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Newfound appreciation for Camouflage (110,537) by MhieMhie from Vietnam

Wow. This song was masterfully written about Mariah wanting to know the truth yet hoping she is wrong. Same to the rein of Lately by Stevie Wonder.

Honestly, I skip this song as I find it boring (cmon, I was 3 and a half when this song came out so...) but then again nobody writes generic themes yet so on point relatable songs other than Mariah.

Other than that, I felt the pain from the song. I think this is what we need to celebrate more than the charts with Taylor Swift grinding (sorry not sorry) to be America’s number 1, overtaking all records she can still get while the GP is interested.

Some could say Mariah is the same back in the 90s but no. Label system and artist independency is different from before. Mariah is under contractual obligations and Sony capitalized on her while newer artists can release a song as much as they can this age.

I wonder if this was the case back then. Will Mariah be Mariah today if this is the case? I believe not. Scarcity is power.
(Sunday 17 August 2025; 09:59)

Back to chart obsession (110,536) by Shezz from Pk

I definitely agree that this era was launched a month too early. I think 2 months prior was more than enough or she should have dropped the album in August but I suppose it wasn't ready to be able to do that. Though other artists are taking even longer to drop albums after releasing singles, like Jade and Ed Sheeran. I also think it was bad planning. She was stuck with global touring dates she had committed to prior. Like why is the Celebration of Mimi tour going sporadically until the end of the year when she has a brand new album coming out?

Feels like she's stuck between being a current pop artist and a legacy artist and she's trying to balance both.

Also, she needs to realize that singles aimed to draw in the younger audience won't fly. Release a ballad if you believe in it. They will both perform the same.

Rumours are that LA Reid has secured her a ten minute performance at the VMAs. It'll probably be akin to her Billboard icon performance with TD and SS in the mix.

Imagine if she premiered Here For It All there with just the piano (I am not even expecting her to live sing it because God knows she wont even attempt those vocals live).

I found the clip a bit screechy at first but it has really grown on me. Finally some deeper stronger lyrics. The lyrics make me wonder if she wrote them for Roc and Roe. Or even herself.

I think there will be some solid songs on the album that'll make us scratch our heads even though I really like TD and SS.

(Sunday 17 August 2025; 07:42)


this is a reply to message		110,532

The Mariah UK takeover is gonna pay off (110,535) by Baby from Dreamville...Where There's No Beginning & There is No End

I salute the effort made by Gamma and Team Mariah to attack one (non-American) territory full-on.
• Capital's Summertime Ball had ~80,000 attendees ~80% 18-39 and MC has made 2 appearances on the radiostation in June and August with multiple clips shared on social media. The Capital FM hosts loved her both times and that translates/transfers to Capital FM's core demographic of 15-34 with 7.5 million weekly and ~1.1 million daily listeners (London ~235,000) - who will be more primed for her album come September. The whole show was broadcast live on YouTube and aired on ITV, the premier UK commercial tv station with a 15% market share. It's still on available on ITV's streaming platforms.

• Brighton Pride ~50,000 attendees ~70% in 18-39 (no official broadcasting channels). Made several headlines and news articles, multiple clips shared on socials

• Heritage Live at Sandringham Estate ~10,000 to 30,000 attendees ~50% in 18-39 (no official broadcasting channel). Made several headlines and news articles, multiple clips shared on socials

• Harper's Bazaar UK July Cover and interview inspired the times critique and discussion on Revolt TV and many other publications. Socials and forums obviously quoted too. The cover photo and shoot garnered a lot of positive feedback, exclusively so. A rarity for Mariah's press coverage. Should point to an uptick in sales of the physical magazine issue. (Was also heavily featured during her Selfridge's "Here For It All" in-person fan-event. More on that later down the list).

• Selfridges Presents: Mariah Carey. Their flagship department store (located in London on Oxford Street, which attracts more than 500,000 daily visitors) has daily visitors in the tens of thousands and many more thousands would have shown up because Mariah is so high profile. From watching the videos and clips from fan-cams it was obviously a very successful turnout. It bordered on pandemonium in spots. Not a surprise since it was open to the public who were encouraged to sign up for free audience tickets. Promoted and curated as a Q&A session hosted by Clara Amfo of BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge. Clara has unfortunately left BBC 1 Radio about 3 days ago, citing depression and burnout, after 8 years. (Goes to show, how you can never know what people are going they behind the scenes no matter how well put together they come off in public. We wish Clara well as she privately recovers.) BBC 1 Radio has ~1million daily listeners. The Selfridges even displayed Mariah's Harper's Bazaar UK magazine for easy pickup as part of her promo. Fans have even gotten her to personally sign their copies since it came out and some have bought it as a collectors item.

