Mariah Carey surely isn't any kind of critics favorite, but you can't deny her popularity with fans. As I write she's got the #1 AND #2 singles on the Billboard Hot 100.
Her omnipresence caused me to break down and actually give several close repeated listens to her smash The Emancipation of Mimi album. My perhaps somewhat harsh review drew forth a surprisingly strong response from Mariah's "lambs," some of whom are pretty vicious for gentle sheep.
Still, this resulted in a vigorous and partly useful discussion of the better and worse aspects of Ms Carey. Really, she does have a pretty impressive vocal instrument. Some fans make a big point of defending her also on the grounds that she writes her own songs, unlike some and such other pop singers.
But that's just the problem. She's surely got the instrument, and maybe she can sing- but it's hard telling because her songs just suck. Ray Charles Himself could not have sold me on these Mimi songs.
That's not really an indictment of Mariah Carey. Singing and songwriting are significantly different talents. Kris Kristofferson is one of the greatest songwriters of his generation, but he just cannot sing. He's writing absolute all time standards like "Me and Bobby McGee" and "Sunday Morning Coming Down," but still can't make a listenable album.
From the other side, pretty much everyone agrees that Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra were among the greatest singers in the history of recorded music. However, they weren't songwriters. If Sinatra had insisted on writing his own material instead of interpreting the works of master writers, he would probably have sucked.
Perhaps then it would behoove Mariah to recast herself at least for a minute as an interpreter of song. Put them fancy pipes to work on some real songs.
In the spirit of Ella's famous songbook series, then, Mariah might do some good and even improve her critical rep not just covering, but interpreting the Prince catalogue, the greatest r&b song roster of the modern era (or ever).
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Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Matt
Filmmakers tend to think they can write and direct also. M. Night is a perfect example. He's good at coming up with concepts, but can't write dialogue to save his life. If only he'd allow his ego to take a back seat, and hire a gifted screenwriter, perhaps his 4 movies wouldn't have gotten progressively worse.
2 - Al Barger
Good point, Matt. People insist on being self-contained auteurs most often at the risk of ruining the whole thing. Movie making would be even a broader spectrum of things to have to master than writing and recording songs.
3 - Sterfish
This is a very interesting idea. I think that if she tackled something like this, her collaborators would be key. As good as her vocal talents are and as great as Prince's songs are, they would be horribly underserved by maudlin, run-of-the-mill production. Then again, given the respect that much of the music community has for Prince, one would hope that they would do their best to do justice to covers of his work.
Reading this post also made me ask this question: Has there been a Prince tribute album? There are a lot of artists across many genres who count Prince among their influences. While tribute albums themselves are hit-or-miss, the idea of some of the best artists in hip-hop, R&B/soul, pop, rock, jazz and so on working together to pay tribute to Prince sounds like something that I would love to hear.
4 - godoggo
I remember she did a nice version of "I'll be there," which is a better song than Prince has ever come up with, as far as I know.
5 - Michael J. West
I love Prince. I was completely obsessed with his music during the period 1995-97--a decade after it ceased to be cool to be into Prince.
But best R&B song roster ever? Al, my boy, there's a whole lotta songwriting competition for that one. James Brown, Sly Stone, Holland-Dozier-Holland, George Clinton, Curtis Mayfield, Marvin Gaye, Isaac Hayes, Smokey Robinson, Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, and Michael Jackson are all formidable competition.
I'll give Prince a number of serious titles. Deepest, most diverse, most experimental, most determinedly unique R&B catalog. But then, because of those things it's sometimes hard to call it strictly R&B: "Purple Rain" is guitar rock, "Raspberry Beret" is psychedelic, and "When You Were Mine," hell, that's new wave! So it's hard for me, with all those styles and rivals, to unprovisionally crown Prince "best R&B songwriter ever."
Lest I be accused of missing the point, let me address it here and say that I would be fascinated to hear Mariah Carey perform Prince, particularly on most of the songs you mentioned. (I somehow can't see her going off on "New Power Generation".) But hey, taking a small, in-passing remark and blowing it out of proportion to the rest of the piece of writing...that's one of the things I do best. :-)
6 - MonarC
Obviously the "Lambs" or pop/R&B/Hip-hop masses don't care much for songwriting - gushy, pretty, and a bit flirty suit them. Im sure the idea of having others write her songs has crossed the minds of Mariah's people, and I believe there has been some of that, at least to where she is co-writing, anyhoo I googled news for MC, and this site I ran by, and Im sorry, but Prince? I mean he is so annoying, his songs are quite well written, he's no Jim Morrison, but whatever. Mariah has done a few covers, my favorite is "Without You" - Though when I think about it, "Someone To Love" by Queen would make an excellent cover song for her to work with. And about Prince, I have never been able to listen to an entire song by him, his whole thing just doesn't work for me.
