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About Benjamin Fisher from United States:

The album cover (51,729) by Benjamin Fisher from United States
I cannot, for the life of me, understand why people are so mad about the photoshopped cover. You just called her "fat" last week, and now you're mad that she used Photoshop. What the hell do you expect her to do? I'd rather she use Photoshop to digitally alter the photographs than starve herself thin. This industry expects physical perfection from women, so you all know that using untouched photographs is not an option. Stop complaining, and let Mariah do her thing.
(Monday 13 April 2015; 17:58)
Favorite songs Mariah wrote with/for other artists and/or recorded by other artists (50,554) by Benjamin Fisher from United States
1. Trey Lorenz - Someone to Hold
2. 7 Mile - After
3. Allure - Head Over Heels
4. Allure - Last Chance
5. Trey Lorenz - Make You Happy
6. Faith Hill - Where Are You Christmas?
7. Valerie Pettiford - Lillie's Blues (Turn You Loose)
8. Trey Lorenz - Always in Love
9. Paul Robbins - I Pray
In particular, I think that "Last Chance", "Head Over Heals", "After" and "Where Are You Christmas?" could have been massive if Mariah had saved them for herself. It makes me even more anxious to have a collective of B-sides because it's quite apparent she has at least a few albums worth of unreleased material.
(Sunday 1 March 2015; 17:32)
The Jazz/Torch Chanteuse setlist (50,316) by Benjamin Fisher from United States
This would probably never happen, but I do hold out hope that Mariah will channel her inner Billie Holiday and (1) record an album of jazz/torch songs and/or (2) do some one-off jazz shows. It would be really easy to re-arrange some of the following songs that may not have "jazz" studio recordings. Songs with an asterisk would, of course, be covers of standards.
1. The Wind
2. Don't Explain *
3. Lullaby of Birdland *
4. Lillie's Blues (Turn You Loose)
5. Twister
6. Petals
7. Looking In
8. Subtle Invitation
9. I Wish You Well
10. Languishing
11. Cry.
12. Camouflage
13. The Roof
14. Rainbow (Interlude)
15. Sunflowers for Alfred Roy
16. Right to Dream
17. Mood Indigo *
18. Babydoll
19. Outside
(Saturday 21 February 2015; 3:07)
For those who believe she should retire (49,718) by Benjamin Fisher from United States
You have a lot of nerve. Music is her passion, and it is also what she does for a living. I don't like the lip-syncing either, but I do believe that she has a good reason for doing it. The choices are probably: (1) Retire and forget music. (2) Have risky surgery on her nodules and risk losing her voice. (3) Soldier on and lip-sync some songs in concert. (4) Don't lip-sync and have it sound horrible/risk damaging her voice more (we all know how Whitney sounded before she passed). None of those are good choices for her. The suggestion that she retire is just plain cruel. Mariah has been under scrutiny since the day she hit the scene. First it was "she's copying Whitney" and "she's a white girl who sings 'black'." Then it was "she's trying too hard", "she dresses like a slut", "she's gaining weight", "her voice doesn't sound like it used to", "her music is too ghetto". She can't do a damn thing without somehow risking her credibility/worthiness as an artist. I think sometimes fans forget that this is a human being. Mariah ain't never claimed to be perfect.
