Messageboard

About Joyce from USA: Wow! I got bashed a year or 2 ago for saying the truth that now people are saying and agreeing with, Mariah may be enjoying a "splash" too much with too many " Festive" "Moments". I reached out to Jermaine Dupree back in 2009 on his youtube page private message, to mention a suggestion, all that "bubblie" may take a permanent toll on her voice over time. I fear it already has. The music sounds very modern and a breath of fresh air.

Gloves / Billy (41,594) by Joyce from USA A fixation on Marilyn Monroe. (Friday 21 February 2014; 19:09)

Relax (41,593) by Joyce from USA Actually it seems we agree on everything but the hair and clothes now that you are not accusing me of suggesting she sell her soul to the image gods and tweenies just for record sales. Yup, it's a pretty hair style, real nice and so are the glamour gowns but, hair styles and outfits can age you older than you really are. I think the whole ensemble is a miss and though small, contributes. I hope those around me would not be afraid to have a conversation on things they feel, be in my best interest, even in just tossing around a few ideas on a message board. FYI, this is not an attack on Mariah but more a commentary on a community board where we share our ideas, hopes and suggestions on what could benefit her career, things we'd imagine could. I don't know her but what I have seen, she seems like a fragile woman with a resolve stronger than steel, who is human like the rest of us. All we can really do is hope for the best and watch from our tablet screens and iPods what comes next in Mariah's iconic career. (Friday 21 February 2014; 19:08)

Steve from Londondary England (41,557) by Joyce from USA I think you have a great point about recapturing adult audiences. After all, that was where she emerged from early in her career. But the challenge there is the actual degraded quality in her voice as in her past eras. Though reinventing yourself doesn't necessarily mean one does so for any target audiences, or being disingenuous for sell out purposes, but rather remaining fresh, forward and current. To those who are very young, it's like a software update to remain current and to remain current is to remain relevent, and not to a specific audiance but to the present total market. Mariah has herself refreshed/updated from time to time, from curly self-styling her own hair in 1990, to bone straight hair in Anytime You Need A Friend, and short barely there mini dress in Honey to curly and big like in Divas Live in 99. She tried an 80's flair back in 2001 with Glitter but from 2006 on has stayed the same pretty much, with variations of the cougar hair and glamour gowns from the TEOM tours. Artists and music evolve over time, saxophones or guitar solo bridges like back in the 70's and 80's are out, as is the lovely singing styles of Linda Ronstadt and Oliva Newton John, I still play on my record player from time to time whilst sitting with all my cats. I'm just saying a refresh is in order, a software update to be more palatable in the present environment and not collect dust from stagnancy. (Friday 21 February 2014; 1:00)

My reply (41,549) by Joyce from USA Hum. I'll try to be less wordy here but: No, no artist should ever be fake or fraudulent in order to gain appeal. Please understand, that is not what I said nor anyone else here is saying now. I totally understand your point though, to not do anything drastic or desperate and to remain authentic and not to sell out as, I could not agree more. The challenge here for any artist especially ones who came to be 20 years ago, is combining the elements of the magic of who you are individually in today's market. The dresses in my closet are from the 70's and 80's and I would love to compose my own personal music the way I personally love it however, it would sound totally 80's and early 90's. I have to keep up with the current music market and within those constraints of keeping with in the range of public trends of music now, try to come up with material that's current and distinctly my own. My recommendations earlier were to utilize the art of communication of appearances to effectively speak to today's listeners whilst being true to your self - that balance of both worlds for the benefit of your career in this business. Madonna and Cher have managed to find that balance and everyone else, I'm not comparing them to Mariah at all, so please let's not start that dialogue. Aso, sorry for the undertone of mean. I'm so groutchy by lack of sleep. Life is hard at times. Hope all is well with everyone else. (Thursday 20 February 2014; 21:54)

