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McNasty (98,929) by Geronimo from USA I just realized that I have never been proud of any of Mariah's endorsement choices after Fresh Air Fund and "Camp Mariah". I think she recently said something supportive that I agreed with about a football player who only got famous when some white guys with money to waste refused to keep paying him to throw their ball to other grown men in public. If that counted as an endorsement then I guess I support that endorsement too, in the most generic way possible. Mariah's a great pop artist and that is all anyone has the right to expect from her (within reason, of course). I'm always gonna be a fan of her singing and songwriting but the truth is that her endorsement choices are typically trashy and reflect that which is not terribly polite to mention. I wish I didn't read the entire article containing Mariah saying words about McDonald's toxic garbage. I was actually surprised to hear her admit (whether it is true or not) feeding fast food to her children. I'm not going to judge her personally for doing that, just as I wouldn't stand in judgment of poor people trapped in food deserts. But it is a problem that decent food has become so precarious for working people that what should be a rare treat for little league and junior high athletes after winning a rigorous athletic competition is now a daily feature in the diets of workers and their families around the world. I don't expect Mariah Carey to become Michelle Obama on the issue of food versus chemical trash. But I wish I didn't see her slinging that shit on the proverbial corner either. It's unfair to say that Mariah is making things worse by endorsing McDonald's. But she is dipping pretty low by commercializing Christmas in this cheap kind of way. The meaning of Christmas has always been obscured by commercialization, superstition, sentimentality, and gluttony. I've tried to be a good sport about Mariah's contribution to Christmas as a commodity. Still, when I consider Mariah's background and the choices that she is making around money today I cannot say that she is being untrue to her roots. But roots are typically best left underground for a reason. (Friday 12 November 2021; 02:52)

New Christmas song (98,874) by Geronimo from USA I enjoy this song far more than "Oh Santa" and less than "Miss You Most". I do love the texture of her voice on this recording and I'm glad she settles into a groove and avoids somersaulting all over the bass and treble clefs. It's beyond me how someone can say this song lacks form, though. I felt the form could have been a bit more complex in the first half of the song but, at the same time, I really love Mariah's voice nowadays when she's singing a well contained melody. For me, the form is so obvious it borders on trite but, alas we are all differently abled when it comes to discerning structure. But, as always, I could have lived forever without any of the visuals and without any audio from brother Franklin - but that's just me. (Sunday 7 November 2021; 18:55)

Exhibit A: Nick is immature (98,710) by Geronimo from USA This Yahoo article shows the difference between a committed adult and someone who seems to over-identify with celebrity identity. I'm sure Nick is a super nice guy but he constantly makes comments in public that should almost certainly have remained at least semi-private. He often drags other people's private lives into an anonymous, public space where private matters do not belong. Even though I think children should only possess technology at the pleasure of their parents, 1) Nick should have let that remain a conversation between two parents, 2) he should not want to announce to the world that his children now have access to social media against their mother's wishes, and 3) if it is the case that Mariah Carey is the kind of parent whose children need to communicate with outsiders without their mothers knowledge and/or consent at the age of 10, then that is also a very delicate and unfortunate situation completely unsuitable for public entertainment. Maybe he actually does forget that no matter how seriously he takes himself, he is only in public for entertainment purposes. Mariah, on the other hand, has always gotten some flack because she (generally) sticks to her media persona and doesn't pretend the public should take her seriously on other subjects often. She's finally showing that she has a basic grasp on the complications of being an Afro-American woman who has a stake in what happens to other Afro-American men and women. She thinks poverty and hopelessness are bad things. She thinks everyone should be nice or leave. Mariah knows that it's best for her to focus primarily on being an entertainer as far as communicating with the public is concerned. For all kinds of reasons I can see why that makes sense for her to do. I think she and Nick are very similar in the sense that it would be best if they both did as Mariah typically does. (Saturday 9 October 2021; 04:36)

Re: Did anybody catch the shade? (98,619) (98,621) by Geronimo from USA I agree with you that Morrocan and Monroe will need to get along with their father's children as half siblings. But it is Mariah Carey's job to emphasize to her two children that they are the only ones with which she is concerned in any significant way. It might be a different story if Maria [sic] and Nick were still married and his children with another woman lived part of the time in Maria's [sic] house. But Nick's other children have mothers of their own. Those mothers feel the same way about their children as Mariah feels about her own children. Complex family units can be very confusing if parents don't make their priorities crystal clear. If all the children feel secure and loved by their respective parents, then they will have no reason to compete with each other and they can get on well. I think that's healthy. (Sunday 19 September 2021; 02:40)

