Messageboard

About this_is_qhm from the Philippines: I love the intricate vocal harmonies only Mariah can make.

Re: Memoir MIAs (95,980) (95,984) by this_is_qhm from the Philippines Imma take a page from her approach and not drop any names. I just love that she stuck to her guns and left out whoever did not contribute anything to the "meaning" of her life. Including them would have not only stirred up additional drama, it would also have, in a way, cheapened the final output. (Monday 5 October 2020; 19:44)

Mesmerized (95,968) by this_is_qhm from the Philippines This song to me does exactly what its title promises. The best revelation on The Rarities for me (let's be honest, we all kinda knew for the longest time that the original Loverboy version was gonna be fire from the sample selection alone anyway). Mesmerized sounds like Loverboy meets You Don't Know What To Do. Not exactly something you can sing along to, but it's quite obvious that that wasn't what Mariah was trying to achieve with it. It isn't too great lyrically, but you barely even notice that because its uplifting, effortless glide is just something that's rarely achieved in today's music. It's just a sophisticated-sounding well-constructed song where each component flows smoothly into the next - it's songs like these that make you wonder how this is the same woman who also made disjointed missteps such as Infinity and Save The Day? It's just melodically gorgeous through and through. That layered chorus is quite genius and the track is really a timeless fusion of modern sophisti-pop and disco. (Sunday 4 October 2020; 20:25)

The Meaning of Mariah Carey (95,954) by this_is_qhm from the Philippines Mariah does paint herself to be a victim in the book that it does overshadow how much of a survivor she is. It does get annoying at times, but like people have said here before, it's her story to tell. Whatever we think of it and however she comes across while telling it doesn't matter at all. She has made it very clear in the various promotional interviews that the goal of the book is to give the young Mariah a voice (she wanted the back cover to be the main cover, but I guess others decided against it), which I believe has been achieved. It was our decision to puchase it to learn more about her, and while much of the contents has been common knowledge for most of the Lambily for decades now, those were just bits and pieces of the story that we have gathered here and there throughout the last 30 years. We really just want to hear it from her and how she states it. I feel like the writing of it is still very much Mariah. Vivid, unpolished, cliched at times, dramatic - exactly like herself. I'd rather have that than some pretentious narrative of how much she has, over time, gained a more mature perspective of what she experienced or what was done to her, because she clearly isn't there yet. It's imperfect, but it's a celebrity memoir - no one is buying it expecting some expertly written, completely balanced account. So what if she sounds like she's stuck in the past? So what if the language is quite provocative and explicit? That's how she is at times. No respect lost from me. I'd be more concerned if she came across as very put together. That would just be pretentious. (Sunday 4 October 2020; 14:47)

Re: How do I listen to The Rarities? (95,895) (95,898) by this_is_qhm from the Philippines The individual tracks have just been uploaded on YouTube on Mariah's official channel. (Thursday 1 October 2020; 20:38)

The Rarities thoughts (95,897) by this_is_qhm from the Philippines I don't wanna go all shoulda woulda coulda but really, it's almost alarming how many of these recently unearthed material could have made the cut in the albums that were released during the time they were recorded. Here We Go Around Again is fun and buoyant but would sound more dated even alongside anything on the debut album. It's quite obvious why Can You Hear Me didn't make the final tracklist. I've always felt like Music Box was a little too mellow, and so All I Live For could have easily bumped off Just To Hold You Once Again. One Night is much more soulful than Long Ago. The Firecracker version of Loverboy is messier than I would have imagined, but the vocals are better and the chorus has a catchier bounce to it than the one on the official version. This original version feels more like something that Mariah would do. I Pray is just such an undeniable Mariah tune. How did this not make it into the TEOM re-release? Is it because of token gospel song quota Mariah seems to have implemented in pretty much all of her albums? Apparently, Kick Rocks is Cool On You. Love the sass and attitude on this one. Still think it would could have made E=MC2 even more festive. So something as good and jazzy as Mesmerized was left on the cutting floor in favor of a questionable Betcha Gon' Know "remix" on the deluxe version of MIAMTEC? Okay. It's quite nice that Mariah chose Lullaby Of Birdland to be the sole live moment on the disc. I would have thought that being the perfectionist she is, she'd go and record a studio version of this instead but hey, this is actually good. The only reason Close My Eyes was re-done for this album seems to be to tie into the memoir. It's a nice enough version. Of all or Mariah's compilations, this is the one I enjoyed the most. Disc 2 is epic as well - no surprises there. Glad to have all these songs officially in one neat set. I'm just really thankful that we're all so spoiled during this crazy year. This has been her best project rollout since 2005 and it happened in the middle of a pandemic. Thank you, Mariah, for giving us lambs something to help us get through these unprecedented times. (Thursday 1 October 2020; 20:37)

