• 13.08.09
  Memoirs Of An Imperfect Angel Update
  Mariah is putting the finishing touches on her newest album, Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel, and we have shifted all of our TV and promo appearances to coincide with the new release date of September 29th. We can’t wait for the fans to hear the new album !!

It was supposed to come out on August 25, 2009 and I have to admit that I’m disappointed.  Sure, I wasn’t the biggest fan of her newest single “Obsessed” but I was looking forward to hearing what else the album has to offer. 

It’s so close to the planned release date to be making an announcement like this so I hope that all is well in Mimi-town.  I am sure she was a bit rattled by Eminem’s reaction (or should I say “warning”) to her latest music video but she’s got hubby, Nick Cannon, to defend her honor.  Oh well, I could speculate all day so I’m just going to stop and do the only thing that I can do – wait.

image: MariahCarey.com

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• “Can’t Let Go” (1991) – “Even though I try, I can’t let go.  ‘Cause something in your eyes captured my soul.”
• “Dreamlover” (1993) – “Dreamlover come rescue me.  Take me up, take me down, take me anywhere you want to baby now.  I need you so desperately.  Won’t you please come around ’cause I wanna share forever with you baby”
• “Without You” (1994) – I know she didn’t write this song but she chose to cover it. “I can’t live, if living is without you.”  Pretty self-explanatory…
• “Always Be My Baby” (1996) – “You’ll always be a part of me.  I’m part of you indefinitely.  Boy, don’t you know you can’t escape me, ooh darlin’ ‘cause you’ll always be my baby.”
• “Honey” (1997) – “Honey you can have me when you want me, if you simply ask me to be there.  You’re the only one who makes me come running.  ‘Cause what you’ve got is far beyond compare."  “Ooh baby I’ve got a dependency.  Always strung out for another taste of your honey.” 
• “Breakdown” (1998) – “Well I guess I’m trying to be nonchalant about it and I’m going to extremes to prove I’m find without ya.  But in reality I’m slowly losing my mind underneath a guise of a smile gradually I’m dying inside.”
• “My All” (1998) – “I’d give my all to have just one more night with you.  I’d risk my life to feel your body next to mine ‘cause I can’t go on livin’ in the memory of our song.” 
• “Heartbreaker” (1999) – After she says “gimme your love” about a million times, she says “Oh your love’s so good, I don’t wanna let go and although I should I can’t leave you alone…” Hell, even Jay-Z makes an appearance and raps about her possessiveness in this one!
• “We Belong Together” (2004) – “When you left I lost a part of me, it’s still so hard to believe.  Come back baby please ‘cause we belong together.”

Anyway, I could probably go on forever.  Do you have some examples?  Leave them in the comments!

image: Amazon

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I’m not terribly fond of her new song “Obsessed” but I wasn’t crazy about “Dreamlover” at first either and I eventually grew to love it.   Besides, even if I still dislike that first single, it doesn’t mean the other tracks can’t be good.  I’m looking forward to reviewing it later this summer.

In the meantime, Mimi has revealed the cover art for the album and it’s not too surprising that she chose to go with a skimpy little dress in a variety of seductive poses.  It’s very Mariah!  I don’t hate it but I don’t love it.  What do you think?

image: MariahCarey.com

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I’ve been following Mariah’s career since I saw her featured as a promising new artist on BET.  That was almost twenty years ago and her journey from then until now was mostly smooth until she suffered an emotional breakdown.

Her 1990 debut album, Mariah Carey, produced hits like “Vision of Love” and “Someday” and established her as a talented artist with a unique range (those high notes made her instantly recognizable).  She followed up the effort with Emotions (1991), an MTV Unplugged Album (1992) and the hugely successful Music Box (1993) and Daydream (1995). 

During this time, she was being being managed by Columbia Records executive, Tommy Mottola, whom she described as controlling since he didn’t want her to be overly sexual or to wear revealing clothing.  Of course, the situation wasn’t helped by the fact that she was married to the man from 1993-1998. 

The effects of the split were immediately obvious when Mariah released the video for “Honey” which was the first track off of her 1997 album, Butterfly.  She had clearly had plastic surgery (cheeks, breasts, etc…) and the video (featuring Puff Daddy and Mase) was probably her sexiest to date.  I won’t even go into how sensual and haunting “My All” was/is so, if her goal was to unveil a brand-new Mariah, she succeeded.

Her seventh studio album, Rainbow (1999), is my favorite (okay, maybe it’s tied with Butterfly) and was the most hip-hop influenced music she’d ever released.  She found a way to combine her amazing vocals with rhymes by Snoop Dog, Jay-Z and Joe and it just worked.  If I’m going on a long road trip, I always pack this album and, as was the case with all of her previous albums, I was left begging for more.

Unfortunately, things took a turn for the worse for Mariah.  Despite all of her success, there were reports that Mariah had suffered a physical and emotional breakdown after an ugly separation from Columbia Records (she ended up signing with EMI’s Virgin Records).  It seemed like, all of a sudden, Mariah was complaining about being overworked and started acting strangely.  During an infamous appearance on MTV’s Total Request Live, she actually started handing out popsicles to the audience and began performing what looked like a strip tease.  I don’t think anyone was shocked when she checked into a hospital within days. 

As if fate was looking to kick her while she was down, her semi-autobiographical film, Glitter, basically bombed at the box-office (and with critics) as did the soundtrack.  By the time her 2002 album, Charmbracelet, rolled around, I was almost convinced that her career was over.  It was so bad that I couldn’t even bring myself to buy a copy.   I was significantly buoyed, however, by her duet with Busta Rhymes, “I Know What You Want” since I thought it was her best effort in a while. 

In 2005, she released the The Emancipation of Mimi and I know that it was popular and was her best-selling album in the U.S. since Daydream but I just never liked it.   I thought that the songs (“It’s Like That,” “We Belong Together” and “Shake It Off”) were catchy enough but just lacked the power and level of difficulty I had come to associate with Mariah’s music.   I guess you could say the same thing about her follow-up effort, E=MC2.  Seriously, who can’t sing “Touch My Body?”  It was all so commercial, lazy and gimmicky in my opinion.

Now, after listening to the leaked version of her new single “Obsessed,” I find myself confused yet again.  On Twitter she said: "So"Obsessed" is an uptempo fun summer record. We were gonna go w/the ballad 1st but don’t worry,its coming. I tried to make something… For all who love Butterfly, and even older albums, but "Obsessed" has to come out 1st, asap!! Its different for me,but clearly,its SO me!”

It’s very different from her last two albums and I like the chord progression.  It’s still not the powerhouse song I was hoping she’d release and with the addition of autotune it feels like she’s singing even less than she has in the past five years.

I can’t embed the audio clip but you can listen to it here.  Come back and tell me what you think!

images: Zuma Press/Amazon

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