Whatev's Mariah Carey Top 50!

She gave us some great melodrama in the video too.

Angels-Cry-Video-mariah-carey-11056793-500-342.jpg
 
Yeah I'm 'toying' with the idea of completing her discography on vinyl! I've got all of them on CD and 3 vinyls but I want to get the rest now and damn it why did I not buy the colour ones

I am here and I really do not like most of the later albums at all :D

Mimi was £15 on Amazon yesterday from their “slightly damaged” section. I got Butterfly from there for around £11 and it was perfect. Risking this- if there is a real issue I’ll just send it back.
 
It was only a matter of time before the Marge stans realised that there was only one everlasting icon in their lifetime and she was not Italian!
 
  • Love
Reactions: dUb
It was only a matter of time before the Marge stans realised that there was only one everlasting icon in their lifetime and she was not Italian!
Hmmm, not quite. In the words of M herself, 'The world is big enough for two girls with the same initials.'

Plus - diva wars are so off-trend in 2021 Moopy. Keep up @Loufoque !
 
33
GTFO
Caution

One of Mimi's more recent offerings now. I love the production on this and it seems to get better with every listen. I like hearing new things and the subtle hooks get stuck in your brain after a while. The vocals are relaxed but polished. There seemed to be a good initial reaction to this and it was all very meme-adjacent, but ultimately it went nowhere. I'm not sure releasing a song with "fuck" in the chorus was ever going to garner much radio play, but there we go. She looks very pretty in the video, despite over-doing the tits, but again I think making it more light-hearted and comic than serious and sexy might have got more attention.

 
Last edited:
I love GTFO so much. Her vocals, the production and yes even the profane lyrics. It was a meme hit with the gays but yeah I don’t think the lyrics helped with airplay.
 
GTFO really grew on me just recently. It did seem like it was going to do something at first but alas. I enjoy the "on your merry way" part in particular
 
I enjoy GTFO, a matured Obsessed kind of moment for the teens. And I’m not sure it was intended to be a hit? They released the video then pushed “With You” to radio instead I gathered.
 
The layering in the final minute of GTFO is just *uggggh* soooooo good. I don't care if it had airplay or not: this is what I want from post-Imperial Mariah.
 
As well as her career has been managed in the last few years, if they wanted to make Caution work more from a singles perspective, they would have pushed The Distance, A No No and then maybe Stay Love Love You / Caution.
 
Mimi was £15 on Amazon yesterday from their “slightly damaged” section. I got Butterfly from there for around £11 and it was perfect. Risking this- if there is a real issue I’ll just send it back.
Have you got it yet? Any issues? Asking for a friend :eyes:

Seriously though there's another copy for £15 and I'm tempted!
 
32
Lead The Way
Glitter

First outing for the Glitter soundtrack here - easily the standout track on that day back in 2001 when I first put the brand new CD into my discman on the bus and was instantly shaking and crying. Written with long-time collaborator and domestic abuse bystander Walter Afanasieff long before the film was even green-lit, the vocals are noticeably superior to anything else on the album. The final chorus is probably one of her most ridiculous moments of vocal acrobatics, featuring 21 notes and leading the way to 18 seconds of belting. Never performed it live, interestingly!

 
31
Mine Again
The Emancipation of Mimi

Written and produced with James Poyser (who worked on Erykah Badu's On & On and Lauryn Hill's Superstar, as well as Mariah's own I Wish You Well and When Christmas Comes), this beautiful neo-soul ballad was nominated for Best Traditional R&B Performance at the Grammys in 2006, but lost to Aretha Franklin's A House Is Not A Home. I remember going to town to buy the album on the day of release and hearing this song being played as I went into HMV. I instantly recognised Mimi's voice and was so excited to hear her singing so well again. Remember this was after Charmbracelet when everything was sung in a whisper and the songs took some WORK to get into, whereas this was instantly catchy, soulful and brimming with light and shade. I love all the different tones she uses on the verses and she really lets rip on the choruses, then there's a KEY CHANGE! Boy! That final "Maybe we could bring it back" is ridiculous but I love it.

