Thu 17 Apr, 2008
Seems like an odd question to ask I know, especially with the recent success of her latest single. If you are like me, a fan of the old Mariah, you probably agree that Music Box was her last good album. She’s had a few ok songs here and the since then, but mostly she just seems to be trying to keep up with the times. The effort smacks of desperate attention seeking from someone who is beyond their prime.
I guess that’s not really fair. Don’t get me wrong, I still love her voice; I just wish she would use it. When I see her in public, I always think she looks like a hoochie, and when I heard her most recent single, all I could think is…wow; and not in a good way. It reminded me of LSG, the group with Gerald Levert, Jonny Gill and Keith Sweat and “My Body” which struck me as awkward even though it hit No. 1 and No. 4 on the R&B and Pop charts respectively.
I’m not the only one who thinks Ms. Carey is trying too hard.
“It’s wall-to-wall, mall-friendly hip-hop beats, gimmicky hooks and sing-song melodies, forging the kind of novelty songs more appropriate to a pipsqueak pop star like Rihanna than someone who’s supposed to be a peer to grand divas like Whitney or Celine.
Decisions like that also make Carey stand out from the more with-it divas of our age. While Mary J. Blige, Christina Aguilera and Alicia Keys all aim to be seen as part of an older soul tradition, Carey prefers the flighty sounds employed by far inferior singers who need the sonic gimmicks to cover for their lack of skills.”
It would be nice to hear a Mariah Carey song and remember what made her famous in the first place. Making adult music won’t make her obsolete. In fact, she’d likely alienate fewer of her more mature fans if she found a way to make substantive music that appealed to the masses as opposed to music that was just empty and in my opinion desperate.
