Mariah Carey Lets It All Hang Out

As any quality card player worth her stripes would do, Mariah Carey brings a host of captivating tricks tucked firmly up her sleeve for "Me. I Am Mariah...The Elusive Chantenuse". Sometimes the hands she plays work better than her wildest dreams would indicate. For example "You Don't Know What To Do" which features rap stalwart Wale, sends her full throttle onto the dance floor she knows a thing or two about from past soft hearted confections like "Someday" and "Honey". Nice shift of focus from the beginning installment which has us thinking the song is going to be upper level serious then the crowds head en masse for shameless gyrating. You'll have plenty of opportunities to marvel at Mariah's glass shattering, logic defying, upper upper mezzanine grabbing octave range. After hearing it in "Someday" I knew this woman belonged in the singular talent category. Know this before you plug into what amounts to over 65 minutes of Mariah and the lenses through which she view herself. Mariah knows what a glitzy spectacle should look like. Throughout the project she's miles from the caviar circuit slick sounds of "The Emanicpation of Mimi" "We Belong Together" rolled out the red carpet for her comeback. She'll get sweaty with Latino hunk Miguel during "Beautiful". She can pull of elevating a pretty toss worthy trifle like "Thirsty" to a single where most of the reward lies in watching the insecure little girl inside of her pop to the surface for unveiled exchange of sentiments. Not that she doesn't veer into territory that's best left to posterity in the name of the artist who made it stick previously. Back in another lifetime our fair Mariah opted to remake Nilsson's "Without You" which launched her into Billboard's Top 3. On her latest disc is George Michael's record catalog she chooses to raid, specifically "One More Try". I get that hearing it from a female's perspective is not without intrigue but I never thought it was meant to have a tricked up street smartened edge. George's original was so impressive because it measured all notes for maximum impact. He managed to make a 5 minutes plus psychodrama tasty bliss for anybody with a set of binoculars who wanted to spy on the man's sexual torment. Mariah's apparently chosen to throw this '80s classic into the hopper for the same reason a lusty man divorces his long time wife to pursue a newer model...because he/she can. I'm not insisting her version spits on the craftsmanship of the original. What I'm trying to put across is a lesson movie makers could or at least ought to learn from as well. Just because there's a song/film on the boards that could be redone or stretched out into a sequel doesn't mean somebody has to. Leave the original artist some dignity. Now that I've milked this here soapbox for all it's worth let's continue with the post. "Make It Look Good" executes class via a judiciously embedded harmonica. "Supernatural" with the help of the oft cooing Dembabies isn't tethered to terra firma and therein lies the jaw dropping sorcery. "Cry" puts Mariah back in the gospel wheel house she laid part ownership of on "Make It Happen". "Heavenly (No Ways Tired/Can't Give Up Now)" shines the brightest light on our heroine's unfaltering resilience. Militant in tone and probable conception, Mariah knows she'll meet us at the other side of the steep but not unbeatable mountain she's climbing. "Dedicated" permits room for music history flashbacks courtesy of special guest Nas who longs for the hip-hop halcyon days of '88, citing The Fat Boys and Whodini among the tastemakers who helped elevate the form out of the shadows and into the mainstream's ready cross hairs. The closing "The Art of Letting Go" drops the fourth wall allowing us to have an obstructed glimmer of face time with the woman who for what will be 25 years as of 2015 has essentially assured herself a place solidly planted in the firmament of female singers whose pipes don't ever stop short of otherworldly. If I had a quibble with "Me. I Am Mariah...The Elusive Chantenuse", it would be that "Cry" and "Faded" aren't the most pulse accelerating tracks she could have picked to lead with. Luckily we're cruising along before you know it. The sights and sounds along the way are top heavy on theatrics. For your bucks you get Mariah the unabashed spectacle as well as Mariah the seasoned siren of the concert stage. By laying herself out there for our benefit she's widened the window to her own creative hemispheres as well. Mariah knows her strengths and by and large plays up to all of them. The smorgasboard of backdrops might prove overwhelming initially but after you've allowed the water to splash in your face a little you'll recognize Mariah aces the class in giving her numerous supporters exactly what they want. That Mariah chiseled street savvy into her pores along the way can only help move more units. The final analysis is likely a ways off, but at this moment Mariah and the pleased crowds should succeed in renewing their lucrative partnership.