Attention World: Bow Down to the Legendary Mariah Carey

Staff Writer

   The Voice. The Diva. Mariah Carey could very well be the queen of the music industry. With 12 albums and over 200 songs to her name, she earns her titles, making her a legend in her own time. Mimi, as she emancipated herself in 2005 with one of the biggest comebacks in musical history, stops at nothing for her new album, “E=MC2,” released April 15.

Courtesy of MariahCarey.com

E=MC2

   Carey’s career began in 1990 when the Grammy award-winning “Best New Artist” broke onto the music scene with the classic “Vision of Love.” Scoring her first number one, she rapidly became one of the most sought after artists. 

   Following her self-titled debut, Carey released “Emotions,” “Music Box,” “MTV Unplugged,” “Merry Christmas,” “Daydream,” “Butterfly” and “Rainbow.”  After promotion and touring for the “Rainbow” album, her career took a confusing setback. Carey tried her luck at acting.

   In 2001 critics panned Carey for her work in the film “Glitter” and its soundtrack of the same name. Both the album and movie flopped on the charts. I’ve yet to understand the real reason why. While the movie was not “Oscar-worthy,” it deserved far more praise than it received. Carey proved she could act.  The story played out in the movie was raw and somewhat based on her life. The soundtrack contains some of her best material as a songwriter.

    I however do not believe Carey’s performance caused the failure of the set. I think timing caused it all. The film and soundtrack were released around the time of the tragic events of Sept. 11. The soundtrack hit stores that exact day. Ironically, the back cover of the album was of the New York skyline bearing the twin towers in plain sight. At this time, there were more important issues than going to the movies or picking up a CD.

   In the midst of the crisis, Carey suffered her infamous breakdown. Triggered by exhaustion, Carey was hospitalized and then laid low for a while. She returned to release a darker, “Indie” film called “Wisegirls” and the album “Charmbracelet” in 2003. Both projects received positive, but not outstanding reviews.

   In 2005, after a two-year break, she returned to reclaim her crown. She released the six-times platinum “The Emancipation of Mimi.” The album and its re-release, also known as 2005’s best-selling album, gave her the No. 1 singles “We Belong Together” and “Don’t Forget About Us.”

   Now, she’s taking things to the next level. “E=MC2” stands for “The Emancipation of Mariah Carey to the Second Power.” Carey, aging like a fine wine at age 38 (despite claims that she will be “eternally 12,”) looks hotter than ever and her voice soars just as strong, if not stronger than it did back in the day.

   She just earned her 18th No. 1 single. “Touch My Body” sent her straight past Elvis Presley on the Billboard Charts to tail The Beatles for the amount of No. 1s on the pop-rock charts. Already the best-selling female artist of all time, could Mariah Carey become the best-selling artist of all time? She’s on her way.

   But will “E=MC2” give her the hits she needs?  Let’s see.

   The album begins with superior high notes. The kind of notes only she can hit with her five-octave range. Rapper T-Pain joins her on this “stonegroove,” as she would describe it, track called “Migrate.”

   “From my car into the club, we migrate / From the bar to V.I.P., we migrate / From the party to the after party, migrate / After party to hotel, migrate / As we proceed getting buzzed / The envious ones / Hatin’ but they can't take they eyes off us / But we don't see none of that / They playin' my jam and the floor is packed / So y'all need to migrate up out the door,” she sings.

Courtesy of MariahCarey.com

Record Winning-  Carey just received her eighteenth number one single. Her song "Touch My Body" went past Elvis on the Billboard Charts.

   Instantly the song screams “club banger.” The word “hit” can be found all over the song. With an opening number like this, just imagine what other tricks she holds up her sleeve.

   The addictive single “Touch My Body” glides right in. The song contains some of the sexiest, yet hilarious, lyrics ever to be written.  In the middle of singing about being “touched,” she interrupts with a warning.

   “If there’s a camera up in here / Then it’s gonna leave with me when I do (I do) / If there’s a camera up in here / Then I’d best not catch this flick on YouTube (YouTube) / 'Cause if you run your mouth / And brag about this secret rendezvous / I will hunt you down,” she sings.

   The line “I will hunt you down,” couldn’t be any funnier. Watching the music video as she pulls a laser gun from behind her back makes the moment priceless.

   The Jamaican-tinged “Cruise Control” features guest vocals from Damian Marley, the son of reggae-legend Bob Marley.

   Catchy lyrics and the ridiculously fun accent Carey puts on make you want to hop on the next plane headed to Jamaica.

   “Might need to go slow, I don’t know / Why ease up on the break every time I see his face / I’m outta control, I … I don't know / How to stay up in my lane / Everyday and night he’s cruisin’ through my brain / Wherever I go he be cruisin’ / Turn to the right ooh he so smooth with it / Deep down inside don't want to lose him / He already know I'm willin’ to go / Gotta get on cruise control / C-R-U-I-S-E control,” she sings, while Marley repeats the same verse later in the song.

