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Mariah’s most poignant political gesture ever (94,323) by Geronimo from USA Andrew, your Klan robe is showing from underneath your dress. You should reserve your bleachy comments about U.S American issues. This song applies perfectly to the situation in a way that is probably too nuanced for you and the clowns who've shown approval of your ridiculous post. That song speaks directly to the kinds of people who watch police brutality and go on and on for weeks about how terrible it is but in a real situation would never do anything to intervene or change the calculus of the situation since that would threaten their lives. Mariah relating that song to this situation speaks directly to the kinds of people who need to think about whether or not their after-the-fact responses should instead become reflections in preparation for what they will do in order to actually preserve life before it's taken. I am so glad Mariah Carey stepped away from her "There's Got to Be a Way" sentimentality in order to point a finger where it really belongs: at the listener. This is her most politically relevant gesture. Don't miss the point by being dull. (Sunday 7 June 2020; 02:14)

Re: AYNAF original video (93,197) (93,210) by Geronimo from USA Mariah looks beautiful as always in this video but the naked little white "looking" angel children are a creepy and disturbing approach to a song paying homage to her own Black gospel roots. I wonder if Mariah asked "Can these kids please put some clothes on and go home so I can shoot this with some adults, please?" (Friday 6 March 2020; 18:14)

Re: Bill (92,877) (92,888) by Geronimo from USA Andrew, you sound like an incredulous and badly divorced man talking trash to people who still love your ex, saying, "Man, you just don't know her like I do." (Sunday 16 February 2020; 19:16)

Re: No vocal audit (92,826) (92,844) by Geronimo from USA Mariah Carey doesn't owe you anything. You spend enough time on this board to make it obvious to everyone that you know exactly what her voice sounds like on wax, on video, and in person. She is an entertainer and not your employee. Her voice is waning - it happens and it doesn't require a special report on the condition of her body. You sound like you've made an investment in her career and she has defrauded you. But an obnoxious customer who loves to pick and whine is not an investor. He's just a strange case of a person who has a bizarre obsession with an American female performer. (Friday 14 February 2020; 07:50)

No vocal audit (92,823) by Geronimo from USA It's difficult to understand why strangers feel entitled to a report on Mariah's vocal health. Whatever happened to common sense? It's clear that her voice has been in the current process for quite some time - longer than it has been anything one might call stable. It would almost be like asking a model why she is aging so quickly, asking an aging professor to explain in his next book the precise course of his current mental decline, or a former child prodigy on the piano to recite for you the history of her loss of articulation and speed for each decade you've noticed something you don't like. Aren't there just certain things you don't demand of people you don't know? Isn't that the whole point of lore? (Thursday 13 February 2020; 08:06)

Re: Get off auto pilot, Mariah - keep creating (91,429) (91,434) by Geronimo from USA I hear what you're saying, Hilton. From a marketing and celebrity perspective I certainly don't expect her to try to reignite that old flame. I'm just thinking about artists like Aretha Franklin, Billie holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone and others who I still wish had produced more work - not because they didn't do what they were supposed to do and then some, but because they were so great I just want more. Mariah once said at the heart of it all she is primarily a songwriter. In addition to being a really good songwriter her production instincts are quite astute - note how very few of her albums sound as dated as do many artists' albums from just a few years ago. Here's to hoping she can scale down from the vocal pyrotechnics of her youth and in order to see where her creativity takes her in what should be an extraordinarily mature and creative phase in the life of an artist of her caliber. (Friday 22 November 2019; 17:29)

Get off auto pilot, Mariah - keep creating (91,427) by Geronimo from USA I am sincerely happy that Mariah is having so many late career moments of vindication for her excellent work back in the 90s. But, am I the only one who would really like to get some new and interesting music from her more than anything else? What I love most about Mariah beside her voice is the fact that she has always made high quality albums with a wide range of expressions (within a spectrum). She should be coming into her prime as a musical mind by this point not merely running her well earned victory laps. Come on Mariah - keep creating. (Thursday 21 November 2019; 22:54)

