Word: carey
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...this Mariah Carey anyway? After seven years, seven albums and 12 number one singles, she has yet to carve out any specific identity or consistent persona. Her detractors say she is always the same insipid thrush. Her fans proclaim the virtues of "her voice" or "her songs," but rarely champion her. Even her critical reception has veered wildly between casual enthusiasm (1995's multi-Grammy-nominated Daydream) to outright damnation (1991's Emotions is consistently named her worst effort...
...Mariah's (there's no way we're calling her "Carey") new album Butterfly alights on record stores everywhere this week. As usual, Butterfly has its share of both jazzy scores and snoozy bores, but the overwhelming effect of the album is to portray an artist and a woman who has no idea where she stands or who she is: musically, personally, you name it. Mariah, don't you want to be somebody? You've tried on so many different hats...
Which brings us to the most obvious (mis)identity, Mariah as Butterfly. Presumably, the title of the album was meant to connote a metamorphosis, an emergence of maturity from a long period of gestation and development. Sorry, dame. No dice. Mariah Carey needs to follow some of her funkier instincts and drop the damsel-in-distress pose; no one wants another Celine Dion. In the meantime, Mariah needs to slow down, grow up, branch out and create some sturdier, more lasting work. This one ought to be called Mayfly.Photo courtesy of Sony Records...
...discovering that being on her own has downsides she didn't have to worry about when she was the wife of a record mogul. Carey became a tabloid target earlier this year when she accompanied Q-Tip to a New York City nightclub. One columnist wrote that they were dating and that Carey was spending her time partying with gangsta rappers. Neither item was true. A few weeks later, however, the board of a luxury co-op building turned down her application to buy an apartment. "It was ridiculous," Carey says. "There were rumors and lies about me being...
Still, she could not have chosen a better time to go out on her own. She may be separated from the boss, but right now Sony needs Carey more than she needs Sony. Although the company has the new Oasis record and a new Celine Dion album coming this fall, it ranks fifth in market share among the top six record companies. Which means that as long as Carey keeps turning out hits, she will be free as a Butterfly...