Honorable mentions:
° BBC Radio 1Xtra Breakfast Show - Nadia Jae
° BBC Radio 2 - Scott Mills Breakfast Show
° Capital FM's Breakfast Show with Sian Welby, Jordan North, and Chris Stark.
° Smooth Radio - Angie Greaves
° Hits Radio Breakfast Show with Fleur East and Will Best

Apologies if I missed any appearances or persons. I know that it was not intentional.

In any case. I just wanted to list and document MC's rather assertive presence in the UK this Summer. She's been very visible and accessible to fans and civilians alike. It hasn't gone overboard, so when the HFIA album promotion picks up in September, The UK market will have her fresh on their minds and still curious. Hopefully Gamma and Team Mariah have fostered enough good will with all of this effort both on radio and the larger UK populus for a nice album debut position. I hope they push the McCartney cover in the UK and Europe especially. MC's "Without You" is still a radio staple in Europe. Everybody loves her version and that's when she really became a star across the Atlantic. I was quite surprised at how mid the American audience received it in comparison to us.

I thought it important to give Team Mariah some credit for what they've done right so far. It's not all doom and gloom.

(Sunday 17 August 2025; 05:59)

Mimi was ahead as a showgirl (110,534) by Nicole from US

Looking at Taylor Swift's promo pictures for her Life of a Showgirl album made me think of Breakdown and I Stay in Love. Mariah was way ahead of the times but sometimes I think maybe if she stuck to one look per era and not only sexy skimpy dresses. I guess Mimi just wants sexy all the time but that's just me.
(Sunday 17 August 2025; 03:43)

Bryan Tanaka (110,533) by Baby from Dreamville...Where There's No Beginning & There is No End

My stream of consciousness in response to Giovanni, Bobby A and Edeard:

Bryan Tanaka's absence has left quite a vacuum in Mariah's life. No wonder when he was so present and supportive in every aspect of her life. He was so Hands-On, from being her primary dancer/choreographer, creative director, being involved with video production and editing, producing, helping to manage her career at times and parenting her minor children. I could probably go on and on and tack on 7 other hats that he's worn, but you get the point, he was basically her husband, and not the way the two other idiots have been.

We never heard of any negative drama about their personal relationship - not that they were perfect because I'm sure they weren't always - but it wasn't the stuff that blogs, vlogs, podcasts and tabloids would get excited about. I'm guessing because both of them were very dedicated and faithful to each other after they became official.

It was all very marriage-coded, like how a lot of husbands and wives own and run businesses together? I personally know couples who operate (literally) like that, who met when they were younger and were in the same field, then started a business and are with each other 24/7 every day of the year, with kids. Very harmonious, stable loving partnerships - from the outside looking in at least.

But they're not celebrities so you have to factor in the stresses that come along with that as well as the omnipresence of a destructive and narcissistic ex-husband who runs his mouth to spoil and foil your relationship.

The thirsty one has always been super-jealous and competitive over Tanaka for how he stepped in and seamlessly filled basically every need Mariah and the kids had. because of his inadequacies as a husband, father and man. His thirsty antics for the past 10 years especially are living proof of that - if you catch my drift.

So whatever plans Tanaka and Mariah had made for their future togethe were deliberately thwarted as Thirsty's messy behavior at some point succeeded in causing enough turmoil that they decided s separation was the answer. That's the long and short of it. I'm doing my best not to go on a tangent. I know it doesn't look it.

Had they been officially married earlier on, nothing and no one could have kept them apart, simply because they would have been under God's protection through matrimonial covenant.

But stranger things have happened. What's indisputable is that Bryan Tanaka is still very much respected and beloved by Mariah's assembled family. They known him as long as Mariah has and naturally have their own relationships with him as a friend. A number of them (I follow) are very openly keeping their eyes on him, rooting for him. In that way he's quite singular. If there is a stone left unturned it's going to be Jesus who turns that stone.

Any "lamb" who goes out of their way to badmouth Tanaka based only on their "feelings" is sus AF. Especially when they have little to no energy for the truly parched.

20 years is long time to pretend you have integrity when you don't. Thirsty could never.