Article: ISIS call for terror attack on Mariah Carey concert (87,811) by Geronimo from USA Wow. It's too bad Mariah did not take the chance to cancel her show for an uplifting and empowering reason culminating in a teachable moment. Now she will have to do it for security reasons. Or maybe she will go through with the show anyway and be heralded as brave and fearless. (Thursday 31 January 2019; 00:50)

Re: Okay hooold up now (87,772) (87,805) by Geronimo from USA In response to the entire thread and not QHM in particular, I would like to say that taking an all-or-nothing approach to artists and social consciousness makes no sense. The purpose of selecting and highlighting particular cases of human rights abuses in nations and kingdoms with extreme wealth inequality has to do with being awake, responsible, and dedicated to spreading awareness about the connections between particular abuses in the world and in one's own country while responding to the global economic habits that tie people together. It is more art than science. Since we are not talking about punishing Mariah Carey but questioning her and awaiting her thoughtful response, it is meaningless to say or suggest that unless every artist answers for every performance location choice in terms of the injustices committed in the history of those locations then no social questions can be fair or meaningful. Unfortunately, not everyone is capable of thinking about those things. Some people literally want nothing more from creative artists than escape and catharsis. Clearly many of that type of person is a Mariah Carey fan. Mariah has benefited a great deal, it seems, from remaining quiet but pleasant about issues that her background has not equipped her to address in public. Still, I think U.S. American men and women who are artists that claim to bear a social responsibility and say they care about fairness, tolerance, etc. can rightly be called upon to explain why they choose to entertain royalty universally exposed expanding and covering the kinds of human rights abuses opposed by the historical figures they publicly admire. Mariah Carey respects the legacies of MLK, Nelson Mandela, and the activism (it seems) of Colin Kaepernick. She has also advocated for women to be recognized for their songwriting even if they are not known for performing with non-vocal instruments. So, it is not a case of arbitrary or selective outrage to ask Mariah Carey to explain why she volunteers to perform in a kingdom that opposes the issues she publicly (if generically) supports. It makes sense to wonder if there is a personal disconnect between empty cute optimism and pre-adolescent cliches about individual "Hero"-ism covered in rainbows and butterflies. People certainly get caught up in hypocritical digital heroism and fall in love with their own outrage. But asking a very wealthy Afro-Venezuelan artist born in the United States to join people talking a symbolic stand against the Saudi dynasty while the U.S president tries to exchange dollars for good sense is far from hypocrisy. (Wednesday 30 January 2019; 16:43)

(87,713) by Geronimo from USA The president of the country where Mariah is a citizen is participating in a shameless coup to overthrow the democratically elected president of a nation from which Mariah has ancestry. We could not dream that Mariah even knows anything about it (I hope that I'm wrong) much less has anything to say either way. So, of course she will perform for the human rights violators' model nation, Saudi Arabia. And of course she will perform for the nuclear apartheid state of Israel - without caveats. This is her flaw as a public figure. I am just glad she stopped singing songs like "There's Got to Be a Way" and "Make it Happen" because that individualistic, personal striving, and dreaming your way out of the troubles of the world schtick simply doesn't make any sense in a world where superpowers trade state-of-the-art killing machines with no strings attached for trillions of dollars annually. I wish Mariah was deeper but to be honest - unlike most Hollywood liberals - Mariah ain't never lied to us about her politics. (Saturday 26 January 2019; 19:47)

