Mariah Carey in Good Album Shocker!

Doubters put down the glass of pessimism and haters set free the darkness that resides in your gloomy hearts. The Emancipation Of Mimi may be in the running for worst titled album ever (along with ‘most airbrushed sleeve’), but old Mariah should not be slept on. Thankfully fairly free of the trillage that once clung desperately to Emotions et all, Mariah keeps the vocal on a tight leash on her tenth album. Granted the production roll-call is a predictable line up of big-hitters – Neptune’s, Jermaine Dupri, Kanyeezy – but Carey reps a little for the relative newies too. Scram Jones follows up on Terror Squad’s ‘Yeah, Yeah, Yeah’ with an altogether lighter affair – though the beats still have plenty of kick to ‘em. For my money though it’s James Poyser of Hidden Beach (Jill Scott) fame that delivers the killer cut – stripped back, unshowy but oh so souful and you gots to love them live keys. And The Voice sounds pretty darned fine. I wasn’t sure whether it would return having been distinctly under-whelmed at Mariah’s live London show a year or two ago. But, no frontin’, she sounds great.
While I can find no defence in my heart for the inclusion of Fatman Scoop on the otherwise lovalicious It’s Like That, just be glad he doesn’t appear anywhere else on the album. In fact, cameo’s are kept to a minimum with just Nelly, Twista and Snoop competing with the memory of ODB – needless to say, none quite recreate the Fantasy chemistry.
Still, given the turbulent past history of the former Mrs Mottola, and that expectations for this album were low, fair play to Mariah for proving the naysayers wrong with an album she should be pretty darned proud of.
I had a early sunday morning phoner with 'Mimi' a few weeks back, which is the feature of this fortnights Blues & Soul cover story so go check it out if you want to know more about her, the album, and, er Glitter!