(Sunday 17 August 2025; 02:47)


this is a reply to message		110,422

Back to chart obsession (110,532) by Randy from USA

Jaker for once we agree. People will love a song and then when it doesn't do well, it was a bad single choice. Mariah does it too. One of my favorite songs is Through The Rain and Mariah has bad talked that. Although during the promotional tour, she said it was an anthem. The same with Bye Bye, which I love. Mariah talks about how that was a bad single choice, but she promoted it everywhere. No one knows whether a song will be a hit because if they did, everyone would have number ones. I knew the first time I heard Type: Dangerous and Sugar Sweet they weren't hits. Cool songs. Not hits. Can I bring Adele up for the fifty million time? Why does only Adele understand that a heartfelt ballad as a lead single will go to number one because it reaches across generations and music delivery formats? I was disgusted to watch Hello make 25 go diamond and Easy on Me make 30 sell in the middle of a worldwide pandemic, and for as much as I love those two songs, I'm sitting by thinking, Mariah does ballads better than anyone. And yet she keeps churning out modern r&b. Final thought and it's still a repeat. I don't know what Mariah or Gamma thought releasing these songs so early on an album so short. Was there a plan B if the songs didn't work? Type Dangerous shoulda came out the last week of July and Sugar Sweet shoulda came out the last week of August for a September 26 release. But quiet as it's kept, I kinda think Cardi B is gonna struggle. The music audience is fickle. We will see. That's all.
(Sunday 17 August 2025; 01:10)


this is a reply to message		110,516

Here For It All snippet (110,531) by Terna from Nigeria

To explain and actually make sense at a basic level I'll have to define some terms I'm going to be using to describe those phrases the AI came up with.
1. Chord - two or more notes played at the same time.
2. Progression - the act of moving from one chord to another rhythmically and in a certain pattern, repeatedly throughout a song or music piece.
3. Time signature - the number of beats per measure that influences the rhythmic movement of the song or music piece.
4. Tonic - root of a key or scale (the first note also known as the "doh")
5. "Key" and "scale" refer to the same thing and might be intertwined, but not really the same. "Scale" is a string of notes contained in a key of a song and its mode whether major or minor. "Key" is usually the name or tag for the set of notes a particular piece of music is written in.
6. Relative major and relative minor: every major key has a relative minor key and vice versa. This means that the same set of notes that make up the major scale also make up its relative minor scale too, but their starting points (tonics) are different. For instance C Major and A Minor are relative of each other they all contain only white keys, no black keys.
7. Accidentals - the black keys on the piano that indicate sharps or flats.

From the clip we heard of "Here for It All" it seems to be a piano ballad, maybe a beat drops later on in the song, but so far the chord progressions (the piano's music movements) are in a traditional 4/4 time signature "1,2,3 4, 1,2,3,4" ("Mine Again", "The Art of Letting Go") rhythmically, but patterned differently. Paying close attention to the chords, there seems to be a borrowed chord in there, but I really cannot tell until I hear the whole song. A borrowed chord from a parallel key, means lifting a chord from this parallel scale (major or minor) to incorporate into a music piece in a related key, usually to create dissonance that isn't too jarring. This action is the "modal mixture" and that borrowed chord would not really fit in with the ones played before or after it depending on where it is placed, but will still be in tune because, it is a chord that shares notes with the original key except for one, two or three accidentals ("Vision of Love" comes to mind). For instance C Major's relative minor is A minor, but its parallel minor is C Minor because they share the same tonic (A minor doesn't start on note C but on note A) but C minor has 3 flats in it. Contemporary musicians and song writers use this trick to create intrigue or unpredictability to get the listener engaged, amongst a host of other emotions and not have their songs predictable, redundant or boring. As more and more songs keep getting written and released, it gets harder to standout or sound different. Here's a good example of a borrowed chord in the live skit she did on Jimmy Fallon from 2014. at the 2:44 minute mark when she starts singing "The Art of Letting Go", the line "I no longer live in your dominion", the word "Live" coincides with a disjointed or different chord whose introduction changed the feel, and lets the listener sense her demeanor to know there's an element of solemnness/seriousness to the song and it's going to be a song that touches on a serious topic. Hope this helped and was not too convoluted and technical. Haha. Music theory.

