think:
Many plenty women dig me
So much jewelry that she glowing (?)
Got her girlfriends hating on me
She can't wait to leave me lonely
Phantoms in that ????
Damn we such a major talk-up(?)
???

There is a remix album planned for sure?

i mean, i'm sure it is! i'm so psyched for this
v curious to see what tricky does to i wanna know

http://www.theprophetblog.net/mariah-carey-to-release-memoirs-remix-album#comments

oops
http://www.theprophetblog.net/mariah-carey-to-release-memoirs-remix-album

Lex OTM, with the added caveat of Big Boi's BRRRRRRRRR is pretty awesome too.

whoa that remix album could be pretty hot, though contra that blog i don't think there's anything wrong w/the originals at all

mariah's remixes have always been so classic though, from the classic "fantasy" to "shake it off" w/jay-z, young jeezy and a weird lurching beat, the-dream's redone spacey "touch my body", the classic summer jam 4ever so so def "my all/stay awhile"...

classic/classic/classic i am TIRED ok

Shake It Off w/ Jay? Where has this BEEN in my life?

can some1 post a different d/l link, can't get that one to work

http://www.divshare.com/download/8821803-6e4

l.o.v.e.u.

aw, thx. this thread is just full of love all the time, apparently.

All of these Mariah/Gucci remixes are leading me to imagine a world where they were some weird alternate universe version of Jay and Beyonce. And then imagining Conan style "what if they mated" pictures. Clearly, I need my coffee today.

"shake it off" rmx as requested alex! http://www.sendspace.com/file/j5821a

This "H.A.T.E.U." remix is doubly wonderful in that I hadn't heard that Ghost Down DJs song in a loooong time.

ok i need to hear this remix

So, surm, you disappointed that this debut at #1?

the remix aint all that tbh

*that this didn't debut rather

"the remix aint all that tbh"

k3vin k. takes brave dissenting voice! anything particular hitting you the wrong way, or just nothing special?

i think the beat & tempo change make it better than the OG - two good rap verses on top of it all

the ENTIRE sped-up first verse is kinda unnecessary, it takes forever to get to the rapping, the beat is boring. big boi's verse is alright but OJ's is dumb and i didnt understand a word of gucci's - i'll have to listen to that one again. xp

i mean they're not even really comparable but the beat to the OG >>>>(x10000) the remix

really? i think the beat on the og is pretty leaden... plus it has that weird percussion that sounds like someone is slapping a baby. i think it's a good song, def not one of the best on the album.

Oh man! The weird baby-slapping percussion is the best part of the entire beat!

My only gripe with the OG beat for "H.A.T.E.U." is that is kind of a totalllll retread of Ciara's "Promise" viz. the DRUMS.

But otoh, so are approximately 90% of slow jams these days.

"didnt understand a word of gucci's"

Really like Gucci on this, but it might still be the first blush of Yung Luv, "I finally understand this whole Gucci Mane thing!" etc. I should asbtane from Gucci opinions until I've gotten past that first DUDE IS AWESOME phase.

no i like gucci a lot, i just wasnt really paying attention all that much and i only listened once

lol @ kk saying the 'my boo' beat is anything less than classic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkJtYbPnHGg

Really like Gucci on this, but it might still be the first blush of Yung Luv, "I finally understand this whole Gucci Mane thing!" etc. I should asbtane from Gucci opinions until I've gotten past that first DUDE IS AWESOME phase.

― Oy!J da Jewman (Alex in Montreal), Thursday, October 8, 2009 3:16 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

haha phase might last awhile

yeah man, a beat you like works perfectly no matter what it's being used for

the only thing garbage about this is OJ's verse -- dude is super-disappointing imo, if id known he was gonna fall off so hard when he started recording at gucci-pace i wouldnt have dropped a 7.0 on him

Mariah Carey's latest effort "Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel" is in a tight battle for the no.1 spot on next week's Billboard 200.

Released Tuesday, Carey's "I Want To Know What Love Is" led album is predicted to sell anywhere from 160k - 170k. Unfortunately for Carey, Paramore's "Brand New Eyes" is also on track to sell the same.

In reports issued by Billboard and Hits Daily Double, Carey's album has a fighting chance at scoring the top spot which would make "Memoirs of An Imperfect Angel" the diva's seventh no.1 debut (only topped by Barbara Streisand). If Carey nets the no.1 spot she would also tie with Madonna, who has seven no.1 debuts under her belt.

And, funnily enough Babs takes the top spot over both of them. :(

http://www.zshare.net/download/66344970bda9e395

guys heard the timbo track that didnt make the cut, "skydiving"? kind of all over the place but i like it

After a day of rockin' the "H.A.T.E.U." remix, the original beat sounds hilariously slow to me, almost like it's screwed.

Haven't read this thread really, but this seems a lot more.....subdued?....than other full length Terius jobs.

