The first reviews
After the negative responses from the fans, it is no wonder that most of the press is also very critical of Triumphant. Slant magazine calls the song "not just uninspiring, it's downright demoralizing". Here are the first reviews.
Perez Hilton: Mariah.. she's on fiyah? Hmm... maybe not so much on this one. Mariah Carey just released her latest single, Triumphant (Get 'Em), featuring rappers Rick Ross and Meek Mill. While we appreciate its inspirational aim, maybe Mariah should've started off the song by singing, instead of firing off with the rap verse? Or maybe we just kinda miss the Always Be My Baby-era Mz. Carey. Either way, the song will be off MC's as-yet untitled fourteenth album and we're sure it will be perfectly timed with her upcoming American Idol gig.
NewNowNext: Mariah Carey just dropped her new single "Triumphant (Get 'Em)", which is an inspirational R&B slow jam about not losing faith in your dreams, not letting negative attitudes get you down, etc. It's a decent track and Mariah sounds good on it, but if we're keeping it 100, then it doesn't really sound like a Mariah Carey song. The featured verses by rapper Rick Ross and Meek Mill are so dominant - and Mariah's voice is mixed so low beneath the drum track - that she seems like the guest vocalist, not the main event. I'll be interested to see if this song succeed, especially because it's got a very R&B sound, and traditional R&B hasn't really been popular for a few years. If you'll pardon me, I'll go back to listening to "We Belong Together".
Slant magazine: Mariah Carey might be the most reactionary pop star of all time. Her creative decisions are seemly driven not by an artistic muse, but by a desire to maintain commercial viability. It's likely the result of being so intimately involved with her expectedly money-minded record-label handlers early in her career, when she was amassing gold and breaking records like Michael Phelps. Mariah has always been obsessed with the past (specifically, recreating it), sometimes resulting in sublime nostalgia (as on "The Roof"), but more often coming off as pathologically regressive (embodied by her perpetuation of the male fantasy of woman-as-little-girl, which neutralizes whatever command it might seem like she has over her own sexual image). If you thought motherhood might change Mimi's tune, or at least push her in a new direction, her new single's artwork, previewed by the singer a few days ago, quickly put those hopes to rest: Scantily clad in a flesh-colored, peek-a-boo "dress", Mariah is airbrushed into a literal cartoon version of herself... circa 1997, of course.
So, it should come as no surprise that Mariah would follow-up 2009's Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel, which was tellingly both rapper-free and a commercial disappointment, with "Triumphant (Get 'Em)", a dated hip-hop track produced by Jermaine Dupri in the same manner a sick dog produces a bowel movement. It's easily the worst lead single (possibly the worst single, period) of her two-decade-plus career. JD's beyond-tired hype-man routine and guest raps by Rick Ross and newcomer Meek Mill dominate the first half of the song, with Mariah literally serving as a hook girl on a track that sorely lacks a strong hook. She finally unleashes a breathy verse of her own about two-thirds of the way through - something about breaking free of chains, seeing mountaintops, reaching for stars, and other brainless platitudes that ostensibly lead to, according to Ross, throwing money at strippers and running highway tolls. It's not just uninspiring, it's downright demoralizing.
MTV News: Feeling down and looking for a bit of inspiration? Look no further than Mariah Carey's latest single, "Triumphant (Get 'Em)", featuring Rick Ross and Meek Mill, which the pop diva premiered Thursday (August 2). A midtempo ballad that mixes a soft R&B beat with piano accompaniment, "Triumphant" is all about rising above a tough situation. "Reach for the stars," Carey sings. "Be all that you are and make 'em all fall down." The track opens with Mill, whose verse quickly sums up the theme of the track. "The only way to make it to the top is if you go and get it from the bottom. I remember they said that it ain't my turn. But it ain't confirmed. Then the tables turned," Mill raps. "Just look at me now. Try to hold me down, but I ain't gonna stop. 'Cause I'm gonna climb to the mountaintop."
"Meek adds an excitement, a newness to the record that is pretty rare right now," Carey said in a conference call with journalists Thursday just before releasing the song to radio. "Working with Ross and Meek on the same record was incredible. Obviously, Ross is a star and everybody loves him. I'm a fan of his music. I really, really wanted to work with him. I love the tone of his voice. I think the contrast of his voice and mine would be something special. I always like to do collaborations that people might think are different."
Carey is in peak form on her signature high notes, and the production comes courtesy of two of the pop legend's most trusted collaborators: co-writers/co-producers Jermaine Dupri and Bryan-Michael Cox. Cox told MTV News that the track is very personal to Carey. "This song is kind of inspirational. It's close to her heart, and I think her fans are going to really, really be emotionally attached to this song," Cox tells MTV News. "I expect that this record's going to be a huge record. I expect that this is going to be one of her bigger albums."
Spin: Dropping "Triumphant (Get 'Em)" mid-Olympics is a clever bit of marketing genius, what with its inspirational message and Mariah Carey flossing her octaves all over the end like a dismounting gymnast tosses up her arms. But while she's been known to pop a rapper on a track whenever she needs a little career shake-up, we are a tad disappointed at the inclusion of Rick Ross and Meek Mill. For one thing, they're not the Lox - Mariah and Jadakiss are a magical pair - and for another, they occupy the first half of the song, forcing us to add nearly two full minutes to the three years (not counting the Xmas album, sorry) we've been waiting to hear new music from Mimi the God. Is rap radio that disdainful of female R&B singers that Mariah "top-selling woman of all time" Carey can't have her guests rap mid-song? Is this Peter Rosenberg's destiny, fulfilled? Ross barely stays on topic! Most importantly, though, Mariah is in top form - warming up her flex for American Idol, perhaps - putting curlicues on the word "triumphant" and giving fans the dose of dramatic group singalong fodder we've come to expect from her. "Reach for the stars, be all that you are. Get 'em get 'em get 'em." If Mariah doesn't sing this song to her twin babies, Monroe and Moroccan, before they go to bed at night, there is no God.
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