The first words Mariah Carey utters on her 16th studio album are quintessential diva. "I don't care about much if it ain't about Mi. Let the money talk first, conversations ain't free."
Those lyrics in "Mi", the opening track of "Here for It All", out September 26, summarize Carey's undiminished cheekiness. She's a pop goddess who sings her demands for Harry Winston diamonds and hot tubs over a finger-snapping groove, but she's also flatly serious when she flips the script with the reminder "you couldn't walk a mile in my shoes".
Such is the glorious dichotomy of Carey, who, on her first new studio album since 2018's "Caution", is equally terse ("I won't entertain all your narcissistic ways," she snaps in "Type Dangerous") and tender ("I won't let you break when you fall", she promises on the title track).
Working with Anderson .Paak throughout the album, most distinctly on "Play This Song", a sly homage to The Stylistics' "You Are Everything" that spotlights .Paak's Silk Sonic feel, Carey has opened up her sound on these 11 tracks.
Even 35 years into a career that's earned her a list of accolades, including five Grammy Awards, a spot in the Songwriters Hall of Fame and a Video Vanguard Award from MTV, Carey, 56, hasn't abandoned artistic growth.
Here are four of the best songs on "Here for It All":
Type Dangerous
Over a springy funk backbeat, Carey exudes R&B sass as she explains why she can't trust the men she's attracted to, but does so unapologetically. The "computer boy toy"? He was cool until caught "hacking other girls' files". That construction worker? Really a drug dealer on the down-low. They might be tiresome tropes, but Carey deserves a song of the year Grammy for managing to rhyme "hoes" with "rigamarole".
I Won't Allow It
Carey has always been masterful at blending R&B, pop, soul and a flirty delivery (See: "Dreamlover", "Emotions" and "Fantasy"). She's at her Dua Lipa-channeling best on this breezy disco ditty. Stocked with swirling synths and a driving bass line, the song sounds custom made for roller rinks in the '70s, but is equally irresistible today.
My Love
Despite her bona fides as a songwriter, Carey also possesses a flair for a well-chosen cover. Her smash renditions of the Jackson 5's "I'll Be There" (1992) and Badfinger/Harry Nilsson's "Without You" (1993) are associated with her as readily as her own "Vision of Love" and "Hero". Here, she deftly handles "My Love", the 1973 swooner from Paul McCartney & Wings written for McCartney's soulmate, Linda. The ballad is a bit overproduced, but when the synths and organic guitar slowly disappear in a wake of strings, Carey's layered, crystalline voice sparkles.
Here For it All
The final track on the album is a hymn of devotion that clocks in at more than six minutes. Mellifluous piano chords anchor the first half of the song as Carey coos, "Here for the glory, the shakes, the withdrawals, even when you bounce off the walls, baby I'm here for it all", her voice overflowing with warmth. But Carey steers the song into an interesting detour. As the sweetly melodic ballad tapers, a gentle beat kicks in and Carey vocalizes words of religious praise over a syncopated coda for the last two minutes, her five-octave voice punctuating her patented melismatic style.
(USA Today)
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