Mariah Carey: Me. I Am Mariah…The Elusive Chanteuse (2014)

 

Mariah Carey “Me. I Am Mariah…The Elusive Chanteuse”

1.       Cry.: This album starts off with the piano ballad known as Cry. I want you to take a wild guess on what the song is about. If you guessed “longing for your lover in the past, even though you have moved on” you would be partially correct. Only this time she said we both break down and cry. The ballad does remind me of some of her older ballads that were appreciated at first but grew stale over time. Kind of like this song, it’s a harmless ballad but it’s one of those you heard of one you heard them all. (DECENT)

2.       Faded: I said something like this on my previous review, this is definition of late period song. Produced by Mike Will Made It, this song is about a lover not being loyal to her as Mariah believes that he’s fading out to view. The outro points that out and you know what’s crazy, I don’t mind this one, the concept work the production isn’t bad. I’ll take it (GOOD)

3.       Dedicated (ft. Nas): This song is all about nostalgia as it uses a Wu-Tang sample. She even reference 36 chambers in one of her verses. But there’s a lot going on, there’s a male background voice that I don’t recognize a conversation with JD and a Nas verse where he mentions how Eric B should run for president, La-Di-Dadi, and closing his verse paying homage to the late Heavy D. This is another song that has an old school appeal to this that I wouldn’t mind but there where too many moving parts for me to get on board. That’s what’s holding me back. (DECENT)

4.       #Beautiful (ft. Miguel): Our next feature act involves Miguel, one year removed from the WWE leg drop (I had to throw that in).  Anyway the song is self explanatory but I feel like this is more of a Miguel song than a Mariah song, mostly because he sings the first verse and has more lines in this song than Mariah. I don’t feel like they have the greatest chemistry as by the end it sounds like they’re battling each other. Kind of a shame because this could’ve been great and it only barely floats into the good territory (GOOD)

5.       Thirsty: Hit-Boy produced this song and it’s probably the first song that turned me off, mostly on production and Hit-Boy’s adlibs. Vocally I feel like Monica would’ve sounded better on this than Mariah. The content is about Mariah’s partner using her for clout and little else as he’s thirsty for attention. Sure, I get some of her frustrations but I can’t get over that because of the keyboard in production. The content is decent enough but I don’t want to revisit this ever again. (DECENT)

6.       Make It Look Good (ft. Stevie Wonder): I know Stevie Wonder wasn’t credited on this song but I want to acknowledge his presence as he plays his signature harmonica in the production. This song is old school Mariah at her best. Vocally she in her care free mode as she talks about her man with irresistible charm and Mariah is baffled on how he does it. The production at times can feel unbalanced but this Mariah going back to her roots. I can call this a fine enough song (GOOD)

7.       You're Mine (Eternal): Darkchild is here on production, a producer who I had a spotty relationship with. But he doesn’t do harm in this song as Mariah sings about how in denial she is about the relationship ending so no this doesn’t fit in the “longing for your lover in the past, even though you have moved on”. Back in the content, Mariah feels like they were meant for the end and Mariah doesn’t want this relationship to end. Sure, Mariah comes off as possessive but it's convincing and that leave me with one of the albums best. Good song (AMAZING)

8.       You Don't Know What To Do (ft. Wale): This song has an infectious groove but this feels like somethings a miss. The production is a highlight but I’m not crazy with the chorus. Also with Wale, sure he has decent cadence I’m not thrilled with his verses overall. Mariah, at least she moved on from a past relationship and is now having fun. With this, there are elements of this working but at the same time there are things that don’t. Overall, it’s okay but again could’ve been great. (DECENT)

9.       Supernatural: This song features her twins as this song about how her love for his children is something to behold. That’s all you need to know about this song, it’s harmless its for her kids, I don’t have a major issue with this one (GOOD)

10.   Meteorite: Here’s the fan favorite of the album. I kind of understand why, the song has a disco feel and this song. But I feel like Mariah is just going through the motions, Mariah decided to use her head voice where I think her whisper register could add more to what could’ve been a great song. So the song only ranges from decent to okay, but this could’ve been incredible. (DECENT)

11.   Camouflage: We have another piano ballad and this one is aimed at Nick Cannon, her husband. He was and still is one of the hardest working men in the business and Mariah feels like he doesn’t have time for her and she begs Nick to say I love you. It’s heartfelt and Mariah puts all the pain in her vocals and thus leading to an interesting moment. So this is another highlight on the album (AMAZING)

12.   Money ($ * / ...) (ft. Fabolous): Once again Hit-Boy produced this and this time he brings Fabolous along for the ride, the second time he worked with Mariah. And there’s so much going on here. On production, Hit-Boy uses at least three samples as the song is pretty much a flexing song, showing listeners what money can do for you. Flexing songs are usually hit or miss for me but because this song got so much (perhaps) too much going on. Let’s move on. (DECENT)

13.   One More Try: Looking at the title of this song, I feared that this is another “longing for your lover in the past, even though you have moved on” and it’s kind of is but there’s some context. This song is actually a cover originally sung by George Michael. He sings about the resistance of going back to the past love relationship and Mariah is just putting a female twist on it. The orginial and the cover is way too long, both songs are about 6 minutes long. I would say Mariah does perform fine here, but this was just too long for me. (DECENT)

14.   Heavenly (No Ways Tired/Can't Give Up Now): The final song of the album and it’s another cover this time from Mary Mary, and this serve as the gospel cut on the album. I never appose Mariah going gospel on any of her album. Again won’t be talking about the content of this song since it’s a cover but as is, I thought it was a proper album closer, I’m glad Mariah haven’t forgotten her roots. (AMAZING)

Final Thoughts: This album was easier to get through than her last two. Granted Mariah is in her late period, so in the end the end I know what I expect in this album, but there were some parts that were above average I’m going to give it the above average score 7/10, there were things that I liked on this album and for a late period album Mariah Carey. Next up is Caution, her most recent non-holiday album to date.

Best Songs: You’re Mine (Eternal), Camouflage, Heavenly (No Ways Tired/Can’t Give Up Now)

Worst Songs: Thirsty