Re: If it was me (87,658) (87,664) by Geronimo from USA Randy, what you are saying is really weird. Everyone knows Mariah is an adult with an opulent private and public lifestyle. The fact that she is an entertainer with a manufactured public image is not a problem - it is the actual difference between entertainment and mundane reality that people escape for a few moments in their adult lives. Mariah is a professional and she knows the difference. As long as she is not hurting people I do not care about the part of her life she keeps private because I am a person and so is she. Entertainment and fantasy, smoke and mirrors, is her job. Why, then, would you "kinda" want her employees to violate their confidentiality agreements, break the law, break the trust Mariah put in them, film her without her consent, and use those images to expose her privacy to voyeurs? We all know she has been in relationships with men, married twice, has two children, and is still overcoming an unfortunate childhood in addition to significant early adult professional and domestic abuse. I would not be surprised if she indulges in a substance other than alcohol (although she has not decided to discuss that or indulge in public, which is an adult option to which she is entitled). Why do you "kinda" wish more abuse and humiliation on her? Is it because you are in fact eternally 12 and fail to make an adult distinction between real life and entertainment? No matter what technology produces and no matter what back-alley morality social media inspires in degenerates with poor home training - human decency depends on regular people holding each other to a standard of basic interpersonal trustworthiness. Secretly filming people who are not hurting others and using threats to release the images for blackmail is wrong. So is wanting that footage released just so you can experience Mariah adjusting her persona according to your concept of her reality. That's borderline, bro. (Monday 21 January 2019; 19:14)

MC and judging R Kelly (87,494) by Geronimo from USA When Mariah worked with R Kelly it raised my eyebrows. Then I got over it. I wondered, though, if the industry was so full of abusive monsters that R Kelly was nothing special by comparison. Despite the fact that his 25-year-old abusive streak is suddenly a popular sensation in media I fear he's probably far from an anomaly. I hope that he is held accountable for the damage he has caused people and it held responsible for repairing as much of the damage as can be repaired. I hope criminal charges filed against him produce convictions. At the same time, I don't make the same connection people seem very excited to make - that his music should be banned, he should never perform anywhere else on the planet ever again, and that good and decent people would never dream of collaborating with him in the future. I wouldn't catch an Uber pool with him myself and I would also ask the driver to change the station if an R. Kelly song came on. But I just don't think he is that special and I'm not sure all of the loud trendy outrage being poured out now represents concern for his victims or a conviction to understand the nature of their vulnerability. It makes perfect sense to me that people are outraged by what they are hearing about him. It especially makes sense to me that people are scratching their heads trying to understand why Aaliyah's family let her remain vulnerable to him and why adults who witnessed his crimes did not do more as witnesses against him in court and in other social contexts. However, it is very creepy for me to see that a television program can release all of this self-righteousness and fake outrage in media consumers. His crimes are certainly outrageous. But the media circus and the impromptu cottage industry of incredulous comments are getting to feel like a disgusting extension of the very entertainment world where his behavior is praised, rewarded, and accommodated. I hope Mariah says nothing condemning him or excusing herself. I am super curious what she's thinking right now, though. The only people I want to hear from are the victims (if they feel like talking more to the media as opposed talking to their therapists and lawyers). I wouldn't mind reading the confessions of R Kelly's immediate enablers in the music industry who have covered for him and turned a blind eye for these decades, either. (Monday 7 January 2019; 23:24)

Re: Walter the retail relic (87,233) (87,256) by Geronimo from USA Your post is right on, especially when you said, "It was their collaborations that deviated from the norm (Underneath The Stars, Fourth of July, Dreamlover) that actually deserves more credit." Underneath the Stars was probably the first song where I recognized that Mariah Carey was a serious creative talent as a songwriter. The writing is lush without being mushy and it is unabashedly sentimental without being corny. Even though there are several layers of vocal harmonies in the background, they intersect in a lean and rhythmically sophisticated way with her soft, elongated, and undulating melody. And the music actually sounds like the world her lyrics describe. (Thursday 27 December 2018; 04:45)

