Imperfect is no excuse

Anyone who's followed Mariah Carey's 19-year career knows that there is a distinct divide between Old Mariah and a New Mariah. The line was drawn around the time of 1997's Butterfly, when her look became sexier, her music became more beat-driven (it's always straddled fences, but it started to lean away from AC territory and toward R&B and hip-hop) and her ultra-femme, sassy, slangy, ridiculous persona unfolded. At the same time, her voice was changing. Not only was she employing it more dynamically (it was not enough anymore to just open her lungs and wail runs), but it was also showing signs of imperfection (probably from her always opening her lungs and wailing runs). In fact, maybe the most relevant divide between Old Mariah and New Mariah right now is that Old Mariah sang songs that no one else could sing, while New Mariah sings songs that no one else would sing.

Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel is filled with one-liners that will make fans swoon and critics cringe. The ridiculousness it's brimming with is worth a blog post of its own and I mean that (to quote Memoirs opener "Betcha Gon Know") for real, for real, for real, Oprah Winfrey-whole-segment for real, for real 20/20-Barbara Walters, for real, for real, 60 Minutes for real. On "Up Out My Face," the worthy follow-up to "Shake It Off," she tells her object of former affection, "If you see me walking by ya boy, don't you even speak / Pretend you on a sofa, and I'm on the TV." She tempers the sex jam of her career, "The Impossible," with grade-school imagery (she loves her dude like a freeze pop, a milkshake, shooting stars, bubble bath, Kool Aid and a high-school girl on the first date, among things). The lame first single, "Obsessed," is mostly anonymous, but still contains zingers like, "Seeing right through you like you're bathin' in Windex." In "It's a Wrap," she fuses '50s torch-song retroism with '00s slang (starting at the title and ending with, "It's going down like a denominator"). She oozes over the crunk fireworks display that is "Ribbon" (my personal favorite), "You make me feel so unloose." I could start attempting to figure out what the hell she's trying to say about the state of her vagina with that one, but I'm just going to leave it as the Zen-like riddle that it is.

She's clearly having fun, but weirdly, Memoirs sounds like anything but. It's as though she wants to put a high-thread-count veil over her wackiness. Sonically, the album is black-and-white compared to the similarly idiosyncratic E=MC², which was so varied in sound, it was more of a rainbow than Rainbow. The-Dream and Tricky Stewart wrote and produced almost all of Memoirs with Mariah, and it shows. You can do only so much with snaps and claps and 808 booms and sprightly pianos and brass flare-ups, and the dull palate ultimately renders Memoirs overlong ("Inseparable," "Standing O" and "More Than Just Friends" feel particularly redundant, while "Angels Cry" waters down the "We Belong Together" formula so much with its crocodile tears -- all could have been axed and the album would have lost nothing).

Despite proving their flair for sonic variety on the far superior How to Be a Lady Vol. 1 by Electrik Red, Tricky and Dream seem mostly confined by Mariah's careful hand here. Clearly, the idea is to create a cohesive album, but Mariah's in over her head. Despite containing about six tracks that are as good as anything she's put out, the pronounced highs and lows make this samey thing her most scattered album since Rainbow. It, thus, feels like a conceptual failure. And while it'd be nice to chalk up this aim of cohesion to experimentation (as backwards as that sounds), the reality is that Mariah's creativity is largely driven by reaction. She is driven by audience feedback the same way Lisa Simpson is driven by grades (Mariah bandies about her amount of No. 1 hits -- 18 -- like she's showing the world her report card). There is no doubt that she enlisted Tricky and Dream again because they were the only ones with whom she created a hit on her last album ("Touch My Body" -- and what a silly hit it was!). I'd also be willing to bet that she thought primarily in album scope here because the commercial disappointment E=MC² played so much like a collection of singles. For the first time since 1995's Daydream, there are no rappers to be found on a Mariah Carey album, and I wouldn't be surprised that is to combat frequent suggestions by fans and critics that she relies too heavily on guest verses.

