From time to time, we like to round up the all-important, all-summarizing last sentences of the biggest new-music reviews. Under consideration today is the latest album by Mariah Carey, E=MC2, which hits stores tomorrow:
• “And yet Carey remains a romantic at heart. With the ballads ‘Love Story’ and ‘Last Kiss,’ she reunites with Dupri to recapture the passionate splendor of 2005′s ‘We Belong Together.’ It’s unfortunate, then, that E=MC2 closes with its only missteps, the somber elegy ‘Bye Bye’–an odd choice for the follow-up single to the cheeky hit ‘Touch My Body’–and the preachy gospel hymn ‘I Wish You Well’ (this CD’s version of Emancipation‘s ‘Fly Like a Bird’). Still, for an artist whose career was all but dead four years ago, Carey is wise to play it safe by building on the finest elements of her last CD. Were it not for the final two tracks, she could’ve gotten away with calling this album Treasure. A-” [EW]
• “Verbose to the point of opulence, she crams syllables into the verses, races against her own emotions and perfectly conveys the song’s claustrophobic intensity. When she sings elsewhere, ‘Them other regularities, they can’t compare with MC,’ it is hard not to agree.” [Guardian]
• “Much of the record sounds like urban-radio imitations, without the peculiarities and effective hooks of Mimi. Maybe emancipation isn’t a continuing procedure; maybe it only comes once. ” [NYT]
• “Throughout the 14 tracks Carey generally flattens whatever melodies peek out with her signature agitated little vocal fillips. This is terrific for fluttering, hand-gesture accompaniment but keeps the tunes from being truly infectious. E=MC2 feels like the subtly prettier identical twin of Emancipation of Mimi, as if for Carey freedom’s just another word for doing the same thing again.” [Boston Globe]
• “Indeed, Carey sounds less like a diva than ever on E-MC2. Instead, she’s just another serviceable part on a factory-produced, state-of-the-art pop album.” [Chicago Tribune]
@Chris Molanphy:
“When it comes to Mimi, it’s commercial considerations first, artistry second.”
Thank you, thank you so much for that.
I’m a little disappointed that no one in the media has called her out on her shit yet with the whole racking up #1 singles thing. It’s so transparent to anyone with half a brain that that’s ALL she cares about, from the formulaic nature of the song to the painfully obvious release schedules tailor-made to reap the benefits from all aspects invovled. Seriously, one can imagine her sitting in a meeting w/a bunch of suits from IDJ specifically going over each and every detail of the release and promotion, so perfectly taut there’s NO WAY she won’t make it! Out of some miracle had that Lewis girl or Usher stopped her from getting her last #1 she probably would’ve thrown a gigantic temper tantrum. Or gone back to posting vaguely suicidal messages on her website.
I have a hard time when people refer to her as ‘#1 blah blah blah “artist” of all time’, as there is nothing artistic about what she does.