Mariah Carey
The Emancipation of Mimi

THE REVIEW

Shhh... yes, yes, I know, here we either review metal or genres of greater complexity, but allow me to spend just one review on one of the most beautiful pop voices of recent years, I'm talking about (now I will be inundated with an infinite amount of criticism) Mariah Carey.

As she approaches 20 years of her career and has behind her some of the most successful albums of the past decade, as well as a musical/personal crisis lasting about four years, the curvaceous Mariah makes a "timid" return to the music market only in 2005, with this "The Emancipation Of Mimi", perhaps one of the most important albums in the career of this singer primarily for two reasons:
1) She returns to the top of the world, managing to re-establish sales figures consistent with her past
2) She abandons the saturated pop in favor of a decidedly more refined pop-soul

The shift towards a more refined and classy musical style leads to an almost definitive departure from that pop which had declared the failure of two albums like "Charmbracelet" and "Glitter", both committed to a banal and flat chart pop where, beyond Mariah's voice, nothing good could really be extracted. Although in this "The Emancipation Of Mimi" there are more commercial tracks typically anchored to more popular clichés, such as the lead singles "It's Like That", "We Belong Together" or "Can I Get Your Number" (the first and third are two danceable pop tracks, the second a melancholic ballad), it is in songs like "Mine Again", "Joy Ride" or also the last "Fly Like A Bird", that they reach truly high quality peaks, sounding extremely catchy but never banal, thanks especially to the work done by the piano, on the notes of which Mariah's voice rests, especially in the two soul ballads, "Mine Again" and "Joy Ride".

On the other hand in this album there are also songs closer to r'n'b and hip hop, as can be noticed in tracks like "Say Something", "To The Floor" or "One And Only", where the hand of producers such as Jermain Dupri, Neptunes or Kanye West is felt more strongly. This "Emancipation…" then continues on the path of all the other albums regarding the desire to showcase Mariah's remarkable vocal abilities, always ready to tackle impossible vocalizations, with phrasing all "supported" by tones that are nothing short of unreachable, especially for most of today's pseudo singers, with a continuous use of whistle tones and falsettos. Although there is nothing new (in a purely musical sense) under the sun, it would indeed be more logical to speak of a return to origins, the Mariah Carey of recent years has shown significant improvement in musical terms, proving herself not only to have a phenomenal voice, but also fair compositional abilities, and considering the current times that doesn't seem like a small feat to me.

(I already know that loads of criticism will rain down for this review, so I kindly ask, if you do not support the artist, if you have time to waste uselessly, if you feel an irrepressible urge to vent your frustration, please do so elsewhere and not here... this appeal is naturally directed to all those users who are used to defiling others' reviews, without absolutely respecting the "work" that is behind the creation of a review).