Metamorphosis of Mariah
The talented singer is back with a new album,'Rainbow', and a sexier image. Mariah Carey's latest album, Rainbow, has enough colours in its bubbly mix of songs to satisfy fans of every stripes. Mariah Carey is the sort of singer whose albums come garlanded with statistics. She has sold 120 million records, which apparently makes her the biggest selling female artiste of the 90's. She must have a big house, becasue she has 84 gold, platinum and multi-platinum discs to put on the walls (silver is for losers).
She has spent a total 60 weeks on the no 1 spot in the United States in her career, including the recent success of her single, Heartbreaker, which is her 14th no 1 pop hit and the first single from her latest album, Rainbow. This means she has spent a week longer as no 1 in the US compared to the previous record-holders - the beatles. And she's still only 29.
There's just one problem with Mariah - how many of us could actually sing one of her songs? She is nice-looking, with features that arer a perfect blend of black and white, and generous curves. But the really exceptional thing about her is her drive. She was four when she started singing and six when she first signed a photograph of herself, and she hasn't stopped striving for success just because she has already had more of it than she could ever have hoped for.
She made her name as an '80's-style soul diva, all ballads and ball gowns. In 1993, she married her ultimate boss at Columbia Records, Tommy Mottola, but the marriage fell apart within two years. Rainbow, released in the US earlier this month, is her first album since her divorce. Like Whitney Houston, she has become more youthful as she gets older.
Lately, the ball gowns have been banished, to be replaced by sawn-off jeans (sawn off at the top, that is). In the sleeve photos of this new album, Rainbow, even the jeans have gone, leaving only crisp, white underwear.
Once you reach the music, you wonder if the reinvention isn't merely adding one set of cliches to another. The ballads are still there, as predictable as Mariah's chart placings. She even includes a cover of Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now), the old Phil Collins hit, which is just like the original without the note-perfect singing.
However, connoisseurs of slow songs will appreciate Can't Take That Away (Mariah's Theme) and Thank God I Found You, two gospel- flavoured pieces of chocolate with no artificial sweeteners.
And then there are attempts to get hip in Rainbow. This is not something a girl can do by herself. Jay Z, Snoop doggy Dogg, Master P, Usher, Da Brat, Missy Elliot - rare is the star of rap or hip-hop who has not had a call from Mariah's people. You spend the best part of a day just reading the credits.
Does it work? Yes and no. As the studio fills up with the rappers and their posses, you can almost hear the session musicians creep out the back door. The backings are sparse yet classy, like the new luxury minimalism that you read about in the magazines. There are plenty of glistening details, led by the lovely strutting bass line on the second version of Heartbreaker, reworked by Missy Elliot.
The vocals, however, remain cluttered. The various co-producers get Mariah to sing quieter, but not to sing less, so the listener ends up being assaulted by a barrage of whispers. Did I Do That? is a sparky addition to the flourishing genre of kiss-off songs. ("I really hope when you hear this song/ That you know it was meant for you/ Though your attention span's not that long/ Try to do the best you can do")
And Crybaby, featuring Snoop Doggy Dogg, is a hip-hop smoocher that oozes sexual chemistry. But overall, this album won't win Mariah many new fans. She should just about manage without them. (Sunday Mail)
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