Re: Did anybody catch the shade? (98,617) (98,620) by Geronimo from USA I think you misunderstand her meaning. She is affirming the centrality of her own children in her life amidst the relative marginality of the children that her ex-husband has had outside the family circle that Monroe and Moroccan originally enjoyed as there "native unit", so to speak. It's a loving thing for her to affirm and prioritize her own children and doing so in the manner that she did does not amount to an incapacity with regard to children on the periphery of her life. But she did establish a rank and that is appropriate given their increasingly complex family context, in my opinion. (Sunday 19 September 2021; 02:31)

No shade, just mature parenting (98,615) by Geronimo from USA It was great to see MC take the moment to affirm her children (in public and in their presence). Of course it's cute and fun for Mariah to "shade" that other entertainer who she doesn't know. But she's too mature to disrespect her family by confusing entertainment and branding with real life and I was happy to see that. (Wednesday 15 September 2021; 22:00)

Stop defending "white" identity (97,626) by Geronimo from USA The idea that Mariah Carey is racist is absurd on his face. The idea that Mariah Carey panders to a concept of "black nationalism" with a date range next to it is the rhetoric of racists. The suggestion that she pretends to oppose racial justice as a marketing technique is also a racist thing to say. And that type of racism is plentiful on this board. Mariah Carey is a black woman mixed ancestry. Advocating for justice for her people is a duty to her ancestors and her children. Pointing out her mother's participation in the forms of racism available to people when they want to be petty and use power acknowledges what many Black people and others of mixed ancestry have experienced in their families. A person of European ancestry who finds what Mariah Carey says about her family experience to be offensive should ask themselves what cultural blindness and defensiveness makes you doubt something that is an obvious fact of social and family relationships for millions of people. Finally, Mariah Carey and African-Americans more generally, do not need to "like" white people. Any person who dislikes a group of people because they are of European ancestry is a person who has a problem. "White" people, however, are a pan-European gang who have invaded parts of the world where they do not belong and have engaged in damaging relationships with other human beings and the environment. "White" does not deserve respect. The difference between "white people" and people of European ancestry is precisely the difference between those who have invented race and racism (then criticize people who struggle against it however they need to struggle) and those people of European ancestry to whom race and racism has been attached according to social and cultural activities. Only a racist more clever than intelligent would pretend in public that this distinction is not important. (Friday 19 March 2021; 20:09)

Mariah's analysis of AIWFCIY (97,136) by Geronimo from USA I'm super impressed by both the intelligence to ask about the relationship between blues and pop harmony/melodies on this song as well as Mariah's astute analysis. Listening to her singing the melody and then identify the scale degree that makes the difference between two distinct cultural expressions is precisely the difference between a serious artist and a commercial product. Also, the conversation about her cowriter was also appropriate to music culture and far more interesting than all the pointless and paternalistic banter that takes up so much space. (Friday 15 January 2021; 21:42)

Super relevant interview (97,135) by Geronimo from USA This interview is perfect. It's what journalism is supposed to give us: culturally informed professionals who understand what counts as real cultural relevance. She literally brought Aretha Franklin's presence back to our physical lives in such a culturally relevant way simply because she gets it. And she brought James Brown into the conversation from an encounter that took place 30 years ago, reminding us what tradition she draws from on the deepest level. Commercial pop culture is so shallow in that it has always tried to make Mariah Carey into a generic retail product isolated on the pinnacle of Billboard "success" and otherwise "irrelevant" in comparison to the "next" and the "next" singing female product selected for promotion. Billboard was always the least interesting part about her (although we do love success). This interview reminds me the difference between silly games and cultural history. And she even mentioned "Till the end of Time", which is one of the absolute best recordings she ever made. (Friday 15 January 2021; 21:29)

Mariah invents her own "relevance" (96,895) by Geronimo from USA I'm one of those fans who could live well without Christmastime Mariah. But I have to admit, while so many fans bemoan Mariah's lapse in relevance, it is just like Mariah to invent her own form of relevance. After so many records broken, she's the first artist to make holiday domination a global achievement category. It just goes to show you that dwelling in the past while whining about it is for unimaginative losers. (Thursday 10 December 2020; 02:20)