Alternariah / Chick (95,809) by this_is_qhm from the Philippines Still trying to process this new revelation. This tops everything she has revealed thus far. This kind of makes me see Jagged Little Pill's AOTY win in an interesting light. As Alanis was busy accepting her award, Mariah in the audience may have been thinking, "Yeah, if only y'all knew." Three decades in and our girl still knows how to surprise us. Also, is the long-rumored The Crave Song actually the Chick track Demented. (Sunday 27 September 2020; 22:03)

Re: Cool On You (95,781) (95,799) by this_is_qhm from the Philippines I usually would hold my thoughts until the whole song drops, but this is just too good. It only takes 15 seconds of a preview for this song to establish itself as a sexy, festive bop. That's all it takes to make you wonder how the hell did this not easily replace any of the We Belong Together clones on E=MC2, or at least make it as a regional bonus track. (Sunday 27 September 2020; 14:59)

Re: Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of all Time (95,744) (95,748) by this_is_qhm from the Philippines Well, that's how they are. To be of any merit to them, you first have to be: a) a man b) a rock artist c) a boomer at the very least If you fit neither of those criteria, you're already at a huge disadvantage. I just appreciate the delicious irony of ranking Mariah and her output so low in the past only to put TEOM on their GOAT list over a decade later. (Friday 25 September 2020; 11:55)

Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of all Time (95,743) by this_is_qhm from the Philippines Never thought I'd see the day this would happen as Rolling Stone has not exactly been the most welcoming of Mariah's discography, but The Emancipation of Mimi has just been included at #389 on their revised list. A lot of rock fans are pissed that their revered classics no longer dominate the list like they used to, especially its upper half. There is also an obscene amount of new rap/hip-hop entries that got in this time. The list is still questionable at best, and we shouldn't lend too much credence to a publication that has notoriously historically biased towards male artists, particularly in rock, but it's nice to see them finally recognize Mariah's influence rather than pretending that she doesn't exist. While TEOM's inclusion over Butterfly or Daydream is quite the surprise (the magazine rated it 2.5 out of 5 stars in 2005), it's actually easy to overlook the album's influence and impact due to its commercial success and Mariah's comeback narrative. Looking back, the album did help get melodic R&B back into the mainstream public consciousness after a few years of the charts being dominated by the singing rappers (Ja Rule, Nelly, 50 Cent, Missy, etc.). Its perfect, balanced fusion of modern and retro soul has clearly stylistically influenced later albums such as The Breakthrough and Growing Pains by Mary J. Blige, Fergie's The Dutchess, Alicia Keys' As I Am, Beyonce's B'day, Keyshia Cole's debut album, and heck, even J.Lo's Brave, among others. (Friday 25 September 2020; 09:58)

Re: Skip/repeat (95,694) (95,706) by this_is_qhm from the Philippines Okay, the Someday part - the performance was awesome, but I always go for the song I like the least for the skip part. Which also means that if I don't have any skips, every track, even the ones I'm not too fond of, still brings something special to the tracklisting for me. The Boy (I Need You) part - yeah, yeah, sure, sure. Whatever you say. I still feel like part of you secretly likes it - that subconsciously you know it's not the worst song on the album, let alone ever, but that since you have so gone out of your way on this board to declare your supposed disdain for it that you likely realized there's no turning back. (Wednesday 23 September 2020; 08:43)