 
30
Long Ago
Daydream

I was a bit of a latecomer to the Daydream album. Think I didn't actually own a copy until after #1s came out and I'd never heard this song until then. I remember buying the CD from Woolworth's, while my best girlfriend bought a Travis album (she's now a lesbian) and we excitedly took turns to listen to each other's albums when we got home. This track really stood out and we were all shook at how ghetto it was. Nowadays, of course, it sounds positively vanilla compared to what came later. It could've easily been a single, but you can just imagine how much that would've given Tommy a heart attack. Written and produced with Jermaine Dupri and Manuel Seal, who also did Always Be My Baby, the vocals are extremely elegant without being showboaty, like most of Daydream. It's another one of those really classy, authentic R&B songs that she can do so well and I never tire of hearing it.

 
29
Betcha Gon' Know (The Prologue)
Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel

What a way to open an album! Do we know who this is about? Or is it just a made-up story written by The-Dream? If you listen to his demo, it's pretty much identical lyrically. Such a great story teller. I was hoping we were going to get Part 2 on the next album, after it ended "To be continued". I also love the remix despite its problematic duetting partner. Sad that it was tagged onto the end of the next dreadful album like an afterthought.

 
LOVING these recent additions. Lead The Way is my favourite of this bunch. Remember I even put lyrics from it in your wedding card @Whatevar?

Mine Again lovely but a bit screechy innit.

Long Ago is a stone groove (smash hit wonder)

Betcha Gon' Know I've never loved as much as many lambz. But I certainly admire it and we love a Jasmine feature moment
 
Oh interesting choices!

"Mine Again" - LOVE, but one of her shoutier numbers which makes it a SPECIAL listen. If it didn't come directly after WBT, I don't think I'd play it as much.
"Long Ago" - 90s R&B THROUGH AND THROUGH :disco:
"BGK" - It's a high-camp treasure, but I think a LOT of its appeal is its deep-cut status.

"Lead the Way" - This song is like Mariah's sonic signature, and an OASIS within the Glitter desert.
 
"Lead the Way" is fantastic and I always forget it exists so it's always a pleasant surprise when it pops up in these threads.

I love "Mine Again" and "Betcha Gon' Know". "Long Ago" is just OK to me - sorry!
 
The last batch is kinda MEH for me other than Mine Again, which is a great lost single and my favourite album track from Mimi. Top notch.
 
I also associate Lead The Way with that ridiculous dead-eyed ice-skating cameo on Ally McBeal. How her star had fallen at that point. The song is nice, but not the best of her work with Walter.

Long Ago is sublime. A truly sultry gem.

Betcha Gon' Know (The Prologue) is a latter-day Mariah classic. It's one of those atmospheric, moody Mariah deep cuts that the general public will just never get to experience. I love her lower register.

Mine Again... is not that girl for me. Kind of shouty.
 
I've never heard Long Ago before. Lead the way, Mine again and BKG have always been winners for me, maybe a casual fan might not know them but they're extraordinary sultry album gems.
 
28
Someday
Mariah Carey

This was one of four songs on the original demo and Mariah asked Ric Wake to produce it, but apparently disapproved of some of his changes, such as swapping horns (wonder how THAT sounded) for an electric guitar, which ironically is the main thing that makes it sound dated now. I love that she does all her own backing vocals and they really are the star of the show here, not forgetting the Bitter Betty lyrics "for anyone who's ever been dumped". I also love how she moves from her chest voice to her head voice with such ease at different points (e.g. "It's not hard to pre-dict this ending now"). The video version is horrible but the live versions are all superb, especially the MTV Unplugged performance. Released as her third single, it was her third #1 in the US and reached #38 in the UK.

 
Is the video mix the New Jack Swing version?

It was the radio mix here, I think- certainly the one they played on the radio. It’s aged badly, though, but I loved it enough at the time to buy the single- my first Mariah purchase. Was a card sleeve. Flogged it on eBay for £50 back in the day, which was lovely.
 
27
Bliss
Rainbow

How could any lamb not include this gem in her Top 50? It's classic Mariah giving her best Minnie Riperton tribute. I know some people, especially at the time, liked to ridicule her for singing "an entire song" in whistle register but (a) it works and isn't screechy in any way, and (b) only the choruses are sung like this; the verses feature gorgeously understated vocals. Towards the end there are some incredible backing vocals that lap like waves against my frozen heart, before giving way to some lovely full-on belting. The Jam & Lewis sultry late-night R&B production brings to mind Janet at her finest. It's a proper vibe track that is fascinating to listen to because of all its intricacies and layers. At 5:44 it's one of her longest songs, though it never feels like a chore. Definitely doesn't get anywhere near the respect it deserves.

 
Last edited:

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom