When exactly did Mariah Carey stop singing? Even when she began flirting aggressively with hip-hop in the mid-1990s she was happy to impose her titanic vocals atop even the scrappiest production. And no matter how grimy her surroundings became - Ol' Dirty Bastard, anyone? - she remained inexorably Mariah, an impenetrable acrobat of technique.
Of late though, Ms. Carey has been whispering, as if newly scared of grand gestures. In 2005 it made for a surprise success with "The Emancipation of Mimi", one of her best-selling albums, but also one of her most deceptive. Though the melodies were straightforward, Ms. Carey was working hard, imbuing them with vulnerability and ache even while keeping her vocal power in check.
That nuance is mostly gone on "Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel", Ms. Carey's 12th studio album, which manages simplicity and clutter all at once. "Memoirs" is produced almost entirely by Ms. Carey with The-Dream and Tricky Stewart, who are masters of compensation, helping elevate mediocre singers - like The-Dream himself or Rihanna, on "Umbrella" - to something sublime.
On paper Ms. Carey shouldn't need that help, but her collaborators have underdelivered with largely listless arrangements just as she has thinned her voice to a hush. (The Dr. Dre-esque stomp of "Obsessed" is a notable exception.) On "Betcha Gon' Know (The Prologue)", she's almost mumbling, and the talk-singing on "Ribbon" and "Inseparable" is typically the preserve of far worse singers.
Even more troubling are the perplexing, jumbled lyrics full of daffy references and batty assertions. On the unintentionally hilarious "Up Out My Face", she insists, "Not even a nail technician with a whole lotta gel and acrylic can fix this, when I break, I break." On "Obsessed", she tells an ex, "See right through you like you're bathing in Windex." (Inexplicably, two songs, "Standing O" and "More Than Just Friends", echo "Umbrella", a move unnecessary and outdated.)
"H.A.T.E.U." has some of the ease of her recent successes, and "It's a Wrap" swings with girl-group melody. But it's the vintage notes here that resonate most intensely. She lets her voice go at the end of "Candy Bling", a cold splash of water that reminds us what Ms. Carey can do when left unfettered. The same is true of the smoldering "Languishing (The Interlude)", which despite its language of self-improvement seminars, is Ms. Carey at her most astute, devastatingly precise in tone and feeling; notably, it's the only song on this album untouched by Tricky and The-Dream.
It bleeds into the closer, a cover of Foreigner's "I Want to Know What Love Is", that begins in surprisingly modest fashion. Then comes the gospel-choir backup and the glass-shattering high notes, restoring Ms. Carey to the role she was born for: a singer unafraid of pomp, of ambition, of herself.

(New York Times)