Whynot
Apr 2nd, 2008, 05:17 PM
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1584685/20080402/carey_mariah.jhtml
Mariah Carey's last album, the multiplatinum Emancipation of Mimi, brought her back from a career slump of bad movies, dud albums, marital collapse and emotional meltdowns. It proved she still had the goods. So what is there left to prove with her new record, E=MC2? Answer: Nothing.
Which may be why Jermaine Dupri, the man behind so many of the Emancipation hits, plays a more muted role this time out, providing the occasional "uh-huh," "yeah" and "nope," among other things, on four of the album's 14 tracks. Has he worn out his welcome like the on-again, off-again lover Mariah sings about in the bulk of his tracks?
JD was a delight on Emancipation, acting less like a producer and more like a friend, bolstering Mariah's confidence and giving her someone to riff with ("It's Like That," "Get Your Number" and "Shake It Off"), ultimately helping her get to the point where she could do the breakout track "We Belong Together." But JD and Mariah don't belong together anymore. Now that Mariah's finally free, her producers need to help her spread her wings - otherwise, all we get is redux.
JD comes closest to showing that he still can do something new on "Thanx for Nothin'," which, like the Scott Storch track "Side Effects," finally reveals a side of Mariah we don't see that often - her true self. The Mariah we usually see and hear is a glossy one. Psychologists might say her effect is "off" - meaning her gestures and facial expressions don't match her mood. There's a reason for that, as she explains on "Side Effects," which is the emotional abuse she says she suffered during her marriage to music mogul Tommy Mottola. Mariah, who is usually quite guarded, has alluded to the subject in songs like "Petals," but never has she gone into such detail as she does on "Side Effects," in which she refers to the marriage as a "private hell that we built." Even though it's been 11 years since they split up, she sings in a lower register that she's still "wakin' up scared some nights ... dreaming about the violent times." Her emotional scars left her "a little protective ... a little defensive ... a little depressed," which makes her "fake a smile" as she "deal[s] with the side effects."
While "Side Effects" features Young Jeezy, it sounds like a rock power ballad, as if Mariah had been listening to a lot of Bonnie Tyler and Pat Benatar and decided that to capture her emotions, the music needed to share her pain. This turns out to be a good thing, because when she's not focused on vocal gymnastics, Mariah can really sing - as in, letting us really feel what she feels. Nowhere else on the album does Mariah get quite so emotionally naked, and it makes you wonder: What would Mariah have sounded like if
Mariah Carey's last album, the multiplatinum Emancipation of Mimi, brought her back from a career slump of bad movies, dud albums, marital collapse and emotional meltdowns. It proved she still had the goods. So what is there left to prove with her new record, E=MC2? Answer: Nothing.
Which may be why Jermaine Dupri, the man behind so many of the Emancipation hits, plays a more muted role this time out, providing the occasional "uh-huh," "yeah" and "nope," among other things, on four of the album's 14 tracks. Has he worn out his welcome like the on-again, off-again lover Mariah sings about in the bulk of his tracks?
JD was a delight on Emancipation, acting less like a producer and more like a friend, bolstering Mariah's confidence and giving her someone to riff with ("It's Like That," "Get Your Number" and "Shake It Off"), ultimately helping her get to the point where she could do the breakout track "We Belong Together." But JD and Mariah don't belong together anymore. Now that Mariah's finally free, her producers need to help her spread her wings - otherwise, all we get is redux.
JD comes closest to showing that he still can do something new on "Thanx for Nothin'," which, like the Scott Storch track "Side Effects," finally reveals a side of Mariah we don't see that often - her true self. The Mariah we usually see and hear is a glossy one. Psychologists might say her effect is "off" - meaning her gestures and facial expressions don't match her mood. There's a reason for that, as she explains on "Side Effects," which is the emotional abuse she says she suffered during her marriage to music mogul Tommy Mottola. Mariah, who is usually quite guarded, has alluded to the subject in songs like "Petals," but never has she gone into such detail as she does on "Side Effects," in which she refers to the marriage as a "private hell that we built." Even though it's been 11 years since they split up, she sings in a lower register that she's still "wakin' up scared some nights ... dreaming about the violent times." Her emotional scars left her "a little protective ... a little defensive ... a little depressed," which makes her "fake a smile" as she "deal[s] with the side effects."
While "Side Effects" features Young Jeezy, it sounds like a rock power ballad, as if Mariah had been listening to a lot of Bonnie Tyler and Pat Benatar and decided that to capture her emotions, the music needed to share her pain. This turns out to be a good thing, because when she's not focused on vocal gymnastics, Mariah can really sing - as in, letting us really feel what she feels. Nowhere else on the album does Mariah get quite so emotionally naked, and it makes you wonder: What would Mariah have sounded like if