Re: Skip/repeat (95,677) (95,691) by this_is_qhm from the Philippines I see you on the Treacle train as well. The question is, who is he on this board? Mariah Carey Skip: You Need Me Repeat: Sent From Up Above Emotions Skip: So Blessed Repeat: Can't Let Go MTV Unplugged Skip: Someday Repeat: I'll Be There Music Box Skip: Just To Hold You Once Again Repeat: Never Forget You Merry Christmas Skip: Jesus Born On This Day Repeat: All I Want For Christmas Is You Daydream Skip: - Repeat: Underneath The Stars Butterfly Skip: - Repeat: Fourth Of July #1's Skip: Sweetheart Repeat: I Still Believe Rainbow Skip: - (none just for the storytelling) Repeat: Heartbreaker Glitter Skip: Last Night A DJ Saved My Life Repeat: Lead The Way Charmbracelet Skip: Sunflowers For Alfred Roy Repeat: Subtle Invitation Greatest Hits Skip: Sweetheart Repeat: Underneath The Stars The Remixes Skip: Sweetheart Repeat: Miss You The Emancipation of Mimi Skip: One And Only Repeat: Say Somethin' E=MC2 Skip: O.O.C. Repeat: Heat The Ballads Skip: How Much Repeat: The Roof Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel Skip: More Than Just Friends Repeat: It's A Wrap Merry Christmas II You Skip: One Child Repeat: Christmas Time Is In The Air Again Me. I am Mariah... the Elusive Chanteuse Skip: Betcha Gon' Know "Remix" Repeat: Make It Look Good #1 to Infinity Skip: Infinity Repeat: Fantasy (Bad Boy Fantasy Remix) Caution Skip: Runway (feat KOHH) Repeat: 8th Grade The Rarities Skip: Save The Day Repeat: likely one of the previously unreleased material (Tuesday 22 September 2020; 16:45)

Re: Chapters (95,688) (95,689) by this_is_qhm from the Philippines Bill, relax. You know Robert-Anthony loves it when you talk dirty. (Tuesday 22 September 2020; 15:54)

Out Here On My Own (95,682) by this_is_qhm from the Philippines This likely was Mariah's theme before she went on to make her own with Make It Happen, Looking In, Close My Eyes, Outside, Can't Take That Away, Languishing and Portrait. It almost feels like it was written for her. What makes this cover so special is its simplicity. It is a supreme exercise in restraint. Faithful to the original yet still different enough to be distinguishable. Nothing is overdone - no bombastic instrumentation, no background vocals, no excessive emoting, no unnecessary embellishments, not even the typical Mariah all-out acrobatic performance during the climax despite her penchant for pulling any/most/all of those cards one time or another. Everything in the mix was put there to serve the purpose of expression, and the end result is all the more effective and affective for it. Now bring on the compilation. We're all more than ready for it at this point. (Tuesday 22 September 2020; 10:12)

Re: Save the Day (95,525) (95,531) by this_is_qhm from the Philippines Strongly agree. I mean it's Mariah, so to some level we knew the vanity shot montage was coming, but this is still weird and awkward, even by her standards. The worst part is that the song's lyrics paint a much better visual than the video does, and for this one, she definitely should have gone the obvious route. Whatever happened to interspersing it with videos of our frontliners instead as a tribute to them? It's not innovative, but it would make much more sense and not leave viewers wondering what the hell they just watched. Also, isn't it just sad that the last real video that had an interesting concept, was fun, and at least had Mariah step away a bit from her comfort zone and be a little less serious was Up Out My Face from a full decade ago? Since then the desperation to cling to the sex symbol persona has been top priority to be on full display that we have already come to expect it every single time she releases a video. (Sunday 13 September 2020; 12:36)