7 - Al Barger
"He's no Jim Morrison"? Really?
8 - MonarC
Well, you were going on and on about Prince, it was a bit wearisome, and if it took a few vicious "Lambs" for you to realize Mariah has some skill, sounds to me you were a bit bias, you would know she's more than poses if you had reviewed her from '90 to '05, and your over use of behoove is unflattering.
9 - MonarC
But whatever, it's your opinion post, so I guess it really doesn't matter. Later.
10 - Al Barger
MonarC, I note that I specifically reviewed the Mimi album, to which I listened closely and repeatedly. I have not reviewed or claimed much knowledge of her earlier work.
And if you think I went on about Prince just in this story, you don't even KNOW.
A couple of the lambs were a bit on the vicious side for a minute, but at that they were indeed like lambs compared to what I get in the political sections. I was just a bit surprised by it.
Mostly though, I was just glad for the vigorous and thoughtful input.
PS I wanted to say "behoove" again, but I couldn't think of any place in making this point for it, and I didn't think it would behoove me to jam it in there for no reason.
11 - Michael J. West
Gee, I think "he's no Jim Morrison" is a COMPLIMENT to Prince. Who the Hell would WANT to be Jim Morrison? He was a half-assed, juvenile lyricist who deluded himself that he was a poet; his greatest career accomplishment seems to have involved Jack Daniels.
Jim Morrison was no Prince.
12 - Al Barger
Well, Prince has been too busy playing instruments and writing MUSIC to get drunk and doped up enough to break on through to the other side... of the LAWN.
13 - Dan S. (Houston)
Mr. Barger: It's clear to me that you wouldn't know quality songwriting if it were a dog and walked up behind you and ripped a chunk out of your pious ass! By saying that Mariah's songs "suck"...songs that have deeply affected the lives of MILLIONS across the world...by basically insinuate that her fans are a bunch of zombie idiots. Drop dead, Barger!
14 - Mark Saleski
ohhh eric ooooolsennnn.....
i can't make it to the party tonight.
can you please play some Mariah Carey??
thank you!
15 - Al Barger
Oh I see how you are, Mark. Ya wanna poke the bear.
16 - Mark Saleski
well, you might think that i'm doin' it just because i won't be anywhere near the party. safe, that is.
but...i guarantee that if i showed up i'd find a way to slip so Mariah onto the sound system just for, uhmm....fun.
17 - Orane
The things is, Carey's songs do not suck that much. People are just jealous of her talent. Critics didnt expect anyone to come along and sing better than Aretha Franklin or Whitney Houston, and it scares them, so they try to spite her. The give her album bad reviews and they are intentionally and purposely hars in their dealings with her. For example, what they did to her, especially at the 1996 Grammy Awards was simply cruel:Nominating her for 6 Grammys and inviting her to sing and then shutting her out like that was just plain cruel. What, can millions of fans who buy 170 million of her albums be stupid?
Well guess what, we love her, we will continum to love her, despite the critics ineffectual attempt to tear her down.
18 - Mike
Hello again, Al...yes, we lambs can be quite vicious when it comes to defending Mariah. I was wondering if you'd ever listened to Mariah's cover of Prince's The Beautiful Ones, off her Butterfly album? It's a duet with Dru Hill and she does a good job, though the song is pretty long (6:59).
19 - Lamby
The Emancipation Of Mimi is actually a cleverly written piece.
It's Like That - Obviously a club song doesn't really rely on words yet Mariah seems to put a clever little edge on this song by speeding up and slowing down the lyrics.
We Belong Together - What do I need to say? 14 weeks at number one..Can't be a bad song!
Shake It Off - This song cleverly drops some commercial brands into the song!
One song which stands out for me the most is definately Fly Like A Bird.. listen to it. Then listen again. Now, find a page where lyrics can be found and be amazed that the song is about heaven, God and her faith. I'm sorry but I can't name many people who can put a song about their faith into mainstream music!!