Re: Walter the retail relic (87,186) (87,189) by Geronimo from USA Victoria, I love these recordings you mention - not for the writing but for the incomparable vocals. For me, those songs are successful representations of a certain mood but not at all creative or personal. "Outside", from Butterfly, was co-written by Walter and the music works. But I wonder how I would feel about the song if I did not understand the lyrics and if Mariah was not the vocalist. That leaves Walter. While he is good at producing competent adult contemporary music, he may have served to cast Mariah as a white-passable pop commodity. A lot of her work with him was "universal" during a time when I think she wanted to be on the radio sharing her contribution to a new genre that was just as viable, beautiful, and diverse as her own lineage, tastes, and skills. Rather than be great at a genre she mastered at 23 she decided to contribute creatively to the future. That takes trial and error, talent, and time. I find her contribution as a producer and songwriter quite personal in this regard. I think Mariah's own words (that I found on Wikipedia) help define what personal looks and sounds like coming from her: "It is a great outlet for me to go into the studio and write a song like 'Petals', which is one of my most personal songs and remains one of my favorites. I think it had the most honest lyrics I've ever written. The song chronicles a lot of past emotions I've felt to certain people close to me, and the way I feel towards them and how their actions have impacted me personally. For that reason, I sang in my lower registers, trying to add that breathy effect to go hand in hand with the song's composition." (Saturday 22 December 2018; 02:59)

Walter the retail relic (87,182) by Geronimo from USA Walter and people nostalgic for his work with Mariah Carey are in a tough spot. His concept of "big" songs, as far as I'm concerned, represent the low point of Mariah's musical creativity. Songs he mentions in that whiny-man article are certainly big hits that connect with people in a very obvious, sentimental, and traditional way. And by traditional I don't mean anything as deep as "classical". I mean 'traditional' in the sense that a certain type of commercial or sitcom or Hollywood movie predictably pulls at people's heartstrings while playing on common tropes that require no thinking, risk, or creativity on the artist's part. Mariah's collaborations with Walter represent a stream of hits based on a well known and easy to perform formula of sentiments, melodies, harmonies, and climaxes. I think Mariah Carey is currently at her creative peek because she is helping to create a genre of music that blends hip-hop, rap, and r&b in playful and mature way. Her lyrics now are creative and fun as well as subtle compared to her most sentimental and cloying Hallmark card-like renderings from the early and mid 90s. The songs she wrote with Walter are almost always the songs I skip when listening to older albums because although her voice does all the amazing things we associate with Mariah Carey, the songs she wrote with Walter are often the ones that are least creative, the most predictable, the corniest both musically and lyrically. They often sound like listening to something everybody in the world would identify with as a result of being exposed to the same ideology rather than songs only Mariah Carey would think of and sing in her very unique yet intuitive melodic style. At the same time, I'm happy for her success with Christmas music but I could live a long time without ever hearing a AIWFCIU again. Sorry. Therefore - Walter and friends' comparisons between Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, and Whitney Houston are quite a bit off to begin with. From a commercial perspective they certainly occupied the same retail slot for years. However, Mariah Carey was always coming from a different place and going different places than either of them intended and Walter only represents the brief moment when adult contemporary music gave Mariah Carey a platform to begin that which she has only begun to do. (Friday 21 December 2018; 17:29)

Michael Cinco talks about dressing Mariah (73,048) by Geronimo from USA For some strange reason, I really love this article. Maybe it's because custom made, high end designer clothing in Dubai is a semi-normal and routine part of Mariah Carey's crazy world. I am so far from being able to relate to her lifestyle that it is easy to forget that glamour and spectacle is and always has been part of the showbiz world. I guess Mariah is old-school like that. Damn, if I were in her position what would I have somebody design for me? (Thursday 23 February 2017; 6:37)

Re: Jimmy (72,757) (72,759) by Geronimo from USA I agree with you Jimmy. Still, I am going to need Mariah to do just a little bit more on stage. She should just pretend she's an actress while she's on stage and play the role of an energetic performer. (Thursday 16 February 2017; 22:34)