(Tuesday 3 February 2015; 22:35)
Vegas setlist? (49,321) by Benjamin Fisher from United States
I was thinking about how Mariah could mix up her Vegas set list, seeing as how she is basing the show around her #1 hits. I know a lot of folks are tired of performing some of the songs that went to #1, but I definitely think she could perform alternate versions to make it more interesting. For example:
1. Vision of Love - original doo-wop style arrangement
2. Love Takes Time
3. Someday - New Swing version with Unplugged intro
4. I Don't Wanna Cry
5. Emotions (12" Club Mix)
6. I'll Be There
7. Dreamlover - juicy version, Morales version, and/or Bam Jam Soul Remix
8. Hero - Never Too Far/Hero medley
9. Fantasy - medley of Daydream (Fantasy Sweet Dub Intro)/ODB remix version with more re-sung elements of "Genius of Love"
10. One Sweet Day - Chucky's remix and possibly sing it with Trey instead of Boyz II Men
11. Always Be My Baby - So So Def remix
12. Honey - So So Def remix and/or Classic Club Mix
13. My All - So So Def Stay Awhile version
14. Heartbreaker - medley of Ain't No Mountain High Enough/Heartbreaker/Love Hangover plus If You Should Ever Be Lonely club remix
15. Thank God I Found You - Make it Last remix
16. We Belong Together - Desert Storm remix/one of the dance remixes
17. Don't Forget About Us - Desert Storm temix
18. Touch My Body - The-Dream remix
Also, if you count the R&B and Single Sales charts, "Loverboy" was a #1 hit, so she could sing an excerpt of it as a joke.
(Tuesday 20 January 2015; 18:30)
Slant Magazine - "Butterfly" album review (48,364) by Benjamin Fisher from United States
A quiet storm album without the fucking, Butterfly is, above everything, idiosyncratic. Here, like never before, we're asked to take Carey for what she is: unabashedly chaste but ultra femme; unrelentingly precious but undeniably vulnerable. It's this perceived waffling that makes Carey such a divisive pop artist (certainly the girliness doesn't help either, since femmephobia is perhaps the status quo's least-questioned fear). And it's Mariah the inconsistent that makes Butterfly so ultimately fascinating and endearing. Viewing her character from a completely different angle on the album's weepy last track, "Outside", Carey observes that she's "always somewhat out of place everywhere/ambiguous/without a sense of belonging to touch/somewhere halfway/feeling there's no one completely the same". Whether she's talking about her mixed-race heritage, her career, or both, it's the old Carey one-two, a seemingly unhappy ending fueled by the know-thyself philosophy that otherwise makes Butterfly joyous. As Carey's most bizarre moment of self-celebration, it's also a triumph, since it could only make sense coming from Mariah the person.
I feel that the writer of this album review, more than anything, really *gets* Mariah and who she is as an artist. Very intelligent written review of an album by an incredibly divisive and often under-appreciated pop genius.
(Sunday 7 December 2014; 2:18)
Mariah and Nick (46,473) by Benjamin Fisher from United States
Mariah is keeping it so classy in the wake of her pending separation from Nick. While he and his people make remarks about her "emotional instability" and her parenting skills to the press, Mimi hasn't uttered a word save for some epic shade toward Nick on her album (see: "Thirsty"). I love how the separation has become all about Mariah being "needy", "demanding", and "overbearing" as if Nick has absolutely no culpability for the separation. Was Nick Cannon expecting a submissive doormat? Mimi does not play that doormat nonsense. Maybe Nick Cannon cannot handle an alpha female?
(Thursday 28 August 2014; 13:36)
Music videos (45,272) by Benjamin Fisher from United States
I think my favorite videos from Mariah might be the "Honey" video and "The Roof" video. Really, all of the videos from the "Butterfly" album were great. I also secretly love "Loverboy" because of how outrageous it is and how much fun Mariah appeared to be having. I think my least favorite videos are "Can't Let Go" and "HATEU".
(Tuesday 8 July 2014; 17:03)
Mariah's covers of songs by women (45,235) by Benjamin Fisher from United States
Shelley, Mariah remade "Do You Know Where You're Going To?" by Diana Ross, "Didn't Mean to Turn You On" by Cherelle, and "Last Night a DJ Saved My Life" by Indeep. All songs by female acts.
