ARTIST: Mariah Carey
TITLE: “Obsessed”
WEB DEBUT: June 16, 2009


ONE-LISTEN VERDICT: The Tricky Stewart/The-Dream-produced comeback single for the still-sorta-smouldering Mariah Carey is probably going to be omnipresent over the next few months, so get ready. As promised, “Obsessed” is definitely something of a stylistic leap for Mimi, with waterfall-slick keyboards and Mariah’s calling card–her sweet, formerly octave-leaping voice–swathed in blippy vocal-manipulation techniques that would make Jay-Z call out the death squads. Actually, like “Death Of Autotune,” “Obsessed” is curious because of the the way that it lowers a white-hot star to actually caring about the thoughts of people who are seemingly way below her stature: “You a mom-and-pop, I’m a corporation,” Mariah taunts her detractors at one point. Is that why E=MC² flamed out despite subsequent singles being much, much better than the wispy “Touch My Body”–the album needed a bailout?


WHERE TO HEAR IT: Good question! I have no idea, since blogs are terrified to post it. The DJs at Chicago pop station B96 vowed to play it again after their 2 p.m. CT world premiere of the track, so perhaps you can keep vigil?