Mariah Carey's new single is pretty good
One of the strange side effects of attending college, besides becoming broke and showing early signs of liver failure, is falling completely out of tune with mainstream culture. Students usually face waves of homework, extracurriculars and Burger King cravings, so they simply don't have the time to keep up with what's going on outside the Arch, save for devoting themselves to a show or two (following Lost seems hard enough). This hold especially true for what's hip in mainstream music. A friend of mine told me last year he completely missed out on "Umbrella" until he went back home, and even the ditzy girls I know needed a bit longer than most folks to find "Hey There Delilah". We have enough to worry about, the Top 40 doesn't have any room to be included on our schedules.
So, since you may have missed it because of midterms or Paddy Murphy Week or whatever, I'm here to tell you Mariah Carey's new single "Touch My Body" sounds pretty sweet. "Touch My Body" is no year-defining hit, like "Promiscuous Girl" or the aforementioned "Umbrella", but Mariah's first single from the recently released E=MC2 serves as a serviceable slice of tasty pop.
Part of the reason this song ultimately isn't better is the beat, a relatively unexciting mix of keyboards and programmed drum. A subversive bass squiggle squirms in the back of the mix and stands out as the most interesting sonic point in the track. The beat doesn't steal the show, but that's the point - it stands in the background so Mariah can steal the show with her vocals, always the high point of her songs. The diva purrs quickly through the verses cutely, before slowing the affair down a bit for the chorus. Solid stuff, the type of vocal work that sells so many of her albums.
What makes "Touch My Body" more than the usual radio fodder are the lyrics, seductive and surprisingly funny. Mariah may be in a "secret rendezvous", but she isn't approaching the fling as a deceleration about her sexuality ("Promiscuous") or as a chance to be a whore ("Give Me More"). It's top secret, but still intimate, and her lyrics reflect this without losing any of the hotness (especially when she squeals "let me wrap my thighs around your waist"). And then there are the laughs. "Touch My Body" is one of the first songs I've heard to directly reference YouTube exploitation, a nice change of pace from the usual paparazzi musings in so many pop songs. I'm not sure what a "Wendy interview" is, and I'm not sure if she's making a Foreigner joke with the 102-degree fever line, but both made me laugh. Plus, the ominous coo "I will hunt you down" is both the neatest vocal moment and funniest joke I've heard in a pop song so far in 2008.
By the end of the year, I'm sure "Touch My Body" will only be a distant memory, but good pop deserves some recognition, especially a song that seems tongue-in-cheek at times (check the video). Plus, I'd rather here this over "ya trick ya" any day of the week. (North by Northwestern)
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