Also if you think she can't write lyrics : Hero, Vision Of Love, Dreamlover and Emotions. Some to be looked at there!! xxx Mimi 4eva xxx
20 - addition
Hello, This lamb has tracked you MIMI
comments and yes u crossed the road in a semi but it's nice to see u admit that
her pipes are stately. This is how it works, once u hear something performed by an artist that u like, u begin to wonder if how that voice would sound doing this or that. I breathe air & music, I know. From BillieH., Ella, Aretha, Chaka,Knight, Morgana King, Patti Austin to Blidge. When MIMI tried
other shoes I was there, religious, jazz, hip hop, etc,. She's blessed &
independent & strong. She's a singer/writer/producer & director. She's flowing the way he's directing her.I admire her for staying youthful & mindful by not trying to go to far
to sell like some other artist. Sure
I'd like to see her do a project with
Q before he bows out totally or Stevie,
Will Downing, and Johnny Gil.As well, intern'tl artist duetting pop, or opera but, alas we must not burn our artist out doing work that is already established. Creative juices must flow or be stiffled. We got too many artist
out there burnt out that cont. to sell crap they call music. She's laying a
blueprint and making these new ones work
at higher standards. That's how we really show growth. I saw her perform and having a engr. background took seats
in the back next the engr.(2003). My God, this woman could have shattered this equipment and ears in a moments notice. Not hating, but the same day
Beyonce, Destiny Child, LL Cool J& a host of other popular artist performed at Disney World at a special music fest,
people gave horror stories of untrained voices, unprofessional stage preparation & more. Here I was at a concert with one woman, who wasn't trying to exhaust herself with dancing and singing absolutely slamming the audience and was equally gracious backstage as well. After this concert I
became a lamb. MIMI has been at it for
over 10yrs. Within that period, my self
having a singing past was halted with
m.s., 6x cancer, lungs, breast, cervical. During this time I had many MRI's and other uncomfortable tests and meds. I went against the grain and used
natural stuff because I was so reactive to modern meds. I had no choice, so focus was needed & my sounds were a serious release for me. I know what God can do when he gives u a gift because I
survived all and without chemo. I went
from 17 prescript meds to 1. When u are being blessed with knowledge to accomplish whatever, u either listen or u loose. She's not loosing no matter how many slings and arrows and neither am I. I still secretly pray she'd hear
Rance Allen's record. One of their albums contained a song that absolutely
sounds like she wrote it. Funny how we
all wish the same when really recognize
talent. Just claiming & calling it. Holla back!
21 - ashley
i think mariah can really make good songs, i love them. a lot of people might wanna puke after listening to 'we belong together' but some people like me might wanna listen to it again and again and admire mariah carey's beautiful and powerful voice. if mariah carey calls her fans 'lamb' she's not exacly saying she's the great shepherd. i think its a fun name. well she says its one of her fave nicknames so ya... she can call them that, they don't mind, it doesn't really matter... i wonder why your against her song writing so much... welll w/e cya
~big~ lamb
22 - Shiraz
I partially agree with the original article stating that Prince is the best songwriter of all time and has the best R&B catalogue of all time, but to say Mariah Carey doesn't know how to write songs is an unfair judgement. As a songwriter, she has dealt with issues such as Racism, Society, losing a sister to AIDS (Outside, theres got to be a way, Vanishing)but the trouble is the songs that do get released are bubble gum lyrics whilst her best efforts get overlooked. I know a few years ago there were rumours flying that Prince and Mariah Carey were working together, but nothing really came out. With his Music, Her voice and the right production, the final result would be explosive, I hope Mariah does go into a different direction for her next album, and somewhere down the line, do a Prince Song Book, she is probably the only artist who could get away with covering a genius
23 - Al Barger
Welcome, lambs. And I'm just teasing you kinda gentle like with the Great Shepherd business.
Alrighty Mike, I'm downloading the danged Butterfly album as I type. I'll give it a listen. I didn't even think of "The Beautiful Ones" as I put this story together, but that definitely would be in her stylistic range.
24 - ryan
WRONG!
But at least, this review was professional.
Mariah just wanna inspired people.
Even when she deals with grave/sad subject, she find a way to make it positive.
EG: Through the rain (2002 drama), 1 sweat day (death of relatives)...
If people call that bubble gum, too bad for them.
Mariah wanna inspire people with her songs, not drag their moral down.
Who cares about critics?
The people have chosen.
Prince???????????????
NOBODY can tell mariah how to write a good song.
She's the one with 16; soon to be 17; #1 songs.
25 - Al Barger
Howdy, Ryan. Glad to see you again.
However, I reiterate that having a chart hit doesn't necessarily prove that the record's actually any good. I mean, how many bazillion records has Jon Bon Jovi sold?