   She slows it down for the R&B ballad “I Stay in Love.”

   “Dying inside 'cause I can't stand it / Make or break up can't take this madness / We don't even really know why / All I know is baby I try and try so hard to keep our love alive,” she begins.

   The song, like most “Mariah ballads,” features massive vocal trills and extremely emotional lyrics.

   “I know we said let go but I kept on hangin’ on / Inside I know it's over, you’re really gone / It’s killing me 'cause there ain’t nothing that I can do / Baby, I stay in love with you,” she continues.

   Remember how Rihanna’s ballad “Unfaithful” dominated the radio a couple years ago? This song could do the same … and better.

   Carey gets personal on the next song.

   “Said you were strong, protecting me / Then I found out that you were weak / Keeping me there under your thumb / 'Cause you were scared that I'd become much / More than you could handle / Shining like a chandelier / That decorated every room inside the private hell we built,” she sings.

Courtesy ofMariahCarey.com

Mariah Carey

   She digs deep into her controlled life while married to former producer Tommy Mottola for this hip-hop ballad, “Side Effects.”

   “And I dealt with it / Like a kid I wished I could fly away / But instead I kept my tears inside / 'Cause I knew if I started / I’d keep cryin’ for the rest of my life with you / I finally built up the strength to walk away / Don’t regret it / But I still live with the side effects,” she finishes.

   The raw emotion and painful lyrics make up for the useless addition of Young Jeezy, who throws in a rap towards the end.

   Honestly, the next song “I’m That Chick” aims for the women. The beat and lyrics bring fun to the table, but the only thing it does is make me want ice cream.  As weird as that may sound, take a look at the lyrics.

   “I’m like that ooo weee / You’re fiendin’ to blaze up / And taste me / Got flavor like ice cream / 'Cause I’m that chick you like / … / La da da ooo weee / I’m that chick you like / La da da ooo weee / I’m that chick you like,” she teases.

   Another impressive R&B ballad follows.

   “This is my love story / Boy meets girl and looks in her eyes / Time stands still and two hearts catch fire / Off they go / Rollercoaster ride / Up and down and around twisted all out their minds,” Carey sings.

   The song’s great vocals and actual “story” shine as she continues, “Chapter two / When they meet up again / Second time around / See but they’re just friends / But the feeling’s still strong and it’s been too long / To be trippin' like they ain’t been missing.

   “I’ll be lovin’ you long time / I’ll be lovin’ / I’ll be lovin’,” she starts.

   “I’ll Be Loving U Long Time” sounds like a flashback from the early ‘90s, which isn’t a bad thing.

   “You ain’t even gotta worry about a thing / I gotcha babe / And ain’t nobody takin’ me away / It’s not a game I’m here to stay / Our love is stronger than any drug / Addictive just can’t get enough,” she sings on the catchy song.

   Jermaine “J.D.” Dupri lends his vocals to the song “Last Kiss,” singing, “Baby I know this ain’t gon’ be our last kiss / Last kiss / Last kiss.”

   Carey chimes in, “But in my heart I know this / Ain’t gon’ be our last kiss / It’s too big we just can’t quit / What you think this is? / Our love will always exist.”

   No matter how impressive “Last Kiss” may be, it will not match up to the J.D./M.C. classic “Sweetheart.”

   “Thanx 4 Nothin’” does not play games. This song showcases Carey on one of her best songs to date.

   “I never knew enough about you babe / And I guess I only have myself to blame / Now I'm broken-hearted and shattering / But you were just playin’ a game / Nothin’ anyone could to convince me babe / I was living in a lie just a masquerade / Now I only know that I’ll never be the same / But you were just playin’ a game,” Carey lets loose.

   If you haven’t figured it out by now, Mariah Carey comes equip with her own lingo:  

   “Stonegroove,” “Hot Tamale” and now this song titled “O.O.C.,” which stands for “Out of Control.”

   The song contains every requirement to be a hit on radio. The music and lyrics force you to get “O.O.C.”

   “Even though I been gone for a minute / It’s wrong I admit it / Your love’s so addictive that / I get so O.O.C. / Out of control baby,” she sings creating the “O.O.C.” wave in pop culture.

   Carey has been teasing listeners the whole way through. The last three songs will blow your mind.

   Right from the beginning, you hear the sound only her voice can make. The arrangement that launched commercials for her perfume “M” on television works perfectly as the intro to “For the Record.”

   “'Cause when I’m looking in your eyes / Feels like the first time / Give me one good reason why / We can’t just press rewind / I don't want to spend my life / Thinking what it could’ve been like / If we had another try / One time / Like back in the day / That look on your face / Feels like the first time,” she sings on the chorus.