This era is "just for laughs" (72,357) by Geronimo from USA I remember when Mariah used to sing "Lullaby of bird land". A couple of times she ended the song by saying "it's just for laughs". She put on a really old school cute face when she said it as if she wanted you to know that she wanted you to know she was laughing with both sincerity and irony. Now she's having fake relationships with billionaires, doing reality shows faux-cheating with a dancer young enough to be her son (I think) and releasing a song where she plays the victim while everyone watched her cheat on the scripted TV show. She has decided to entertain us and take all of our self righteous gasping and befuddled pearl clutching to the bank because she has always worked toward making a living as an entertainer and has been doing so brilliantly for 27 years. If she put out the greatest R&B record or the greatest pop record the world has ever seen tomorrow it wouldn't sell more than the worst album of this year put out by whoever the media gods have blessed this current moment. Somehow Mariah Carey has managed to amass an eight or nine digit fortune by entertaining people for the past 27 years. Despite some eyebrow raising and head scratching moments I would say she is doing just fine as long as she's laughing too. (Wednesday 8 February 2017; 6:35)

Re: Mariah Carey Superbowl (72,262) (72,277) by Geronimo from USA I agree with you. I don't think Mariah really likes performing - especially these days. Her magic happens in the recording studio which is where she got her start and formed her identity. When I look at videos of her performing at her absolute vocal best - despite being very gracious - she still looked like it took a lot of work to be on stage and that she would rather not be there. (Monday 6 February 2017; 18:52)

Re: It's just entertainment (72,242) (72,275) by Geronimo from USA Thanks for your reply, webmaster. You have unfortunately exaggerated or ignored my point. I did not suggest only positive comments are appropriate. I pointed out a particular trend in which people predominately disparage Mariah's parenting skills, mental health and her character in general. Doing that online about someone who has never even pretended to be any more than an entertainer – and doing it again and again and again - certainly does lean toward the neurotic. But by all means should people continue to post a wide range of opinions. I think my post was pretty clear about the specific issue I was raising in contrast to the generic one you put up as a straw-man. Nevertheless, this is your site and it has so far not been so painful to visit it that I prefer never to return. So, good job. (Monday 6 February 2017; 18:27)

Production style on "I don't" (72,273) by Geronimo from USA I am impressed with the production on this track. Previously I have felt that Mariah's melodies often got obscured by too many overlapping melody lines and harmonies so that it made it very difficult to understand what exactly that melody is supposed to be. I think "I don't" is an improvement in that after two listens I could probably sing this song from memory because the melody is efficient and the production does not get in the way. (Monday 6 February 2017; 18:11)

Re: It's just entertainment for [censored] (72,265) (72,272) by Geronimo from USA The name is Geronimo. I appreciate your well developed comment. Thanks for thinking. Now go do some more. (Monday 6 February 2017; 18:07)

It's just entertainment (72,241) by Geronimo from USA Mariah Carey is one of the most successful female musicians in the history of American pop music. 27 years into her career she is doing what she wants to do and remains in the spotlight according to her wishes and wealthy according to her labor. It's hilarious to listen to people write with passionate trepidation and self righteous judgment concerning what she should do and what she shouldn't do and how she should manage her own legacy – as if she hasn't already accomplished more than almost any other artist of her caliber, style, demographic, generation and skill set. For whatever reason, she likes to play up the sexy cougar act. She is an entertainer so it is not necessary to be unhappy about her clothes, her body or her most recent song. The new song is catchy, becoming successful and that should be the only thing that matters because Mariah Carey is just an entertainer. I hope people who only have anxiety and negativity to share post after post will soon get better therapy, meet some friends, find a grown-up's hobby or find another artist to write about online. (Monday 6 February 2017; 7:17)

Ryan: On and on and on (55,276) by Geronimo from USA Ryan, you are thinking of "Supernatural". Great song that I am never in the mood for on the album's track-listing. (Wednesday 15 July 2015; 0:13)

Don't Explain in South Korea (47,445) by Geronimo from USA People have focused so much on a couple bad shows that I almost missed something impressive. Mariah's rendition of Don't Explain in South Korea is mesmerizing. Check it out. (Wednesday 15 October 2014; 18:13)

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