See with Mariah, there's the virtuoso, there's the persona and then there's the hitmaker, and that last side always wins out. That makes her music something of a balancing act -- like always, she's trying to please everyone (though at least now, she's part of the group). People complained about her belting, so she started to whisper and people really didn't like that, so she's hit a middle ground with her voice (and the results actually sound spectacular at last, albeit occasionally overdubbed to death). Sometimes her balancing is cloddish (as deliciously cheesy as it is, her snap 'n b spin on Foreigner's "I Want To Know What Love Is" feels like a forced union of Old Mariah and New Mariah), and sometimes it's acrobatic. In "Ribbon," a subjective declaration is twisted into objective truth ("You don't know how it feels when you whisper in my ear"). The slow-as-honey instant classic "H.A.T.E.U." is a break-up track, which finds her in a spot which grief is as unrealized as love ("I can't wait to hate you make you pain like I do / Still can't shake you off"). When she sings in the pre-chorus bridge, "We went round and round till we knocked love out / We were laying in the ring, not making a sound," she's expressing something we've heard 5,000 times already in a clever way. And that's why we listen to R&B, to hear new takes on old conditions, to feel life breathed into cliches. A little more of that might have saved Memoirs from its coma.

Comments

[Randall]

I always like to read your reviews. Even though I disagree with this one (I love Memoirs and think E=MC2 was terrible), you know Mariah very well and always give her albums a shot. I do think she always aims to please, and that's why she did this in response to critics of her last record. This is a love it or hate it CD in my opinion.

[Benjh]

Have you read American Psycho lately??? ;-)

[Noel]

But how do you feel about Candy Bling?

[Ryan]

Aww, I've been waiting a week for you to post your review, and I'm disappointed you don't love the album as much as I do. This is my favorite Mimi album since Fantasy.

Finally, NO guest rappers. Finally, she is singing in her range, working with what she has now. For the most part, she's not singing painfully waaaay out of her range like she did on Emancipation. There's so many laid back songs, and catchy at the same time. And the lyrics? "Duncan Hines yellow cake"? Hilarious.

[S.]

So many things you say are true and only a (honest and true) Mariah fan would be able to analyze her music so well.

But to be honest, I'm getting a little sick/tired of her whispering through a series of slow-jams. The girl needs to produce a dance album stat.

[Jason]

It's "See right through you" on "Obsessed," not "Seeing."

And I love that line you quote from "HATEU." Nice imagery but also explanation; new life in a cliche, as you wrote.

No mention of "Candy Bling" (best Janet track she never made) or "Bethca Gon Know" (also breathes new life into cliche)?

What are the 6 songs you rank among the best of her career?

[tiana]

I love this album so very much. So much better than E=MC2, in my opinion.

My favorite line is, "If we were two Lego blocks, even the Harvard University graduating class of 2010 couldn't put us back together again"

[Ryan]

He did mention "Betcha Gon Know", for real for real. But I was also surprised at no mention of "Candy Bling", definitely one of the best tracks on the album.

[Wookie]

I like the album a lot more than you did, but I still love to hear your take on Mariah. It almost feels like you know her personally.

[Bobby]

eh, i dunno, rich.
This album is pretty great. It's way better than E=MC2, and i love the sound of it, and the fact that she doesnt have any guest rappers. some of the melodies are not immediately recognizable, making it not an album of hits, but something that will probably have more longevity.
It reminds me of Butterfly in that way...

[s2couto]

Memoirs is great. E=MC2 was all right, but in no way better than this album.

[Boobie]

I've been listening to this CD for about a week and I definitely like a handful of the tracks -- H.A.T.E.U. is great -- but ultimately feel there's a lot to be desired. The reason I like all the slow jams on 'Butterfly' is b/c there were some great tracks from left field, like 'Beautiful Ones.' This album's a little too calculated for me, but the most consistent track-for-track since 'Butterfly' ... no faux gospel or lame 90s-style filler (OOC, anyone?) and I don't hate any one track enough to skip it.

[Account Deleted]

I love Memoirs and I am probably in the minority of people that enjoyed Glitter as well (I am NOT ashamed). But I do believe people still live on the old expectations of what or who Mariah Carey should be. She is given this gift and people expect her to just come out with power ballads and hits that made her a part of musical history.
I enjoy my Mariah - light and frilly, just like her Hello Kitty/Butterfly persona...
:P

[Lindsey]

I KNEW we'd agree on a favorite track!

