Mariah Carey’s first album in seven years, Here for It All, finds her drawing on music’s past. Tracks like “Play This Song,” featuring Anderson .Paak, and “I Won’t Allow It” are throwbacks to ’70s soul and disco, respectively, and the album includes a faithful cover of Paul McCartney and Wings’s 1973 hit “My Love.” The singer also nods to her own storied discography throughout.
Lyrically, though, Carey seems stuck in her own past, relitigating her marriage to Tommy Mottola, a subject she’s mined for pathos for nearly three decades now, even if she’s “just playin’”: “Fresh outta Sing Sing…That was just a castle and an evil king/Made my escape, yes, I had to flee,” she cracks on “Type Dangerous.” And even if they’re two of the album’s standouts, the soul-searching piano ballad “Nothing Is Impossible” and the inspirational title track serve as reminders of similar, superior songs from Carey’s catalog.
Album to album, the wear and tear on Carey’s voice hasn’t been this apparent since 2002’s Charmbracelet. Previously, the imperfections in her voice have added character and depth to her songs. There are still a few shining moments here, like the gospel-infused climax of “Here for It All,” but for the most part Carey’s vocals are at turns reedy and husky, and, perhaps as a result, over-processed (upon first listen, she’s nearly unrecognizable on “Type Dangerous”).
It wouldn’t be a Mariah album without some 10-dollar words (“rigamarole” wins this round) or some tongue-in-cheek shade (though “Can’t obtain any Accutane/Should have been more Proactiv” is indefensibly dumb). But the songs on Here for It All aren’t as fresh or tightly consistent as the ones on 2018’s Caution. Instead of an album’s worth of old-school R&B like “In Your Feelings” or disco-funk like “I Won’t Allow It,” Here for It All tries to, well, do it all and ends up falling short.
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Mariah’s voice was rehabilitated well during Charmbracelet era so that’s a weird comment about that album’s vocals. This album also is much more explorative than Caution and, despite me preferring the latter, sayibg it’s a retread is inaccurate as a result. Damned if she does, damned if she doesn’t. Her life story is also HERS to tell so repeating it with one lighthearted phrase shouldn’t be noteworthy.
the charmbracelet comment reeks of “i read other critiques of mariah as my research”. charmbracelet is fantastic and the vocals are so strong. comparing these current vocals to charmie is WILD
Hmm the song most discussed in this review is Type Dangerous- a song that’s been out for three months. This reads like someone heard the first single and then the 30 second iTunes clips of the rest of the songs. Shame.
A critique/reviewer being typical critique — not from a musician, just a writer, and more like subjective opinion just to write something. Waste of time.
Oof — ‘Charmbracelet’ showcases some of Mariah’s cleanest vocals. You can tell she is well rested. If this critic thinks those vocals carry “wear and tear,” I’d love to hear what she thinks a superior vocal is.