New recordings - Ariana bores me (96,831) by Geronimo from USA I really enjoyed the medley, even though Hero is far from my favorite song. I'm really appreciating her approach to texture and timing toward the end. "Oh Santa" is a pretty trite song, in my opinion. I'm glad Jennifer Hudson figured out how to slow the melody down just to give some shape to a melody on the verse. But that song really highlights how boring a singer Ariana Grande is - not because I don't think she can do "more" on a track of her own, but because outside of her discount version of Mariah idiosyncrasies, she just doesn't have much to offer except professional skill. (Saturday 5 December 2020; 08:04)

Re: Trump (96,570) (96,579) by Geronimo from USA You are incredibly wrong. He was one of the worst presidents since Andrew Johnson. He prevented the States from responding to the coronavirus when there was time to save tens of thousands of lives. Then he ratcheted up the country's racist, xenophobic, anti-intellectual, and paranoid tendencies just to play to his socially regressive base. He not so covertly encouraged white supremacist militias to stay ready for "action" when he lost, and worst of all, he scared the faux progressive liberals so badly that Joe Biden's "unity" and "healing" nonsense sounds politics to actual adults now. Trump is a barbarian in an orange monkey suit. (Tuesday 10 November 2020; 03:14)

Solid Mariah (96,363) by Geronimo from USA If you exclude Mariah's top 10% and bottom 10% songs and albums in terms of quality and/or recognition, can you think of another artists since 1990 with such a thick, solid recording record left over? She's never just thrown songs on albums as filler, but made each project with sincerity and skill. Her deep cuts rival Michael Jackson, the Beatles, and Stevie Wonder for the sheer number of "obscure" songs and albums that another generation will discover and wonder where that music has been their all their life. I think the concept of her legacy is almost impossible to frame in this moment. The fact that some people even think reactions to her public persona will determine her impact in the future shows that few people consult history. (Tuesday 20 October 2020; 07:54)

Re: The future is not looking good (96,302) (96,309) by Geronimo from USA Cheer up. Mariah Carey has a great career. You can't measure a person's legacy by current popularity. That's literally the opposite of what a legacy is. At the same time, though, what we fans post online is part of her perceived legacy. We don't need to care that much about what other people are doing and saying about her. We just look at ourselves and see what role we are playing in naming and documenting her legacy out of our experience of her - not how we feel about other people's opinions. (Friday 16 October 2020; 22:58)

Re: What if (96,263) (96,273) by Geronimo from USA Edward, asking what would be different if "Whitney Houston replaces Celine that night", shows you have missed the plot entirely. Whitney Houston's pedigree is the Black church tradition that produced her Black Gospel singing mother, Cissy Houston. The culture gap Celine Dion fell all the way into is literally Whitney Houston's cultural home. You speak as if Afro-American creative and social culture is mostly a product of retail pop culture and not the practice of a real group of people with a history. I wonder where you learned that. The traditions of performing Black Gospel music in the U.S are related to West African and Afro-American music, cosmologies, practices of conjuring, trance, glossolalia and other elements. Aretha carried that tradition into a time when many commercial artists seemed to have forgotten the roots of this American music. Race is not real. It is a mistake people who look like you produced. Culture is real. Clearly, Celine Dion either did not know what not to do or didn't care to proceed as if there might be something she should learn before taking the stage. I wonder why that is. (Friday 16 October 2020; 00:41)

Re: Deflated and angry (96,215) (96,233) by Geronimo from USA I read everything you wrote but I cannot discern what it is exactly that you feel has been a lie? Could you state the deception explicitly? (Thursday 15 October 2020; 00:55)

Re: Inauthentic / TRL (96,228) (96,232) by Geronimo from USA The question is why did her mother prevent her from sleeping and then call the New York police when Mariah needed medical attention? The police have nothing to do with medical care. Breaking dishes in your own home and acting a fool on MTV don't require white men with guns to come get you. Lord have mercy, dude. It doesn't matter if one calls Patricia a racist or not. The label itself doesn't matter. Look at how she uses the power differential that comes with her position in race hierarchy. She has plenty of experience navigating that structure and knew what she was doing. (Thursday 15 October 2020; 00:41)