[Sam]

"Obsessed" is THE single of 2009 with "Up Out My Face" its worthy sequel. The rest of the album is just boring. I am really disappointed with the results. It looks like she will not hit #1 next week according to Billboard and may even fall behind Barbra Streisand and enter at #3. Great chart position if you ask me but not for Mimi...what's she gonna do to salvage this CD? This is where it gets interesting!

[Matt]

Rich, Rich, Rich - I've been waiting for your review and I'm slightly disappointed. I thought you were my brother from another mother when it came to Mimi. I implore you to re-evaluate your take on this album in a few weeks. This album is one of THE BEST she's ever put out - far better than E=MC2 (which I j'adore) - and probably 2nd to Butterfly. I can't believe you consider "Standing O" a throwaway when it's probably one of the best tracks here. And glossing over "Betcha Gon' Know" (when she sings "I'm A-li-li-li-live" I get chills) and no mention of "Languishing" or "The Impossible"?? But you're right when you single out H.A.T.E.U. as the stand-out - this is the best thing she's done since "Bliss". Mariah is the only person that can sing these songs - and not because of their range, because, to be honest, this is probably in Rihanna's range. But because of the wordplay and the melodies - they are next to impossible to sing along to and when you finally nail it, you feel like you've accomplished something. Loving this album to death.

[Golden J]

I agree with your review here, although we disagree slightly on some of this album's highlights (I like "Standing O" and could have done without "Ribbon" for example). The second half is mostly a snoozefest but I also really like "More than just friends," probably because it has some of those classically-Mariah lyrics that we both love.

I'm paraphrasing, but only slightly: "I know you wanna hit it like the lotto / then later we can catch up like tomato"
and later: "I'm fiendin for ya like fries from mcdonald's / I wanna be all on your lips like gellato"

she.is.genius.

and of course I love love LOVE "Up out my face" and the fantastic, Stankonia-evoking reprise ("BREAK!"). Even a nail technician with a whole lot of gel and acrylic couldn't fix us...if we were two lego blocks, even the Harvard university graduating class of two thousand and ten couldn't put us back together!

[Benjamin]

Mariah has been writing the same "we belong together"-ish song since Daydream. try "forever" where "we belong to together"was born. she foretells it during the bridge.

[Sharon]

Off-topic but I can't wait to see her in Precious. I love how usually with movies, they make people look completely different using lots of makeup - she looks completely different because she has NO makeup!

[twitter.com/Jakey3mm3rt]

I don't know what this says about me, but I was awaiting your review of this album almost as much as I was the actual album.

I appreciate your insight as to why The Dream is all over this album. My friend and I were talking the other day about E=MC2, and I think it would have done a lot better had different singles been released ("For the Record" and "Side Effects", for example).

[Golden J]

This album is DEFINITELY a grower. As in, between the last comment I made (yesterday) and now, I like it a lot more. For example, I'm all over "Ribbon" now. I still agree with you that the final quarter ("Impossible" through "Languishing") could have been chopped off, but I really appreciate the first half.

[Jasmine]

I've never commented on your blog even though I read it all the time. I agree with the majority of the commenters. THIS ALBUM IS GREAT!! I couldn't love it more. I hope you have a change of heart the more you listen to the album. As usual, I enjoyed reading your post. Thanks and keep up the good writing. :)

[bevskid1]

In fact, maybe the most relevant divide between Old Mariah and New Mariah right now is that Old Mariah sang songs that no one else could sing, while New Mariah sings songs that no one else would sing.

I heart you, Rich

I have had the album on repeat since I downloaded it Monday night. Still trying to decide. First impression, decent, but could have been edited down some tracks. On the whole, I like it. Could you imagine if she and Whitney attempted If You Believe today? **shivers and not in a good way**

[bevskid1]

P.S. Ribbon is my favorite also. I think you twittered about it for Songstruck, no?

[Kevin]

Well your career can't last forever, I see her fading off sometime soon!