The Rarities tracklist (95,522) by this_is_qhm from the Philippines As fans of course we want her entire unreleased catalog ideally dropped all at once in one perfect package. But of course Mariah's also a businesswoman and cannot give everything away. Also, maybe she's just not comfortable releasing all of them yet. And of course there's the technical side of things such as licensing, etc. that may complicate stuff. Yes, having previously released b-sides on there taking up space that should have been allotted to actual unreleased material is a little disappointing, but on the other hand it's actually nice that they now have a compilation to belong to. It makes Mariah's lesser known music more accessible to the public, which is the goal. And hey, at least it's not as bad as putting the album versions of Crybaby, Sweetheart, and Breakdown on The Remixes just because they happen to have some rapping in them. I'm just glad there are more unreleased tracks than I expected. Half of the album - that isn't too bad. She's gotta save some for future compilations. Besides, I'm just grateful that Mariah is actually releasing this stuff while she's still alive. At least she still has control over what she wants to put out. That's way better than what happened to Michael Jackson, where I doubt he would have even allowed to make public much of the stuff released in his posthumous discography, let alone have them be horribly reworked by producers he himself possibly would not have chosen to work with. Should there be a Rarities 2, at least we know there still are old songs that can still make it in there along with other bonus tracks from her latter albums. Maybe not as exciting or impressive quality-wise, but it's still Mariah, so we will still lap that up. (Saturday 12 September 2020; 19:28)

The Rarities tracklist (95,459) by this_is_qhm from the Philippines Really pleasantly surprised with this. Now I'm really excited. (Wednesday 9 September 2020; 21:29)

Re: Mariah en Espanol (95,442) (95,458) by this_is_qhm from the Philippines The Spanish versions of her hits were okay, but to me the best tracks on that album were her duets with Luis Fonsi, Cuando No Es Contigo and my favorite cover of hers, Contigo En La Distancia. (Wednesday 9 September 2020; 21:26)

Re: True Treacle (95,427) (95,434) by this_is_qhm from the Philippines Okaaaay. Calm down, be cool, we brought our dignity today. (Monday 7 September 2020; 18:28)

True Treacle (95,426) by this_is_qhm from the Philippines Nice to see a truly Mariah-centric vlogger on YouTube who does his best to make good content. He's gone from a few hundreds to now over a thousand subscribers within a month. Check his channel out and subscribe. Us remaining lambs need to support each other. Whoever among y'all is behind True Treacle, congrats and keep on keeping on. (Monday 7 September 2020; 10:58)

Re: Butterfly Bossa Nova Remix (95,277) (95,279) by this_is_qhm from the Philippines Yeah what I meant by rarity was not its availability as a commodity but the way it was produced as a remix, which you also have mentioned. It is pretty different and defies the expectations that come with the term "remix", which most really tend to immediately associate with either hard-hitting beat-oriented reconstructions or rapper features. Side note: it's amazing how much Mariah stuff is more available to certain markets. I know this is mostly territorial, and although East and Southeast Asia is are almost always generally the top recipients of the best bonus material, that's really about 95% Japan than the entire region. In our country, singles and other formats available in some stores internationally basically aren't available here and the only real way of anyone getting them from where I am is online. And since shipping costs to the Philippines can get quite exorbitant, it's more expensive to be a collector here - a fact that I have come to accept and so I only have the CDs/cassettes of the albums. And so I really appreciate when y'all share stories about your collections because even if I can't relate, it's almost as if I could live vicariously through your experiences. (Saturday 29 August 2020; 22:43)

Re: Butterfly Bossa Nova Remix (95,266) (95,276) by this_is_qhm from the Philippines It's nice as it does eliminate the extra flourishes from the original that steal focus from the vocals, but to me it doesn't quite live to its title as it does somehow lack the certain jazzy lilt, sway and gentle undulation that's often associated with slower bossa nova tracks. It's really more of a string-laden, stripped down (almost truly acoustic) arrangement, and what makes it stand out among Mariah's vast remix discography is less about it being superior to most but more so because of its rarity, which in turn makes it memorable. (Saturday 29 August 2020; 19:41)

Re: Rarities tracklisting - real? (95,257) (95,260) by this_is_qhm from the Philippines Hope this is true. Yup, I saw this make the rounds last week as well. And if there's anything I have learned in the last decade, that's to never underestimate redditors. That's why groups such as the Reddit Bureau of Investigation exist. Good enough to unearth solve decades-long cold criminal cases and mysteries better than proper authorities, I'm guessing perhaps at least a few lambs are there, and if there's anyone more than capable of leaking the tracklist, it's them. (Friday 28 August 2020; 19:32)