(Saturday 16 August 2025; 23:55)


this is a reply to message		110,526

Here For It All snippet (110,530) by Edward from USA

According to Mariah in a UK interview, “Here For It All” starts as a ballad, shifts into a midtempo groove, and then builds into a gospel moment.
(Saturday 16 August 2025; 19:51)


this is a reply to message		110,528

Finally watched the Alan Carr podcast (110,529) by Lighty from China

And I have to say it's really painful to watch Mariah's interviews these days. She seems very reluctant to answer most of the questions and all she had been doing was to repeat what the interviewer had just said, not only Alan, but all the interviewers from last year until now. She looks uncomfortable, uninterested, tired and dull. Sometimes she laughs awkwardly as if she doesn't understand what the interviewer is talking about, or maybe she's using the laughs to cover the awkwardness, but only made things worse.

This low energy is not only seen in the interviews, but also in the songs. Her first verse in Sugar Sweet, especially the "I'm gonna take my time, my nails, hair, new perfume" lines, doesn't sound like she's even remotely excited to "open up the door" and meet this guy. It feels like she was just obliged to finish singing the lyrics, and that's all. While the two featured artists in the song sound way more sincere, or to say the least, they fit better to the lyrics and the song than Mariah does.

I still remember vividly watching Mariah going on Alan's Chatty Man to promote the Memoirs album in 2009. She was funny, witted, and carefree. She played flawlessly and effortlessly along with Alan's jokes and skits, the "stuff the turkey", the "champagne foams", which Mariah now says she doesn't remember, and the Eminem question, etc. Such a wonderful show to watch. Now this Mariah has all gone, I wonder where she's been to, is it really that something's seriously wrong with her mentality because of the heavy medication, or just as Alan asked jokingly in the podcast, "What? Are you dead inside?" (during the fridge magnet questions).

At least this Alan podcast is so far the best interview we have got for this period. Mariah seems to have opened up a little bit more. Hopefully she will get better and better leading to the new album. Bless.

(Saturday 16 August 2025; 18:14)

Here For It All snippet (110,528) by Bobby A from United States

I can hear those two songs as well, Zac. From what I hear on the snippet, HFIA has a pre-hook part where MC's buttery tone and falsetto shines before she belts "Baby, I'm here for it all." I bet the full song is fire. We should get the 3rd single after Labor Day. Maybe HFIA or the Anderson .Paak duet

(Saturday 16 August 2025; 13:28)


this is a reply to message		110,527

Here For It All snippet (110,527) by Zachariah from Croatia

I am hearing a bit of "I Only Wanted" from Charmbracelet and "I Am Free" from Daydream.
(Saturday 16 August 2025; 12:52)


this is a reply to message		110,526

Here For It All snippet (110,526) by Bobby A from United States

Terna, can you help me understand chord progression? You said Here For It All is very Mariahesque in melody and chord progression. AI said MC's chord progressions have a modal mixture departing from the core chords of the song's key to borrow chords from parallel mode. What does all of that mean? Can you give me one MC ballad from each her albums that has a similar chord progression to help me understand? I listened to the snippet with headphones and it is not bad at all. It reminds of MC's vocals on Heavenly (Can't Give Up Now). I think multiple radio formats would play Here For It All because it's a piano ballad similar in the vein of Adele's Easy On Me.

(Saturday 16 August 2025; 04:13)


this is a reply to message		110,443

Back to chart obsession (110,525) by Mimi L. from Empower Your Highlighter

While that seems plausible, Mariah did say in interviews that everyone told her to release this song since it's everyone's favorite. So that makes it look like they thought this has a chance. While I agree with Edward the song isn't bad and had Ariana released it, it would probably do a lot better, but I doubt it was supposed to be a buzz single. The album has only 10 songs, we already heard 2.5.
(Saturday 16 August 2025; 03:51)


this is a reply to message		110,521

I would be a completely different person (110,524) by Bobby A from United States

Lol. Okay, you got me there. I need to enroll back in school. That was funny. Mariah hurry up and release your album. I want my friend Zac back.

(Saturday 16 August 2025; 02:45)


this is a reply to message		110,523

I would be a completely different person (110,523) by Zachariah from Croatia

Wow. It's like school in summer - no class.
(Saturday 16 August 2025; 02:20)


this is a reply to message		110,518

Back to chart obsession (110,522) by Edward from USA

I still think that if "Sugar Sweet" had been released by any current artist, it would've been a hit. It's a very catchy song. It has written Summer all over it. It could've benefited from a punchy bridge though. These days artists are kind of lazy and bridges are becoming a thing of the past. In my opinion, #Beautiful needed one too, it's always seemed too short to me.
(Saturday 16 August 2025; 01:43)


this is a reply to message		110,516

Back to chart obsession (110,521) by Bobby A from United States

I believe the plan all along was for Sugar Sweet to be a promo single. Someone realized at Gamma it just wasn't going to do anything on the charts. Some AR executive said probably that afro beats was not what people wanted from Mariah Carey. They released SS anyway to launch preorders. I hope the third single is the one.

