Mariah Carey Connection

It’s taken three years, but the follow up to The Emancipation of Mimi has arrived. E=MC2 sticks to the sound which won Mariah three Grammy awards. Although this is more of a continuation than a follow-up, this album lacks development, something you’d expect after such an absence.

Once again, Mariah includes popular artists like Damian Marley, and hip-hop high flyers T-Pain and Young Jeezy. Production too boasts a healthy cast, including Jermaine Dupri, Will I Am, long-time Mariah producer Brian Michael Cox and Mariah herself as executive producer.

Those who love the earlier Mariah ballads will enjoy choice cuts like ‘I Wish You Well’, which features an appearance by her pastor, Bishop Clarence Keaton, or the heartbreak-fuelled ‘Thanx 4 Nothin’ and slow-jam ‘Bye Bye’. Catchy first single ‘Touch My Body’ is full of fun and flirtation and a return to Mariah style, while clubbers will love album opener ‘Migrate’ and ‘I’m That Chick’, and pop princesses will be feeling ‘I’ll Be Lovin’ U Long Time’.

E=MC2 has less of the vocal gymnastics Mariah’s famous for. However the odd high-pitched squeal can be found in tracks like ‘For The Record’. There’s also a real low, however, on album closer ‘Heat’, essentially a nursery rhyme with a cheap hip-hop beat.

All in all, however, E=MC2 is what Mariah does best: mainstream music with plenty of warbling.

Source: State Magazine | Text: Mariah Connection Ireland