Finally, on the memoir (96,183) by Geronimo from USA It's difficult to underestimate how valuable "The Meaning of Mariah Carey" is a unique pop-culture document. Like most memoirs, it is filled with the vanity and blind spots of its author. It is not a scientific historical document, biography, or autobiography. It is aptly marketed as a memoir because it is a product of her brand that is tailor-made, just like an album of hers, to give you her side of selected stories that represent her interpretation of her own life journey. If you are actually angry that she did not expose herself to you personally in this memoir regarding issues about which you wanted her to admit this or admit that in an objective manner, I'm glad you no longer fooling yourself into thinking you are a fan of hers. She's just an entertainer and you need some help. This memoir brilliantly shows how U.S. American race ideology can imperil a little girl's life and cause damage that takes a lifetime of work to repair despite success and fame. Her writing also shows how predation, sexism, racism, classism, and desperation can disrupt very basic processes of maturation and peer identity. No wonder she still has a difficult time being objective about her own fault in choosing Tommy Mottola, remaining with Tommy Mottola, and subjecting herself to inhuman standard of productivity and earning among other glaring acts of foolishness. However, friends, clergy, therapists, and key players on father's side of her family shared spiritual resources with Mariah that extended her chances to survive the hell her negligent mother presided over. Music and notably healthy people saved her life and it is no coincidence that many of those people who inspired Mariah and treated her like a person drew from the best of the Afro-American tradition as it has developed in the United States. Even though it has taken Mariah Carey 30 years to get her thoughts together (in public, at least) about her relationship to the history of the racist United States, the torture chamber her mother probably never even bothered to try to call a home, and the exploitative and culturally backward atmosphere of the recording industry, her memoir will exist as a rare and truthful glimpse at how the legacies of European-American racecraft and colonial aesthetic dominance will warp a mind unless one searches for the best parts of your own roots and allow those to anchor you in a sea of cultural nonsense. Somebody else will write the scientific biography with all the forensic details about psychosis, vocal decline, entitlement and victim complexes, and professional dramas. "The Meaning of Mariah Carey" is about the ongoing creative process of self-definition, self-preservation, and progressing self awareness. It's quite an accomplishment and I am glad we finally heard it from her. (Wednesday 14 October 2020; 05:25)

Re: Lovecraft Country (96,168) (96,182) by Geronimo from USA I'm really happy about the important issues that this show attempts to deal with. Much of what the writers take on has needed to be explored in a format like this for a very long time. But, the execution is really immature, too trendy, and shallow on so many levels. The dialogue is painfully unskillful as well. Still, I think its popularity suggests good things are possible in pop culture in the future. This subject matter really does require and deserves mature and seasoned on and off camera talent IMO. (Wednesday 14 October 2020; 04:28)

Re: Article: Mariah opens up about New Year's Eve meltdown (96,161) (96,176) by Geronimo from USA I believe I just replied to you by mistake rather than to Andrew. (Wednesday 14 October 2020; 00:47)

Re: All I Want For Christmas Is You (96,159) (96,174) by Geronimo from USA Andrew, you are too uninformed about the history of U.S. American race ideology to discuss it without producing a strong resemblance to a poorly closeted racist. Black people do not "use" the one drop rule. The one drop rule, as such, cannot be separated from the economic, social, and legal penalties that the rule was created to enforce against United States citizens. Those Afro-Americans who were brave and healthy enough to chose not to hide their heritage when many others chose to benefit by "passing" into whiteness through deception, isolation, fraud, and other means, have set a distinct pattern for today's Afro-Americans who identify with those with whom we share a heritage. Their honesty and clarity about the moral bankruptcy of so-called "white civilization" formed aspects of a new culture in this hemisphere of which Mariah and her father's side of the family is one part. Saying that she or any Black person is using the one drop rule performs an act of profound ignorance in light of the fact that the "use" of the rule is inextricable from the power to apply economic and legal penalties against people with known African heritage. And, no - describing the history of the rule and discussing how that history applies to oneself is not the same as "using the one drop rule" any more than registering with an Indian tribe means that the person who does so is affirming the concept of blood quantum. But why do you keep playing at calling Mariah "There's Got to Be a Way" Carey a racist? She's so Pollyanna. You seem to have a real problem with Black people who discuss the complications related to dealing with centuries of white people getting away with subjecting the planet's peoples to racist non-sense. You and your ilk on this board really should educate yourselves if you can. (Wednesday 14 October 2020; 00:44)

