Mariah’s latest album, Me.I Am Mariah… The Elusive Chanteuse continues to gather critical acclaim from the UK press. Here are another selection of positive reviews published this week:
Daily Star: Kicking off with a killer Stevie Wonder-ish power ballad Cry, this long-awaited return teams Mariah with fellow mega-lungs Mary J Blige on It’s A Wrap and R Kelly for Betcha Gon’ Know. Nothing beats the sun-kissed 808 holiday banger Faded, though. Rating: 3/5
Metro: Half a decade on from her last proper studio album- the patchily received Memoirs of An Imperfect Angel- the No 1 diva is back with her most enjoyably ridiculous album title yet. Mariah Carey has never exactly been trendy but she plays to her strengths here, mixing old-school belting ballads with more adventurous forays into hip hop and dance pop. But everything is handled with a surprising amount of good old-fashioned restraint- meaning when she really lets rip, as on the melisma-tastic, gospel-choir featuring album closer, Heavenly, you’re whooping for that classic Mariah moment.
The album’s incomparable high point is last year’s sweet, sexy and simple duet with new wave r’n’b star Miguel, the irritatingly hashtagged #Beautiful- but the nostalgic Nas collaboration Dedicated, the disco-fabulous You Don’t Know What To Do featuring Wale and the irresistibly cheesy Meteorite all how how many strings Carey has to her bow.
And while some may argue her voice isn’t quite what it was, it’s still incomparable- if we could swoop from a husky growl to the whistle register with this kind of control, we’d demand white carpets and butterflies everywhere we went too.
But not every song is a a hit and there’s still quite a lot of cotton candy padding- with drippy ballad Supernatural, which samples Carey’s twins being repulsively cute, serving as a case in point. Nevertheless, though delays led to whispers that this was going to be a stinker, it’s actually a confident and fun record. Rating: 3/5
Daily Mail: Of course the title is preposterous,. And it is matched by the over-the-top sleeve for Mariah Carey’s 14th studio album.The image on the front appears to have been airbrushed, while the back has a self-portrait drawn when the singer was three. The latter is ‘a creative visualisation of how I saw myself with the purity of a child’s heart before it was ever broken.’ Er, right. Whatever else, the American Superstar, 44, is never dull. And for all the self-regarding packaging, this is actually really rather good- a slow burning mix of pop and R&B that gathers momentum.
Having begun a detour into hip hop with 1997’s Butterfly Carey is now returning to more soulful fare. And while a series of guest vocalists and rappers drift in and out, it is her dazzling, five-octave voice that steals the show.
The opening track, Cry, sets a dreamy, elegant tone, while the old-school flavour is maintained on Dedicated (with a cameo from New York rapper Nas) and Make It Look Good (featuring a harmonica solo from Stevie Wonder).
There is some filler. You’re Mine (Eternal) Â should have never been made into a single, while Supernatural features some cute but corny burbling noises from Mariah’s twins Moroccan and Monroe. But there is humour too: on Thirsty she brags ‘the best thing to happen to your ass was me’.
She builds towards a barnstorming finale:You Don’t Know What To Do gives her lift-off as a disco diva, as does the brisk Meteorite. She finishes in soul-belter mode, first with a stylish cover of George Michael ballad One More Try, then with gospel-tinged Heavenly. The elusive chanteuse? More like the indefatigable diva. Rating: 3/5
If you haven’t bought it yet, don’t forget to pick up your copy of Mariah Carey’s critically acclaimed new album “Me. I Am Mariah… The Elusive Chanteuse,” as all UK sales until midnight Saturday will count towards Sunday’s chart. The album is available at a variety of retailers including:
iTunes by clicking one of the following links: Standard Edition | Deluxe Edition
CD editions of the album are available from Amazon by clicking one of the following links: Standard Edition | Deluxe Edition