One of the great moments of Private Eye magazine’s fustiness in recent years was putting Mariah Carey in Pseud’s Corner, for the quote about how she deals with the ageing process: “I do not acknowledge time.” That quip is of course in no way pseudo-intellectual, and in every way fabulous, as anyone with the slightest knowledge of Carey or pop culture would grasp immediately. Of any major star, she is the one who has most comfortably inhabited the diva role in the 21st century, her dry-as-a-bone “I don’t know her” put-down of Jennifer Lopez from 2003 now meme-ified into immortality as the allt-time emblematic high-camp shade-throwing.
This far into her career, with a gazillion record sales under her very expensive belt, she could very easily settle into this queenly role – trading off interview quotes, counting up the Christmas royalties, maybe reviving her (very funny, archly charming) reality show if she ever needed the publicity boost. But there’s another side to being a diva, and a reason that she achieved her celebrity royalty status in the first place: Carey is also a great musician, and even if it is eight years since her last studio album, it’s clear that she’s still got things to express on that front too.
Not particularly new things, mind. On this, her 14th album, she’s not gone out on any limb. With the singles “Type Dangerous” and “Sugar Sweet” – already respectable hits – she’s already set out a stall that this is going to be smooth R&B, modern in production style and ultra slick in musicianship. And the rest of the album pretty much alternates that vibe with the kind of expensive-sounding, silky jazzy balladry that Prince perfected back in his New Power Generation days, all rounded off with a couple of equally shiny gospel numbers where Carey’s upper registers really kick in.
Her voice is still an incredible instrument, though – and in fact more so on the more subtle tracks, where you really get to see how totally she and her collaborators understand the place of that voice in amongst virtuosic playing and production, than when belting it out. Those singles are fantastic, and duetting with her alleged new romantic partner Anderson.Paak over the ultra-jazz chords of “Play This Song”, or crooning over the gigantic post-drill bass tones and ticking hi-hats of “Confetti & Champagne”, too, Carey is absolutely world class.
“Nothing is Impossible” pushes the Disney schmaltz a bit far; the disco of “I Won’t Allow It” seems a bit beholden to Dua Lipa / Lizzo songwriting templates even if Carey is full of personality on it, with that regal wit shining through; and those gospel closers are… an acquired taste. Nonetheless those velvet-lined R&B/soul high points serve as brilliant reminders of just how great musicianship can be in those genres, and that Carey is a megastar for very good reason, and has entirely earned the right to be as sassy and shady as she wants any day of the year.
Hear "Play This Song":
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