Whatev's Mariah Carey Top 50!

26
Inseparable
Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel

I think this might cause some controversy but I fucking LOVE this BOP and I don't care what ANYONE SAYS. Often dismissed as filler or basic - or simply forgotten all together - I think it's hugely underrated and such a well crafted song. I love the beat, the minimal music, the lyrics, the vocals, the backing vocals, the bassline that kicks in after the first chorus, the Time After Time micro sample - EVERYTHING! It all just builds and builds with each new section to the point where I can't sit still. Could've easily been a hot summer single. "I KNOW I KNOW I KNOW YEAH... AY!" A+ Mazing.

 
Inseparable (Remix) Featuring Trey Songz

Completely forgot about this hot mess from the abandoned Angels Advocate project! *cuts and pastes vocals with no thought*

 
25
I Stay In Love
E=MC²

Another of my favourite We Belong Together rip-offs. I just love these beat-driven R&B piano ballads. It has so much pathos and the final chorus, in particular, gives me chills, leading up to that wonderful "I STAY IN LOOOOOOOOOOOOVE" climax. I used to think she was singing "And I try to front like A WHALE each time you let me down (fuck around)" - she does say "fuck around" though, doesn't she?! She looks great in the Nick Cannon-directed Vegas video, which is pretty much an homage to Breakdown (but with terrible SFX!) but let's not talk about that X Factor performance where she looked like she had rigor mortis. Released as the fourth and final single (not sure why - I love it but it's not a great single choice), it was her first single not to reach the Hot 100 in the US and spent one week at #95 in the UK. Sad times.

 
I Stay In Love (Live at the American Music Awards)

One of my faves - love the more orchestral arrangement and super strained VOX! Bless her, she looks so relieved when it's over :D

 
I have a soft spot for I Stay In Love too, it’s just glorious to sing a long to
 
I Stay in Love was a relative 10/10 next to Bye Bye, but objectively speaking just OK. Not a fan of Inseparable even with the Cyndi connection :o
 
24
If It's Over
Emotions

Written with the great Carole King and produced with Walter, this song has grown on me so much over the years and I now firmly regard it as one of the jewels in the crown of Mariah's early works. The vocals are pure soul with delicious shrieking and growling in perfect measure, while the music has a distinct retro 60s feel with live big-band instrumentation. The gospel-influenced backing vocals hark back to "You Make Me Feel Like A Natural Woman", which King originally asked Mariah to cover. There are so many great live performances knocking around that are even better than the studio version. The MTV Unplugged version received a very limited airplay-only release as the second single from that EP.

 
LOVE If It's Over, and sad that it never seems to get its dues. Apart from HERE!

Was there any bad blood between Mariah and one of her idols Carole King since though? Have they ever mentioned each other again? 🥴
 
dUb said:
LOVE If It's Over, and sad that it never seems to get its dues. Apart from HERE!

Was there any bad blood between Mariah and one of her idols Carole King since though? Have they ever mentioned each other again? 🥴
Click to expand...
They did Divas Live together.

And there's this:

Determined to work with the ascending star, King flew from her home in Idaho to New York City for a one-day writing session with Carey. "It was a true collaboration," King told USA Today of the meeting. "I'd come up with an idea. She'd come back with something else. In the end we came up with what we both think is a wonderful song. I love her voice. She's very expressive. She gives a lot of meaning to what she sings."
 
She really gave If It's Over a lot of attention at the time, and then seems to have ignored it ever since. Maybe it's just too hard to sing. You would think she'd appreciate it these days, as it's very classic and not too dissimilar to Vanishing.
 
That Grammys performance of If It's Over must be one of her greatest vocals, ever. The poise, control, and effortless switching between registers. To think other queens shake and cry over a cheap shake-and-go wig and lip.
 
Vanishing has a place in Mariah's mythology, being that it was written before major label involvement, and showed how she was mature beyond her years. The irony that twenty years later she was recording Obsessed and Up Out My Face, but there you go.
 
Well the popular theory about pop stars/icons is that they freeze emotionally/psychologically at the age they become famous. So Mariah is not actually eternally 12 but eternally 20.
 
23
All I've Ever Wanted
Music Box

Hidden away as the closing track on Music Box (if you discount the international bonus track Everything Fades Away), this gem of a power ballad written with Walter flew under my radar for many years, but has steadily grown on me to become one of my favourite screech-a-longs in the car. It suits my range perfectly. Vocally, it's quite straightforward compared to, say, the Daydream era. She sings so passionately in full belt without too many trills and no whistle register. It's simple, beautiful and very effective.

 
22
Want You (Featuring Eric Benét)
Glitter

Surprise! Bet you weren't expecting to see this. But I love it so much and, for me, it's one of the standout tracks on Glitter, epitomising everything she was trying to achieve: blending that retro 80s sound with a modern, R&B twist. Yes, other tracks achieve that too, but there's invariably some gaping problem with most of them; usually either hideous vocals, tinny production or a dreadful rapper ruining the moment. But here everything comes together in such an effortlessly cool and sexy way. Mariah sounds wonderful and is beautifully complemented by Eric's soulful voice - check out his RUNS. Love the backing vocals too. The Jam & Lewis production is top notch. You've got to turn the track up LOUD to really GET INTO IT, especially when you reach 3:28 - "IT'S JUUUUST THE WAAAAAY! WHY IT'S JUST THE WAY!"

 
21
Can't Let Go
Emotions

Oh my GOSH this still sounds SO GOOD today! And how beautiful does she look in the video? Love how the second verse has quite a different melody to the first. Again, she wrote all the lyrics and did all the beautiful background vocals herself. The lead vocal is just stunning with gorgeous light, breathy elements alongside gutsy, soulful belting that never goes overboard. There are loads of great live versions floating around. Music and production was done with Walter and the song was released as the second single from Emotions. It went to #2 in the US and #20 in the UK.

 
Can't Let Go (Live - MTV Unplugged)

"We're doing this on the spur of the moment." Sure, Mariah.

No one will ever be able take away the fact that she could SING like this. Look at the way the backing singers look at her in complete AWE.

 
Can't Let Go (Live - Des O'Connor)

Didn't she wear that dress at G-A-Y 20 years later?!

 
20
Migrate
E=MC²

One of her finest hip-hop moments here, produced with Danja and heading up the much trumpeted follow-up to Emancipation, it has to be one of the biggest missed opportunities of her career. Somehow it managed to reach #92 in the US, which really should've been a clear sign to release it properly. She performed it on SNL (not brilliantly, let's be honest) alongside Touch My Body, which was already #1, and received a pasting from critics and commentators who, ultimately, couldn't handle the blackness of it all. So Bye Bye was released as the second single and killed the album stone dead. While Migrate is a really solid song with a very clear melody and structure, it's also brilliantly intricate and layered - there's so much to listen to, I almost hear something new every time I play it. The T-Pain section works really well. Oh to have danced to this in a club! And let's not forget the iconic lyrics: "To feature my hips, accentuate my tits and steal the show... It's time to migrate (bye)".

 
Migrate (Live - SNL)

Actually it's not that bad, she just looks a bit stiff.

 
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MIGRATE would probably be in my top 10. That intro alone! @Loufoque & I have had so many freakouts over it through the years on Moopy :disco:

CAN'T LET GO is a classic of course and one of my all time early Mariah favourites.
 
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