   The magic in this song comes when she takes you back in time with references to her classic hits.  “For the record, you’ll always be a part of me,” goes back to “Always Be My Baby.” “And for the record, can’t nobody say I didn’t give my all to you,” goes to “My All.” “And for the record, I told you underneath the stars,” comes from “Underneath the Stars.” “They can’t compete with M.C.,” references a line in “Don’t Forget About Us.” She also references the songs “We Belong Together” and “Honey.”

   Everyone, get the tissues.

   Carey wrote the second single “Bye Bye” loosely about the death of her father. But, she wrote it in a way anyone can apply it to their situation or loved one.

   “Sometimes when I'm writing a song like "Bye Bye," it does come from such a raw place that I'm actually crying while writing it, or thinking about it. But sometimes I will hear it and go ‘I feel like this is gonna touch a lot of people.’ And that's why it's important,” she told the cameras for her Soundcheck promotion for Wal-Mart.

Courtesy of MariahCarey.com

Mariah Carey

   “This is for my peoples who just lost somebody / Your best friend, your baby, your man or your lady / Put your hand way up high / We will never say bye,” she sings. “Mamas, daddys, sisters, brothers, friends and cousins / This is for my peoples who lost their grandmothers / Lift your head to the sky / 'Cause we will never say bye.

   “I never knew I could hurt like this / And everyday life rolls on / I wish could talk to you for a while / Miss you but I try not to cry / As time goes by / And it’s true that you’ve reached a better place / Still I’d give the world to see your face / And be right here next to you / But it’s like you’re gone too soon / Now the hardest thing to do is say bye bye,” Carey sings.

   She writes even more personal by singing, “I remember when you used to / Tuck me in at night / With the teddy bear you gave me that I held so tight / I thought you were so strong / You'd make it through whatever / It's so hard to accept the fact you're gone forever.”

   She closes the album with “I Wish You Well,” a piano ballad with heartfelt lyrics and Bible verses.

   “So you sought an enemy / (I’m not your enemy, he lives in you, you know it’s true) / Like times before to mock ignorantly / (But the Lord said love your enemy so just …) / Take heed to the word it’s time / Check Proverbs 19:29 / Don’t cry,” she sings.

   Carey proves that the styles and vocals she gave us on the 1990 masterpiece “Vanishing” are still within her.

   “Basically it’s about coming to a place within yourself where you, no matter what somebody does to you, you can forgive them, and even if you're a little bit bitter about it, you say your peace and you let it go,” she stated in her Wal-Mart promotion.

   “(Can’t believe I still need to protect myself from you) / But you can’t manipulate me like before / Examine first John chapter four, verse four / And I wish you well / … / (He who the Son sets free is free indeed) / No weapon formed against me / Shall prosper / Surely God is my salvation / I will trust and not be afraid / The Lord, the Lord is my salvation / I will trust in Him / Yes, I know that I know,” she continues.

  She ends the song breathtakingly, “But I have had God's help to this very day / And so I stand here and testify to small and great alike / So the more you curse me the more you're blessing me / The word said it / Love your enemies / Do good to those who curse you / Pray for those who mistreat you / Psalms 129:2 / They have greatly oppressed me from my youth / But they have not gained victory over me / (In Jesus’ name) / I wish you well.”

   The import version of the album contains two bonus tracks, “Heat” and “4 Real, 4 Real.”

   According to Billboard, the album sold 154,000 copies on its first day. That impressive number is projecting a 600,000 sale in its first week, according to Hits Daily Double.

   Carey’s sales have her poised for the No. 1 spot on the charts. But then again, doesn’t the queen always come out on top?

   In promotion for this album, she’s appeared on media outlets throughout the world. She even caused the city of Paris, France to come to a complete stop. She’s coached the contestants on “American Idol” and for the weekend of April 25 through April 27, the Empire State Building in New York City will light up in the colors pink, purple and white to promote her album.  With that said, can we go ahead and say the world is at the feet of the legendary Mariah Carey?

   “E=MC2” shows the star at her best.  The album ranks in spot No. 2, in my opinion, on a list of her best albums.  The classic “Butterfly” rests comfortably at the top.

   She described it as taking “The Emancipation of Mimi” to a new level, and that she did. The highlights include: “I Stay in Love,” “Touch My Body,” “Side Effects,” “Cruise Control,” “For the Record,” “I Wish You Well” and “Bye Bye.”

   Carey could have left T-Pain and Young Jeezy off the album and kicked the track “I’m That Chick” to the curb to make this album perfect. She also could have done without the awkward spelling of words and use of numbers, but all is forgiven. Even with those minor issues, the album still holds on strong.

   From the best album of 2008, each song could reach the top spot on the charts if released as a single. Mariah Carey is a hit-making machine on fire, so The Beatles better watch out. They’re about to be stepped on by a bombshell in six-inch heels.

   For more on Carey, check out her official site, MariahCarey.com.

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