Lamb_O_Chop from Australia (41,518) by Joyce from USA "The notion that MC needs or has to change everything about herself just to sell albums or be more 'likeable' to the public annoys the hell out of me". First off loc from az, image is everything in this business. It shouldn't be but it is and yes, changing it up to corresponds with the strategy of a new direction, a new concept, visually communicates evolution, personal growth and Newness artists strive for and not paining the same paining over and over again. Otherwise one becomes stagnate in the same ol' same ol'-or elements of past success, re-arranged and re-packaged as a new product, again. There is a science, a proven formula to long term success and she has the basic elements at her fantastic core but the marketing, and product design and quality are failing. Remember, this is a business, and yes she has proven herself but her entry and durability in this market has been #1, her voice, #2 songs on par with the present market trends and target audience. That is until "Fantasy" when she turned pop and r&b music upside down by merging the two. That became a number one hit and set a new trend rolling singlehandedly. (Wednesday 19 February 2014; 23:33)

The real reason for decline (41,458) by Joyce from USA In spite of recent missteps, the reason why none of her recent releases are gaining lift on charts is because the voice that dominated the 90’s and then some, the one that changed the course and evolution of pop music and of preferred singing styles of aspiring singers around the world, has fizzled and reduced to poor limited range with a sound of fatigue and discomfort that is unpleasant to the ear. The name Mariah Carey is synonymous with "one who sings with great skill, phenomenal vocal control and ability, with a super human vocal range". She is no longer floating on the success her past achievements. It’s time for that voice to hit the gym, for the Marilyn Monroe image to go, along with the cougar hair. She is young and looks even younger, is a good person with plenty of star power in her midst. I wish her well and love. (Wednesday 19 February 2014; 1:59)

New era (41,456) by Joyce from USA In a fictitious world, if I was Mariah's manager, I'd ban her from excessive usage of the words “dhaling” and “moment”, let the wardrobe, hair and image designer go and obtain from gowns and gloves for a minimum of 5 years, Have her cut her cougar “trend follower” hair style and try something new and fresh and sleek, require more dark blue jeans (she looks so good in tight dark jeans) and cute tight top shirts mon-thurs look – as to come down to earth and more relatable and youthful. Hire vocal consultants to assist in rehabilitation of the out of shape vocal chords and set up a safe, doctor approved regular work out routine of the voice to get it back to star power. Then, put together a think tank of artists to conceptualize new music, that strategically sounds unlike albums past. But I'm not. (Wednesday 19 February 2014; 1:45)

I love you Myles (40,170) by Joyce from USA Myles, you sound just like me. And it's nice to see more people listening to their ears and not being afraid to say, ummm that sucks rather than make excuses and trick themselves into thinking it was awsome. I think she should never use the words "moment" "festive" and "dahling", focus on on rehabilitating that voice, cut her hair to a classy bob do, or something totally new and fresh that doesn’t say cougar hair, step away from the usual and try something new. I think a few tracks composed by William Orbit but down tempo and very cutting edge or by Tosca, the music composing duo, would be new, cutting edge and new territory. But it seems she fears change at this stage. (Tuesday 10 December 2013; 20:26)

I could have done better (40,147) by Joyce from USA It seem like there is more physical exertion in singing these days than before. Her body posture, facial expression looks so strenuous. That is how I can tell when she is really singing live. When she lips, she has an easier time to focus on her appearance in her performance. My opinion is she really doesn’t get those vocal chords a workout as she use to. Though, she is much better than the time she tried to sing "I want to know what love is" on one of those morning shows in 2009. She needs a serious vocal work out. Celine, Barbra Striesand even Donna Summer before she died are older than MC and sound great. Before some fanatic says not to compare, know that I am not. I'm saying that age does not deteriorate vocals at MC young age or at least so drastically except if you don't use them enough. (Monday 9 December 2013; 20:12)

Not good (39,905) by Joyce from USA The Art Of Letting Go doesn’t seem to be going very well. It stands on an island, all alone and not relevant to current pop progress. “Throwback” is not always a good thing, especially if a track hopes to do well in a market dominated by electro-pop music or 808 drumbeat electro-laced R&B. Should she remain true and stick to her safe island, where she rules that realm? Yes, if you don’t care about your song much like a proprietary product, competing with new updated edgy products on the market. No, absolutely not if you are trying for success in the pop song chart success. Her voice sounds tired and horse in the beginning, as if she just woke up or battling a cold. If they released this song because it was one of the strongest in the bunch, the new album is in trouble. For that reason, we won’t see a new album from her untill late next year. (Tuesday 19 November 2013; 20:19)

