It appeared Carey’s star was fading quickly. There was the catastrophe that was “Glitter,” with the accompanying soundtrack that seemed to follow the Carey template, but just didn’t work. Her “Charmbracelet” album, which was rushed out to be damage control, but Carey just wasn’t ready to give it her all.
Now some time has passed, and “Mimi” is here, looking just a bit too much like Beyonce. The music borrows from the Beyonce playbook too, but largely works.
“Say Somethin’,” featuring Snoop Dogg, is a hot dance number that brings her back into relevance for the first time in almost a decade. The beat is somewhere between retro and synth, but works well. “Stay the Night” actually takes the retro concept a bit further, with a slightly muffled piano and voice samples throughout the backing track. But both tracks use the retro gimmick effectively.
“I Wish I Knew” slows down the tempo, and brings back some of the classic Mariah Carey ballad form that we’ve come to appreciate over the years. Towards the end, she revives her vocal acrobatics that made her famous, hitting some of those high notes, although just barely hits the highest notes. She does this again a couple of times more before the album’s conclusion, somewhat effectively, and it floats by without being forced on the listener.
It’s not without its weaknesses, though. “Shake it Off” just hurts at times, especially when the first part of her vocals is mixed into the musical palatte. This is something that crops up occasionally throughout the album – Carey’s voice obviously took some damage, along with the rest of her, during the worst period. At times she sounds like classic Carey, while at other times you can hear her voice box struggle to keep up.
Carey has taken major steps forward in returning to form with a more uptempo album that flows well aside from a few vocal weaknesses
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