Review: Mariah Carey – The Emancipation of MiMi
Rob Thomas entered the Billboard album chart at the top spot last week, as the only solo artist ever coming from a band to pull that feat off. But what was he competing against anyway ? Well, Mariah held the number one spot till then, so I had to hear if it was a worthy adversary or not.
After her failure with Glitter (the movie, the biggest bomb of 2001, just in case you forgot) and an accompanying nervous breakdown, she pretty much disappeared from the Earth’s surface. Her first single was of the same R&B crop that’s currently polluting the airwaves, nothing special there. Mariah though, said in interviews the album would be a vocal explosion, stretching it to the limit. So at least I had something to look forward to. She already earns extra points putting forth 14 songs instead of the industry’s standard 12.
First thing, she is correct about the vocal part of the album. The dynamic strong voice draws your attention now and then. The songs themselves though, are another cup of tea. A handful of duets (Nelly, Snoop Dogg, Dupri, etc) is the same as those songs you hear on the radio everyday. Nothing new there. The other hand seems to be filled with Destiny’s Child’s left-overs, and the slower less melodious ones at that.
In the end, it’s not a total disaster, but it’s not that exciting either.6-.