Um, almost but much love is felt as well as pain released (39,734) by Joyce from USA A revelation of the deep hurt that lingered within Mariah like confused, lost and bitter ghosts, unwilling to leave the empty and lonely corridors of her broken and abandoned heart. Pain was an anchor, too heavy to break free from, until true and unconditional loves light came to set her free from darkness with the love flooded into her by her children and husband. Louise Miguel, whom devastated her heart and trashed all happiness with loves disaster of the heart, the hurricane of a heartbreak. The pain slowly became eclipsed by the reality of living day to day life in her new marriage and exceedingly by the love for her until all of those angry, bitter, hurt and lost ghosts - aspects of herself, no longer felt trapped and were able to fly away. At first I felt uncomfortable listening to this because so much time had passed since she had been married and even much more time had passed since her heart was devastated by Mr. Miguel, especially as it's written as if it was just a few short years ago. But I know songs are like movies and television shows, so much is for theatre - for the songs sake and less emphasis to the historical accounts. I look forward to re-mixing this in garageband. (Tuesday 12 November 2013; 2:25)

Lipping vocal peak (39,542) by Joyce from USA I'm sure I can tell the difference when she is singing live and lipping. I respect disagreement and welcome debates and opposing views, but not mean-spirited irate fantail replies. With that said, I look at the muscles near the bottom of her throat. When you sing they move. I've studied live performances in order to better my own and notice she is a superior live performer when actually singing live. She dials into this zone where it's just her and the microphone in the whole world. All of her consciousness goes into her voice and to a way lesser degree, body language. When lipping, that main focus then goes all to theatrics of expression with her body language and the microphone and camera angles will evade and obscure close-ups of her mouth moving as much as possible. Her tone and vocal ease on "When I Saw You" is still somewhat there on "Lead the way", but never was to be seen again since. To me that's vocal peak. That middle range, not the low wispery or loud notes, but that middle range she does very little of since The Emancipation Of Mariah. (Wednesday 23 October 2013; 19:07)

Changed persona after Luis Miguel (39,532) by Joyce from USA Her voice has changed and has she. Remember she had vocal surgery to remove nodules on her voice. Since then, it’s been a strain to do the things one common. Also, at this point in her career the fire is not as intense as she has made it. She has literally concord the world. That means less vocal training and maintaining. That is why she does the pre-recorded and live signing combo when singing “live”. I am really surprised only a few have figured that one out rather than the back and forth debate of if it's real or pre-recorded. 1995 and 1996 where peak vocals for here. There were no breaks, cracks nor scratchy tones that first appeared in Butterfly, though maneuverability was the same. Glitter was the last album where there was little or no strain in her songs and vocal acrobatics were still plenty. It’s all downhill after Louise Miguel. After that her persona changed and so did her voice. (Tuesday 22 October 2013; 18:41)

Same ol' same from Mrs MCC (39,369) by Joyce from USA I think that hip hop, rap thug-ish sound was cute for the last ummm, 15 years but it does get old. I think that combined with weaker vocal abilities contributes the decline of her appeal. Keep in mind she invented the pop star rapper combo in 1995 with ODB remix of “Fantasy”. It was hot, innovative and definitive of her new direction. It’s just old now. It's time for her to work that same innovative magic with something new. I think the fear of trying something new came about after Glitter. Ever since “We Belong Together” every song sounds like a variation and almost all of them have that “we belong together” last note extended till the song fades out. The vocals sound tired but only because they are out of shape and not frequently used as earlier in her career. I guarantee, if she gets those chords back in shape with daily exercise and vocal muscle yoga and do a liver cleanse to allow the liver to increase energy production for the body, she will sound like she used too. (Tuesday 1 October 2013; 19:41)