Okay, apparently that's the first thing everyone else is noting about the album.

yeah man, a beat you like works perfectly no matter what it's being used for

― jackie off the chain (k3vin k.), Thursday, 8 October 2009 22:29 (2 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Perm

kinda sympathise with this line - not in the sense of the remix not working as such (i even think all the guests do ok!)(though if you're holding the og narrative particularly dear it does throw pretty much the whole lot of it out the window) but just cos guhhh 'my boo' is such a wearyingly obvious play on throwback sentiment at this point, yknow*? at the same time however, it's a perfectly valid alternative take on the general idea of memoirs anyway and it would probably be churlish and of little actual use to demand something more original and yet still be as capriciously anomalous as say those fantastic 'soulja girl' and 'falsetto' remixes were, or how any other bass mix of that sort would be. it's cute and i ain't mad at it, but it's no big deal to me either basically.

* dunno how it rolls in america but hipster djs in london always be busting 'my boo' and 'swing my way' on some "hayyy remember this!!" random crate saver tip, it's a corny epidemic for the last few years now

fun fact i'll never otherwise have a excuse to get off my chest: carl mo who produced 'my boo' was also randomly responsible for boyz n da hood 'bite down' in 05, crazy rite?!!!

can't believe big boi refs a polar bear in this btw - what's the penguin gonna think when he finds out :(

ha 'bite down' is such a hot beat too ... had no idea

wait was 'bite down' really 05???

coulda sworn that shit was like '07

dope thing abt that track is it was on some serious throwback g-funk party shit without actually sounding anything like pfunk or even using the same instruments, & in fact sounding like it was using synth bagpipes ... kind of a crazy & weird blend there

it was an 07 single ... unless theres another bite down ... seriously, spiritually this is way closer to like "smooth" off dogg food than any 00s trap rap i can think of

NEwayz back 2 mariah ....

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3d1x3_boyz-n-da-hood-bite-down-new

(i guess lyrically its nothing like dogg food but that shd go w/out saying)

(& again sorry for the deejrail)

yah my bad, dunno where i pulled 05 from - agree with all that anyway, such a sick beat for all them reasons and still somehow didnt really sound out of place at the time either iirc? haha i never really thought of it as bagpipes but it always vaguely reminded me of ward 21 or something so yeah!!

http://twitter.com/CarlMoATL has protected his tweets :( - dont suppose anyone wanna sign up to him and find out what he's up to these days 4 me? dude was arguably the best of the bass r&b producers.

some of the percussion on 'standing o' sounds kinda go-goish, lovin it.

also mariah doing her minnie ripperton high shit is always great, love that it's used more as reverby decoration a lot more, too

heard a snippit of the Candy Bling remix. it sounded really good.

yo ribbon is my jam

the operatics at the beginning of It's A Wrap are fun

also, "the impossible" is what every bad love song on e=mc2 couldn't do

love "angel (prelude)"

mariah feat. tpain - i remember (candy bling remix)
http://www.zshare.net/download/66856169b9072f3a/

It's ok, I guess. T-Pain's verse aside it sounds like Candy Bling + Blame It. More up tempo, maybe better suited to radio, but it lacks that smooth throwback feel.

kind of random but i really like it.

prelude is good but angel's cry is some severe bullshit

but btw inseparable is REALLY good to fall asleep too (speaking of bullshit)

i still love ribbon but its lack of bass is kinda bugging me atm

Just noticed yesterday on the bus that at the beginning of It's a Wrap Mariah opens a bottle and pours herself a glass of Patron (or possibly two glasses, one of which goes un-drank?)!

this album is kinda competently boring imo

i basically have to otm the rev

rongggg

i am pretty harsh on what i don't like of hers, and i have to say that i think that 14 of the 17 tracks on this album is some of the best stuff she's ever done

going back to the word subtle -- i do think the songwriting on this is very subtle, except for on obsessed and up out my face, but boy does it grow.

definitely obsessed with the album. more than just friends, it's a wrap, betcha gon know and the impossible are all currently kicking my ass.

oh yeah and last night i was welcomed into the club with "Obsessed"! it was perfect :)

surm otm

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_WoMwWYz9nEE/SmmJnMcy_OI/AAAAAAAAADM/-5pFdJBLhYU/s320/Maxwell-BLACKsummersnight.jpg

this album is kinda competently boring imo

yeah I definitely agree with surmy, this is some of Mariah's best work - period. I love pretty much every song on this. "The Impossible," "It's A Wrap" and "Ribbon" are up there with any song she's ever done.

all such classy, strange throwbacks

this album is kinda competently boring imo

― ben folds' cover of "such great heights" (Tape Store), Sunday, October 25, 2009 2:07 PM (32 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

arent u captain of the cassie brigade

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLP52VwTKcg >>>> all of BLACKSummer'sNight

btw I think some of you are giving Terius too much credit for this album, if you look at the credits he didn't really write EVERY song in fact Mariah wrote "It's A Wrap" by herself.