(Saturday 5 July 2014; 19:37)
Re: Mariah's purported "diva attitude" (45,159) by Benjamin Fisher from United States
I am really over this idea that Mariah needs to become more "likable" in order to garner more respect from the public and from critics. They never respected her even when she was a demure, shy neophyte and tried to please everyone. So I'm fine with Mariah being a little impatient, a little combative; otherwise people would walk all over her. The truth is that our Western culture does not like women who do things on their own terms. Mariah clearly gives nary a f*** about being well-liked, and I applaud that. She has worked herself to death to establish herself in this industry, and people still disrespect her and her artistry.
And, seriously, even if Mariah has any kind of attitude; it's definitely mild in comparison to what other people get away with. So let's please stop with the idea that Mariah changing her persona will somehow make her more likable. They will always find something to criticize about her.
(Sunday 29 June 2014; 18:35)
Mariah's health (44,462) by Benjamin Fisher from United States
Does anyone else think Mariah seems really tired and flustered sometimes in recent interviews? I wonder sometimes about her health. She seemed great last summer, was in really great shape, and seemed really ready to put his record out. But then everything got derailed by her injury on the set of that "Beautiful" remix video. Maybe Mariah's having difficulties balancing spending time with her kids and getting this record out. And I wonder sometimes about her mental health. I remember everything she went through during the 2001-02 period and wonder sometimes if she is taking good care of herself. I'm not really happy with the lip-synching either. But I wonder sometimes if she does it because there is no other choice (besides just not putting out an album or risk damaging her voice or losing it completely). Most of us are aware that her voice got really damaged in the 90s by that relentless pace she kept up. I wonder if she lip-syncs because she has to, on orders from her doctors maybe? I look at her latest interviews, and I see someone who looks exhausted and frustrated.
(Tuesday 3 June 2014; 20:47)
Reviews (44,068) by Benjamin Fisher from United States
Has anyone else noticed a pattern wherein, no matter what Mariah releases, certain reviewers/media outlets always give her the same so-so rating (3 stars out of 5 or "B")? And sometimes they give her great ratings for a so-so album. "E=MC2" got an A- from Entertainment Weekly. I really don't get it. Sometimes I wonder if they actually listen to the album, or maybe they just choose a rating based on the fact that it's a Mariah Carey album. Maybe people still don't like female artists who do things on their own terms?
(Saturday 24 May 2014; 18:39)
Cover art (44,033) by Benjamin Fisher from United States
I don't know if any of you have seen this article, but remind me to never participate in or read the comments for any article that discusses Mariah's weight. The writer is trying to defend Mariah from a feminist perspective, but she still ignores the fact that the cover art was shot back in summer 2013. *Sigh* I don't even care about "winning an argument". I just worry about how articles like this effect Mariah and also feel frustrated that Mariah's struggles with her weight somehow detract from her music or credibility.
(Friday 23 May 2014; 14:57)
Me I Am Mariah thoughts (44,006) by Benjamin Fisher from United States
I am thoroughly impressed by this record. I definitely think the songs are stronger than "The Emancipation of Mimi" and some of her 1990s work as well. "Faded" and "Thirsty" are really the only two songs that feel like filler. Everything else is pretty impeccable. My personal favorites are "Make It Look Good", "You Don't Know What to Do", "Cry." and "Heavenly", but really the majority of the songs are really strong. I do agree with some of the comments that say the record will not have strong sales at first. I think we might see relatively low sales the first week and then a major increase once Mariah and the label roll out promotion for a single. I don't think "Thirsty" will be the final choice - that song and "Faded" were probably the closest to emulating any trends currently on the radio (though those trends are things that Mariah has been doing for quite some time). I hope she puts out "You Don't Know What to Do". That would be my #1 choice. Side note: Really tired of the Beyonce and Ariana Grande comparisons. Both of those women borrowed things from Mariah, not the other way around. And people are still falsely promoting the idea that Mariah was attempting a "Beyonce-style" release. Nowhere in that Billboard interview did she indicate that she would be doing a "surprise" release. She simply talked about the reasons for the delays.
(Thursday 22 May 2014; 20:01)
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