This is Mariah Carey. She's one of the best selling music artists ever, and she has one of the greatest voices the world has ever heard.
Mariah's career is legendary. She scored a number-one single every year of the '90s, duetted with the biggest names in music — from Ol' Dirty Bastard to Luciano Pavarotti — and she'd sold more than 70 million albums by the time she was 26 years old.
I mean, seriously, look at all the singers that have been dubbed "The Next Mariah." So many of them have come and gone, or they're on their way down the road to obscurity...
Leona Lewis is incredibly talented, but her music failed to connect with the masses after her hit "Bleeding Love." Christina Aguilera faded after experimenting with her sound too much and alienating most of her fan base, and now, Ariana Grande is fighting to distance herself from the Mariah comparisons, which, in all honesty, is a good thing.
It would be a Sisyphean task for any new artist to live up to Mariah's storied career; even Mariah herself is having trouble maintaining the legacy she's built.
It's now been ten years since the release of The Emancipation of Mimi, the album that catapulted Mariah back into the good graces of the public. The music was great, and the live performances were stellar.
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Here she is singing "We Belong Together" on The Oprah Winfrey Show.
However, in 2008, things took a turn for the resurrected diva. She released E = mc2, her follow-up to Emancipation, an album that managed to quiet critics who thought she was done after the commercial failures that were Glitter and Charmbracelet.
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At this point, Carey was a newly married 38-year-old woman, and she began to face more criticism from people saying she wasn't dressing for her age. Mariah's look has always been policed, but when ageism entered into the equation, things got a lot worse. But more on that in a sec.
Brief backstory: In the beginning, every move Mariah made was heavily calculated, which is the case with most pop stars. But things were more difficult for her because even the way she dressed was monitored by her then-husband Tommy Mottola, the music exec who discovered her.
Once Mariah divorced Mottola in '97, she began to be freer with her wardrobe. Bye bye to the woman who stood still on stage and wore gowns that covered every inch of her body while singing ballads.
Let's cut to 2009, the year the world was met with the death of Michael Jackson. Mariah was chosen to sing "I'll Be There," a song made popular and originally sung by The Jackson 5.
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One again, Mariah's outfit of choice was criticized for not being appropriate for a funeral, but, beyond that, during the performance, Mariah's voice cracked. This led to people wondering if the woman with a five-octave voice could no longer sing. (Mariah says she was overcome with emotion, and that's why it was harder for her to sing during Jackson's funeral.)
And now youths think Mariah can't sing AT ALL. But this is so, so wrong.
I wonder does Mariah know she can't sing anymore
What planet is this?!
Mariah Carey is content w the fact she can't sing anymore. She's got cell phone games to pay the bills. Strange days we live in.
😞
Mariah Carey made great R&B music back in the day. It's sad she can't sing anymore lol.
Yes, there are a lot of performances that have not been up to par with what's expected of Mariah, but this brings us to the issue at hand: Why does everyone still want perfection from Mariah, and more importantly, why is she trying to give it to us?
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Since the beginning, Mariah's career has been built on the notion that she can do no wrong, and it's an idea that has persisted in spite of a difference in vocals from the '90s to present day.
But why should she sound the same now, as she did when she was 25 years old? The voice is an organic instrument, so it will experience wear and tear. Mariah shouldn't put herself through the trouble of trying to live up to her former self, and fans shouldn't expect that of her.
Here's Mariah a few years ago singing live backstage at The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, her "new" voice on full display.
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Sure, it's huskier, deeper, but the talent still remains.
And another video of her singing some classic jazz tunes:
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And another for good measure.
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Not '90s quality, but still great.
The worse thing about nostalgia is that it leaves no room for change. Is remembering things as they were always the best answer? Point is: Mariah Carey is different, and that's OK.
You can still rock out to "Always Be My Baby" during a nice, cool fall night...
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...or cry your eyes out while listening to "Breakdown."
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...and you can definitely jam to "Heartbreaker" with your closest friends.
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Perfection and predictability are boring, but Mariah is human so she isn't either of those things — Mariah, you'll always be on fire. 🔥
