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Re: Mariah / Walter (87,198) (87,199) by T from USA They had set up a meeting to meet in 2013 but it fell through. Why? Now that is a question I would like these "journalists" to ask Walter. I sometimes think part of her (the ego part) would be ashamed to show him her actual range now. Remember the things he heard from her in 1990-1997. But also of course she doesn't want to look back. (Although she does it with JD, but maybe Walter is more of a one trick pony. Still I'd take another go with that one trick.) (Saturday 22 December 2018; 22:13)

Mariah / Walter (87,198) by Gee from U.S.A. (New York City) The reason why their collaborations are in a different class is because of the chemistry between them as musical partners. But honestly Mariah the artist is so ahead of the class she has been able to make great music with many different collaborators throughout her career. From Big Jim, JD, Marc Shaiman, and the great collaborations on this new album it just highlights MC even more as the genius artist that she is. (Saturday 22 December 2018; 18:03)

So many things to say (87,197) by Edouard from France Hi everyone, I have been making a list of all the things I want to share with you guys and that I haven't had time to write about. From the amazing album Mariah has cooked for us, to the spectacular shows she's given in Europe and in Paris especially, from my meeting her and the experience of looking into her eyes and her looking back into mine, to the joy that I feel whenever I hear AIWFCIY anywhere, everywhere, from the amazing article Richard wrote about our lovely MC, to the great serenity that finally seems to have taken over this board thanks to some serious cleaning from our great webmaster. So many things to say. I will take the time to tell y'all about it next week so that I don't oversaturate the board before the weekend and give our webmaster some well deserved rest. Have a great holiday season. Merry Christmas Edouard. (Saturday 22 December 2018; 15:48)

Walter and Mariah made classics (87,196) by Sheila from United States While I don't agree with his "current" opinions and gripes, they made classics and iconic vocal performances. (Saturday 22 December 2018; 13:43)

Re: Tommy / Walter (87,187) (87,195) by MusicfanJ from Germany Dove, completely agree with everything. Great post. (Saturday 22 December 2018; 12:44)

Re: Walter the retail relic (87,186) (87,194) by MusicfanJ from Germany Yes, you don't need to like Walter. I understand that Mariah is still a bit angry about him as a person. But professionally they created magical songs that will stay forever. I love her new album but honestly you can't compare the songs with "Everything fades away", "Can't let go" or "Anytime you need a friend". They are on their own league. To say they just had an easy formula back than is not true. The harmonies and the lyrics were just perfect. But I agree that today's music business wouldn't appreciate it like they did in the 90ies. (Saturday 22 December 2018; 12:43)

Re: Instagram stalker (87,185) (87,193) by MusicfanJ from Germany Lol. Tommy was and still is a bit obsessed with Mariah. I believe MC that he was a control freak. When Thalia had her first "hit" single I thought she was copying a bit from MC. That was before Tommy was dating Thalia. I think he still wishes he would take part in Mariah's life. (Saturday 22 December 2018; 12:33)

Re: Chanel 5 "documentary" (87,179) (87,192) by Lee from UK But did you watch the one that was on straight after the Christmas one? You may be able to get this on the channel 5 website too. (Saturday 22 December 2018; 11:48)

The tea (87,191) by Nikki from usa I might be late to the party on this one, but has anyone else read that fabulous Rolling Stone interview with Mariah's co-creators for Caution? It's so informative and the fact one of them checked Wendy Williams was everything. I'm not sure how many of you are aware, but a lot of songwriters are forced to give away songwriting credits. Mariah has mentioned this on more than one occasion. Remember when Beyonce took credit for "Irreplaceable" only for Ne-yo to check her because he wrote it? Mariah mentioned on the Genius interview that "Looking In" was a song she wrote solo, but she gave away credits "because that's what we do". Personally, I don't believe Walter had anything to do with AIWFCIY. Now that the song has been professionally analyzed with computers we find out it isn't a simple song, but one with a complex 13 chord progression. It was also completely created in a studio without any live instruments. Walter always said he played it on the piano and it was a simple track. I think it would be more interesting to see Mariah and Ben Marguiles reunite for something in this day and age. (Saturday 22 December 2018; 04:25)