Re: Trash (96,114) (96,149) by Geronimo from USA What are you saying? (Tuesday 13 October 2020; 06:58)

Re: Trash (96,039) (96,050) by Geronimo from USA Reading "cultural" as "racial" is a mistake. Cultures have etiquettes that outsiders may not know - especially where it concerns relating to elders in public settings. Any Afro-American performer with social intelligence (and culturally appropriate mentorship) knows how to respect the relation between seniors and juniors in various settings. I have no stake whatsoever in the Celine v Mariah aspect of that chapter since I'm reading Mariah's book rather than checking for Celine's book - wherever it is. But to suggest that Mariah can't make a cultural distinction without being racist only suggests that Afro-American culture doesn't exist and/or has no right to retain and discuss distinct social practices. Do Afro-Brits have anything like this level of cultural practice? I suspect they have but I wouldn't know for sure. But surely you know, yes? (Friday 9 October 2020; 17:27)

Clarification (94,322) (94,340) by Geronimo from USA Allow me to clarify one thing that I said and this will be the last I say on this topic. George Floyd did not, as you invented, beat any woman according to any publicly available police records. It's bad enough for him to pose as law-enforcement and hold a pregnant woman at gunpoint. If I had been that woman I would have shot him and the rest of that gang in self-defense, myself. But it makes a difference to clarify that he was not even accused of striking that robbery victim well over 10 years ago and that he has served his time on top of making a very public effort to acknowledge his mistakes and intentionally guide others in the opposite direction since then. So we cannot weight an invented beating against public acknowledgment that over 10 years later he was murdered by a gang of police officers while handcuffed and lying on the ground. (Monday 8 June 2020; 19:18)

Transphobic, huh? Really Andrew? (94,324) (94,336) by Geronimo from USA Andrew, your racist tendencies are precisely exhibited in how quickly you shift focus from the actual topic in order to invent a fictional victim to compare with an actual victim. I don't know how it works in your neighborhood, but where I come from that is precisely how white supremacists function in public discourse When the time comes for them to take responsibility for their lawlessness. Stop inventing fictional victims in order to distract from the actual victim. Mariah finally displayed an appropriate understanding of the real social situation in the United States as it relates to her compositions. She did it in a way that doesn't point to the external source of oppression but instead to the multitude through whom the external source finds nothing but neutralized spectators all too often. For you to raise pointless questions about how she would hypothetically respond to a situation you proceed to invent for rhetorical effect shows that your allegiance is not with the truth but with an abstract justification for public lynching. Your colonial style, gender inflicted fabrication props up and protects your invention of a hypothetical innocent victim to which you want your preferred 'white leaning' Mariah Carey to dedicate, "Close My Eyes. " Or have I missed something? Did George Floyd commit the crime you are describing. I do have to admit I have not taken the time in the wake of his murder to meticulously research his possible assaults of ostensibly innocent women. Further, aspirational Grand Dragon, your cloying and contrived reference to transphobia is desperate. It has been very obvious for a long time that a significant number of human beings on this forum are comfortable wearing any form of clothing they desire: trousers, a dress, a skirt, or nothing at all. I'm glad that you are a social justice warrior so sensitive to the well-being of trans people that you are willing once again to make up a fictitious victim out of the blue just in case. I can tell you that your Klan robe is hanging out from your pant leg but that's a little bit clumsy isn't it? For more reasons than one a dress reference is appropriate. Any man who would refer to another adult in public who they do not know as 'sweetie' certainly cannot presume a reference to themselves wearing a dress is an attack on anyone's "identity. " Nice try, though. None of that, however, addresses the main fact—what you very poorly conceal beneath whatever choice of clothing is a desire to present an actual innocent victim as somehow 'ungrievable, ' to use Miss Butler's apt term, unless they are your definition of angelic and innocent in the abstract. Your theological ignorance concerning who goes to "heaven" or not according to an individual's prayer is so far from reasonable nothing more can be said. Finally, perhaps you identify better with this sartorial reference - Andrew, the hood of your clan robe is showing from underneath your fake black hoodie. What evasive move do you have now, Andrew? Did I just make an anti-Black comment? Would that be an interesting distraction for you to chase? I don't think so. Your evasive move doesn't move in that direction, does it? By the way, ask the award winning actor Juicy about the bleach. Something tells me he has plenty left over. (Monday 8 June 2020; 18:42)

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