The Emancipation of Mariah

Mariah Carey's latest CD, The Emancipation of Mimi, came out Tuesday April 12. She was able to pack Times Square with thousands of screamings fans and the collection is getting generally positive reviews. The album is also selling quite well, having debuted at #1 on the Billboard Top Albums Chart with over 400, 000 copies sold and dethroning 50 Cent's The Massacre from the top spot.

It's taken me a long time to get around to do a full review of The Emancipation of Mimi.

1. It's Like That. A killer beat provided by JD combined with ghetto fresh slang and catchy vocal arrangements.
2. We Belong Together. Some of her best vocal stylings ever with a killer hook and coupled with a pitch perfect video.
3. Shake It Off. A nondescript mid-tempo single with a slightly too-repetitive structure. At least one or two hooks away from being a hit.
4. Mine Again. A nicely written jazzy ballad infused with a powerful vocal performance.
5. Say Something (featuring Snoop Dogg). A mediocre up-tempo track.
6. Stay The Night. A somewhat repetitive track with an interesting sonic texture, supported by a heartfelt vocal performance but negatively impacted by trite lyrics.
7. Get Your Number (featuring Jermaine Dupri). An attempt at a light up tempo pop-dance hit single with a very fun spoken word bridge by Mariah and an unfortunate vocal contribution by JD which veers on self-parody.
8. One And Only (featuring Twista). A very nice track which garners its strength from the successful blend of the vocal styles of Twista (supersonic rap) and Mariah (mellifluous singing).
9. Circles. Very strong lyrically and vocally, but seems a bit too frothy and catchy for its own good.
10. Your Girl. A faux old-school mid-tempo track with a very catchy vocal hook and not much else.
11. I Wish You Knew. Mariah pulls out all the stops on this power ballad: spoken bridge, audience samples, whistle voice. The overall impact is somewhat less than the sum of the parts would suggest.
12. To The Floor. An absolutely wretched up-tempo track with the only boring beat ever conceived by the Neptunes.
13. Joy Ride. A very strong slow song with a deceptively simple structure but a compelling emotional impact powered by one of her strongest vocal performances on this CD.
14. Fly Like A Bird. For the final track, Mariah wants to end on a high note (literally) but thankfully she leaves it to her backing choir to do the honors. The song is a nice combination of elements: jazzy vocals, gospel choir, simple song structure and inspirational lyrics

I should put this review in context by saying that I have been and continue to be a huge Mariah Carey fan. I think that Charmbracelet was an under-rated CD ("Clown" and "Through The Rain" are two of her best-written songs in her oeuvre). On Emancipation of Mimi I would say the stand out tracks are "We Belong Together," "Joy Ride," "Fly Like A Bird," "Circles," "One and Only" and "It's Like That."