Merry Christmas MCA family (87,190) by Todd from Melbourne, Australia Hi all. Merry Christmas / Happy Holidays to everybody. I hope everyone is enjoying the "Liking-Mariah-Is-Cool" season. Apparently it's going to be 36C/98F here on Christmas Day. None of the Christmas songs make sense. (Saturday 22 December 2018; 04:19)

Re: Walter the retail relic (87,186) (87,189) by Geronimo from USA Victoria, I love these recordings you mention - not for the writing but for the incomparable vocals. For me, those songs are successful representations of a certain mood but not at all creative or personal. "Outside", from Butterfly, was co-written by Walter and the music works. But I wonder how I would feel about the song if I did not understand the lyrics and if Mariah was not the vocalist. That leaves Walter. While he is good at producing competent adult contemporary music, he may have served to cast Mariah as a white-passable pop commodity. A lot of her work with him was "universal" during a time when I think she wanted to be on the radio sharing her contribution to a new genre that was just as viable, beautiful, and diverse as her own lineage, tastes, and skills. Rather than be great at a genre she mastered at 23 she decided to contribute creatively to the future. That takes trial and error, talent, and time. I find her contribution as a producer and songwriter quite personal in this regard. I think Mariah's own words (that I found on Wikipedia) help define what personal looks and sounds like coming from her: "It is a great outlet for me to go into the studio and write a song like 'Petals', which is one of my most personal songs and remains one of my favorites. I think it had the most honest lyrics I've ever written. The song chronicles a lot of past emotions I've felt to certain people close to me, and the way I feel towards them and how their actions have impacted me personally. For that reason, I sang in my lower registers, trying to add that breathy effect to go hand in hand with the song's composition." (Saturday 22 December 2018; 02:59)

Walter (87,188) by Hector from Mexico I absolutely love the Walter/Mariah collaborations. They're simply beautiful lyrically and musically. There's magic in those songs. They're elegant, mature, classy, sublime. (Saturday 22 December 2018; 01:09)

Tommy / Walter (87,187) by Dove from United States Tommy and Thalia have said they're fans of Mariah. Even though I have accepted Mariah will never work with Walter again, I do miss the type of songs they made together. I've been listening to the original and So So Def versions of AIWFCIY a lot recently and even though the So So Def version is cool (and I like it) I prefer the accompaniment of the original version. I wouldn't want her to go back to doing just those types of songs because I want her to do what makes her happy. But for example when I listen to With You, I think about how it would sound with Walter accompaniment. I love that song but what makes it special is her voice because the background track is super basic. I don't think she's had the type of magic with anyone else she has worked with like she had with Walter. And the same goes for him. (Friday 21 December 2018; 23:32)

Re: Walter the retail relic (87,182) (87,186) by Victoria from USA Sorry dude, but no. I just went through a video of all their songs together. Most of her final album tracks were with him, which were her most personal tracks. Not to mention "Do you think of me" and "Everything fades away", "Love takes time". (Friday 21 December 2018; 23:07)

Instagram stalker (87,185) by Jamie from UK I just noticed on Instagram that Tommy Mottola follows Mariah. Obviously she doesn't follow him back. Anyone else find that a bit odd? If I was Thalia I wouldn't be best pleased. (Friday 21 December 2018; 21:40)

Re: We are in the midst of the Mariahsance (87,177) (87,184) by Jared from USA Thanks for writing this wonderful article Richard. (Friday 21 December 2018; 21:28)

Re: We are in the midst of the Mariahsance (87,177) (87,183) by Tevin from USA Love the article Richard. (Friday 21 December 2018; 18:25)

