It’s business as usual on her 14th studio album, but the long-serving diva seems to be mostly stuck behind the times
Mariah Carey/ Me. I Am Mariah... The Elusive Chanteuse
Before we dive into the music, let’s address the elephant in the room here. Yes, we’re talking about that train wreck of an album title. The story goes that it is an amalgamation of the caption under a self-portrait Carey drew when she was three years old (Me. I Am Mariah) and one of her aliases (The Elusive Chanteuse). Be that as it may, it is still a bizarrely random choice. What’s with the ellipsis, Mimi? And why are you referring to yourself as “elusive” when, given your near three-decade-long career plus more than a handful of number one singles, you’re precisely anything but? These are the questions that will probably never be answered, but they’re worth asking …
Carey’s 14th studio album has been a long time coming, preceded by a series of delays as well as odd singles here and there, including Triumphant (Get ’Em), the Miguel-assisted #Beautiful, The Art of Letting Go and, most recently, You’re Mine (Eternal). With the exception of #Beautiful, these releases all underperformed in the charts, which was unheard of for the world’s best-selling female artist.
Working with long-time producers Jermaine Dupri and Bryan-Michael Cox, Carey has officially come full circle with I Am Mariah for it typically offers an equal mix of sweeping gospely ballads and soulful R&B jams complete with rap/hip hop collaborators. With that said, we didn’t expect the opening number to be Cry, a lofty piano ballad that sounds more like a denouement rather than an introduction. Who knows? Maybe it purports to serve as a friendly warning that the balladry on the album comes with varying degrees of histrionics (You’re Mine, Supernatural, Camouflage and a cover of George Michael’s One More Try, to name but a few).
After quite a heavy-handed start, Mimi slithers into a hip hop/R&B playground with Faded, Dedicated (featuring Nas) and Money (featuring Fabolous). This is something she’s been comfortable doing since her Butterfly era so there’s not much to be faulted here. The only time she sounds forced, like a fish out of water, is when she strays away from her normal repertoire into the unknown territories of trap and electronic dance music (Thirsty).
Maybe the album’s title (the first half of it at least) does make sense after all. I Am Mariah is a Mariah Carey album through and through. She does what she does exceptionally well and while there’s no denying that her voice is still a thing of wonder, the glaring issue here lies in the fact that she finds herself enormously at odds with today’s increasingly boundary-pushing pop landscape. As a result, Carey’s latest LP sounds incredibly dated compared with what Beyonce, Lorde and Sia have brought to the table of late. Unless she’s content with her chart-frequenting holiday classic All I Want For Christmas Is You, the Elusive Chanteuse will have to step it up if she wishes to reclaim her chart dominance.
THE PLAYLIST
Jor Ra Kay Bua/ Reua
Apart from the name of their frontwoman, there’s little else to be known about local act Jor Ra Kay Bua (Waterlily Alligators). But mystery aside, their debut single Reua (Little Boat), included on the indie compilation Who? (The Songs from Whoever), is undoubtedly a breath of fresh air. Starting with a breezy acoustic guitar, the track promptly gains momentum with drums and a deep bass rumble. Parada Mahapaurya’s crystal-clear vocals are complemented by addictive guitar chords and synth flourishes while she sings about setting sail on a little boat. This ditty is just full of pleasant little surprises, and we honestly cannot wait to hear more from the band.
Maroon 5/ Maps
“I miss the taste of the sweet life/I miss the conversation/I’m searching for a song tonight/I’m changing all of the stations,” Adam Levine flexes his trademark falsetto in the opening verse of Maps, the first single from Maroon 5’s forthcoming fifth studio album, V. The song boasts cruisy guitar licks coupled with ridiculously catchy, if slightly dark, lyrics about finding and reuniting with an old love. It is a classic Maroon 5 affair that draws inspiration from funk, soul and disco to create a pop-rock jam destined to dominate the charts.
Psy (featuring Snoop Dogg)/ Hangover
Brace yourselves, ladies and gents, because Psy is at it once again. This time the Gangnam Style singer is teaming up with rapper Snoop Dogg to give us a party anthem called Hangover. Inspired by trap and electronic dance music, the track finds the king of K-pop and Snoop exchanging lines about, you guessed it, binge drinking: “Drink it up and get sick/Bottom’s up, get wasted.” The result is a five-minute-long hot mess that’s both grating and utterly cringe-worthy. If this is a hangover, then we will gladly consider teetotalism.
Cheryl Cole (featuring Tinie Tempah)/ Crazy Stupid Love
Crazy Stupid Love by English songstress Cheryl Cole is an relentless club rumpus that seems to haven taken its cue from Rihanna’s old-school classic Pon De Replay. Over a stomping beat, the former Girls Aloud singer gets her sexy on, singing about her object of desire: “You make my brain just stop, sink my heart to my feet/It’s like a roller coaster but I’m only going up.” It is all a pretty standard pop fare, at least until the sax solo hits, turning the whole thing into an oh-so-glorious sax-capade.
Hamilton Leithauser/ I Retired
The Walkmen’s former frontman has recently gone it alone with a solo debut Black Hours, and here he’s sharing with us the third single from it. Co-written and produced by Vampire Weekend’s keyboard player Rostam Batmanglij, I Retired is an introspective number that trudges twangily along as Leithauser professes his resignation. “I retired from my fight/I retired from my war/No one knows what I was fighting for/I don’t even know myself,” he croons in his signature booze-soaked wailing over Batmanglij’s supply of piano and harpsichord.