Re: Another take on the voice (95,178) (95,187) by this_is_qhm from the Philippines Look, that's really sweet of you. And you do have a point. Mariah is in many ways a vocal athlete. But since you brought up "the meaning of Mariah Carey", I think that such meaning should not be limited to what extremes she has been able to achieve with her voice. Nobody can take those away from her. What most of us here are concerned about is Mariah the person. This is a woman who has slowed down, yet not shown signs of ever wanting to stop making new music, at least while she physically can. It's what kept her alive and got her this far. Just as much as she values creating, she also clearly values her voice, what the public has come to expect from it and from her, and so she does everything to keep up that image of her still being able to at least attempt to approximate what she has been capable of doing in her prime (otherwise she wouldn't have to mime at all). So what many are truly worried about is that her actions don't seem to line up with what image she wants to maintain. She should really try to eliminate the alcohol, take longer breaks in between her touring dates, etc. Everything to preserve her voice, especially since she wants to keep making music and perform for her fans. Mariah understands that it's her instrument that put her on the map and got her this far, and so even by her standards, as evinced by even her most recent output, a track isn't a Mariah song if it doesn't have her signature stamp on it. Belts, runs and whistles that she won't be able to keep doing if she doesn't take care of her instrument. It allows her to keep doing what she loves and lives for. You're right - longevity shouldn't be the goal. At least not the only goal. But with MC30 and everything, it does seem to be one of hers (and she's even talked about longevity in some of her interviews and her critiques on AI). (Monday 24 August 2020; 22:36)

Re: Save The Day (95,169) (95,180) by this_is_qhm from the Philippines I'm sorry but dismissing any criticism of Mariah's voice (regardless of validity) as hypocritical, especially in the context of "why aren't the others criticised as much" is oversimplifying things. It may just be because of preference or familiarity (or lack thereof), which are definitely different from hypocrisy. This isn't the best analogy out there, but it's like if you hypothetically have neglectful parents. It isn't right to hold back from being upset towards them just because you first have to take into account all the other parents in the world who are way worse than yours just so you're sure that you aren't being ungrateful or unfair to your own. Considering and comparing to every other artist out there, as ideal as that may seem, isn't a prerequisite to pointing out the flaws in one particular artist. We follow who we want to follow, and choose to critique them in comparison to whoever we want to compare them to based on our knowledge of them which also informs our feelings towards them. No matter how much we would want to draw parallels between artists and judge/criticise one over the other, they are still on different, unique journeys of their own. And if we're gonna go by your examples, Whitney's and Amy's drug addiction and other struggles have been constant tabloid fodder back then, back when Mariah was doing better than both of them. But of course no one was outwardly giving Mariah credit for having a better head on her shoulders than them because that's not how things work. The media fixates on the negative because that's what sells. In fact, both Amy and Whitney and their drug-crazed behavior have been parodied in more media than Mariah's antics. For example, both artists' struggles were incorporated as punchlines in past episodes of American Dad. So if we were to reverse your hypocrisy claim, it should be fair for fans of both artists to cry foul that Mariah's Glitter breakdown, alleged alcoholism or diva behavior aren't featured as cutaway gags on the same show as well. Also, Mariah is one of the few stars of her magnitude who continue to put themselves out there. Of course she's gonna attract more criticism than say, someone like Celine. Same with Madonna vs. Janet. The public will always, always be expecting more from someone who refuses to bow out of the spotlight. (Monday 24 August 2020; 19:58)

Re: Save The Day (95,146) (95,167) by this_is_qhm from the Philippines I still feel like it's the nature of her voice more than anything. It's likely more fragile and more susceptible to lifestyle choices and uncontrollable factors such as aging. Some people have voices that will naturally withstand those factors better (Barbra, Patti, Coko from SWV, etc.). She is not one of them. Deniece Williams is unfortunately being dragged by many Lambs for simply telling the truth. Mariah did not take care of her voice when it counted the most and even now that irreparable damage has been done she seems to continue not to. It's really concerning how much worse it's gonna sound 5 years from now. (Monday 24 August 2020; 07:20)

MORE MESSAGES