Mariah Carey Connection

Energy equals Mariah Carey squared, apparently. Listening to her 11th studio album you could be forgiven for accusing her of a wild miscalculation. Mariah Carey to the power of ten would still be off the mark.

What is it with today’s divas and their frantic employment of big-shot producers? The services of C “Tricky” Stewart and The Dream, Jermaine Dupri, Stargate, Will I Am, Nate “Danjahandz” Hills, James Poysner and Bryan Michael Cox were all necessary to produce something that sounds pretty much the same.

That “same” is the kind of glossy R&B pop that Carey was partly responsible for creating in the early Nineties under the wing of her former husband, Columbia Records chief Tommy Mottola. Fine but why hasn’t she moved on?

Did Aretha Franklin use half the music business to produce her music? Did Diana Ross? No. They enjoyed strong and enduring relationships with, give or take, one industry giant each: Jerry Wexler and Berry Gordy respectively. The rest was up to them.

And why is a 38 year old woman trying to sound like she’s 20? Only once does Carey really play her ace card, a five-octave range unleashed on I Wish You Well. Foregrounding her voice, this slow, gospel-soul number sets the pulse raising and tells us more about her than all the multi-tracked cooing and warbling put together.

But we’re really scratching around for tunes here. The single Touch My Body and I’m That Chick have something, but, mostly, this is very hard work indeed.

Rating: 2/5

Source: Daily Express | Text and Scan: Mariah Connection UK