Walter the retail relic (87,182) by Geronimo from USA Walter and people nostalgic for his work with Mariah Carey are in a tough spot. His concept of "big" songs, as far as I'm concerned, represent the low point of Mariah's musical creativity. Songs he mentions in that whiny-man article are certainly big hits that connect with people in a very obvious, sentimental, and traditional way. And by traditional I don't mean anything as deep as "classical". I mean 'traditional' in the sense that a certain type of commercial or sitcom or Hollywood movie predictably pulls at people's heartstrings while playing on common tropes that require no thinking, risk, or creativity on the artist's part. Mariah's collaborations with Walter represent a stream of hits based on a well known and easy to perform formula of sentiments, melodies, harmonies, and climaxes. I think Mariah Carey is currently at her creative peek because she is helping to create a genre of music that blends hip-hop, rap, and r&b in playful and mature way. Her lyrics now are creative and fun as well as subtle compared to her most sentimental and cloying Hallmark card-like renderings from the early and mid 90s. The songs she wrote with Walter are almost always the songs I skip when listening to older albums because although her voice does all the amazing things we associate with Mariah Carey, the songs she wrote with Walter are often the ones that are least creative, the most predictable, the corniest both musically and lyrically. They often sound like listening to something everybody in the world would identify with as a result of being exposed to the same ideology rather than songs only Mariah Carey would think of and sing in her very unique yet intuitive melodic style. At the same time, I'm happy for her success with Christmas music but I could live a long time without ever hearing a AIWFCIU again. Sorry. Therefore - Walter and friends' comparisons between Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, and Whitney Houston are quite a bit off to begin with. From a commercial perspective they certainly occupied the same retail slot for years. However, Mariah Carey was always coming from a different place and going different places than either of them intended and Walter only represents the brief moment when adult contemporary music gave Mariah Carey a platform to begin that which she has only begun to do. (Friday 21 December 2018; 17:29)

Re: We are in the midst of the Mariahsance (87,177) (87,181) by MusicfanJ from Germany I enjoyed it too. Great article. It's true, I was almost surprised about the good music reviews for "Caution". Mariah can be proud of her successful tour, her new album and of course the love she's finally getting from the music business. And I think we as fans are happy that 2018 Mariah was showing that she's having fun again with her music and tour. (Friday 21 December 2018; 14:10)

Re: We are in the midst of the Mariahsance (87,177) (87,180) by Dav from Ireland Great article. Thanks for writing it. (Friday 21 December 2018; 11:21)

Re: Chanel 5 "documentary" (87,172) (87,179) by Gilles from Malta I just watched it, there is nothing bad about MC , it is a really nice documentary, they explain how All I Want for Christmas has become a smash it. The tree shopper where she buys is just fantastic. Walter speaks about it very well. Actually this documentary shows up a lot the extravaganza, how Mariah makes it a big production and how down to earth MC is. For everyone who wants to watch it go on Channel 5 and use a "VPN Happy Seasons Guys". (Friday 21 December 2018; 10:39)

2018 - a year to remember (87,178) by We are Lambily from USA In other news let's celebrate Mariahs new milestones of 2018. She is in top 20 most streamed female artists of the year at #17 on Apple Music, and at #21 on Spotify list. Mariah has 11 of the 600 biggest songs of all time "more than any other artist". Billboard named We Belong Together as the greatest female R&B song of all time and all I Want for Christmas as the greatest Christmas song. Over 4 billion spins on Pandora, 1.6 billion units sold in Asia. Glitter hitting #1 after 17 years. 40 platinum records in Spain alone. And she released the most critically acclaimed album of her career, that's crazy. She really is one of the greatest artists of all time aka top 3. Remind me if I forget something, I stream all I can. (Friday 21 December 2018; 10:31)

We are in the midst of the Mariahsance (87,177) by Richard from USA In the last two months, music superstar Mariah Carey released her most critically acclaimed album to date, experienced unprecedented success with her classic Christmas tune, and even saw her biggest flop roar back to the top of the charts after 17 years of relentless mockery. She's having a creative resurgence and the media narrative surrounding her is finally shifting. I just published an article with my take on it all here and thought some of the readers of this site might enjoy. Happy holidays everyone. (Friday 21 December 2018; 06:59)

RibbonB / Walter (87,176) by Gee from U.S.A. (New York City) Your post is spot on, thank you. (Friday 21 December 2018; 00:11)

Re: Mariah: The Diva, The Demons, The Drama (87,155) (87,175) by Jamie from UK I didn't mind it tbh, a little far fetched in parts but I think it helped people understand her background and as to why Tommy affected her so much. Plus it made Stella look like the complete blame for the last few years. And it was nice to see Morgan and Alison being nice about her. I did laugh at the Brenda double though haha. And it finished praising Mariah about her future which I thought was great. (Thursday 20 December 2018; 23:17)

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