(Saturday 16 August 2025; 00:57)


this is a reply to message		110,516

Doja Cat (110,520) by Mimi L. from Empower Your Highlighter

While I get that but it's so clear that she never met these 2 artists before because from the "behind the scenes" video we could see they're meeting for the first time when shooting the promo clip. I would think a songwriter like Mariah would at least want to be more acquainted with whoever she chooses to collaborate with because she's so picky with who she works with. She keeps picking random artists.
(Saturday 16 August 2025; 00:31)


this is a reply to message		110,515

Marketing flop (110,519) by Lambi from USA

Yup. They really thought they were cooking including MrBeast on the video. It's very obviously a clout move and he left it in the dust. I'm sure she had the money to be like, "3 instagram post, here's $150k." but she didn't. However, I'm lowkey glad MrBeast didn't fully associate himself with this song because it's not Mariah's best work.

This strategy was giving when Jermaine thought it was a good idea to exclusively release The Art Of Letting Go on Facebook because Mariah had 14 million followers at the time, only for that not to translate into sales at all. It flopped so badly.
(Friday 15 August 2025; 23:42)


this is a reply to message		110,510

I would be a completely different person (110,518) by Bobby A from United States

You got to have a sassy comeback for mouth shutters though.

(Friday 15 August 2025; 23:16)


this is a reply to message		110,511

I would be a completely different person (110,517) by Bobby A from United States

It's interesting that she can sing during some occasions and other occassions she can't. Something inside of MC is happening when she sings. Country singer Martina McBride lost her voice in 2022 from 30 years of overuse of her voice. Sadly, I feel HFIA will be MC's last album. It has been 7 years without new music because MC can't sing her songs like she wants to with all of the riffs, runs, and belting. I want the best for MC.

(Friday 15 August 2025; 22:55)


this is a reply to message		110,508

Back to chart obsession (110,516) by jaker20 from US

It's like clockwork in this forum. I love Doja but collabing with her just to chart is pretty desperate. She's likely to out-chart Mariah, but who cares, as long as HFIA is as good as Caution, I will be happy. If we hope for a chart position for HFIA, we will be disappointed.

When Sugar Sweet was released, reception was extremely positive. But because it didn't chart, we don't like it anymore. The quickness lambs switch on her based on chart position is sad. She's really a victim of her own success.

I love the song, love the beat, it feels like a classic. It doesn't feel out of place to her catalog like that I Don't mess. And she's collabing and she increase their profile even a little. She's in her giving era, launching careers. I hope the song has its moment someday, I'm almost thinking it being a theme for a cooking show and it explodes lol. That's how IWTKWLI is Brazil when it became a theme for a show.

(Friday 15 August 2025; 22:52)

Doja Cat (110,515) by T from USA

Mariah said they were perfect for the song and she had them in mind. So that's how these two relatively unknown girls got on the song.
(Friday 15 August 2025; 19:48)


this is a reply to message		110,510

Special 20 votes today for MTV VMA (110,514) by T from USA

Today you can cast up to 20 votes for an artist in their category. We can all double Mariah's chances to finally winning a moon man if we all cast our votes today.

It's only double the votes from 1pm-2pm EST today so roughly thirty mins left to cast 20 votes for Mariah.
(Friday 15 August 2025; 19:29)

Do you all think? (110,513) by BFF from United States

I agree. I think we are heading for an outcome like what we got with the "Caution" album. That album got great reviews but hardly sold at all and faded away quickly. The tour for that album was pretty successful, but I'm not sure Mariah has the capacity for a tour at that scale any more. She completed shows for "The Celebration of Mimi", but we all know the performances were almost entirely pre-recorded. It was also the same sequence of songs every night.

In hindsight, I wish they would have promoted "Type Dangerous" more. I prefer it to "Sugar Sweet" and think it could have blown up more if the music video and remixes had come out sooner. I don't know how they plan to recover momentum for the rollout since the album release date is still over a month away.
(Friday 15 August 2025; 18:45)


this is a reply to message		110,500

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