Skip to main content

"I Refuse to Falter." — A Mariah Carey Review Series: Rainbow

Rainbow, 1999

In 1999, Mariah Carey released her seventh studio album, Rainbow. This album served as a new chapter for Carey, one that seek to shed the skin of her past and brings her to the rainbow's end of the happier side of life.

While not necessarily out of the ordinary (her 'ordinary' is extraordinary for common people), it certainly contains some of her most exciting music up to that point in time. Her ballads and bops have gotten so evolved that even her most grumpy naysayer would probably be in awe at the sheer musicality being displayed here.

Songs such as "Heartbreaker" and "How Much" packed a center sweet quality like a hard candy which leaves listeners craving for more. Ballads like "Can't Take That Away" and "After Tonight" are worthy addition to her canon, while "Bliss" in all of its whistle-notes-soaked glory is probably her best use of the vocal register ever. The writing is playful at times, notably on the remix of "Heartbreaker" with features of Da Brat and Missy Elliott. There's also the continuation of personal subject matter such as childhood trauma and a woman's struggle in a post divorce reality on the "Petals" and "Rainbow (Interlude)" combo.

Altogether, this album served as a well rounded reminder of who Carey was throughout the 90s and solidified her as the Artist of the Decade despite other successful musicians within the same decade. It was so nice, until it turned for the worst. Next, Glitter.

Love, Daud.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

X-Men: The Movie

An Imagining (Credit: Jim Lee) I know. What the hell is this, right? Well, I woke up today and decided that I want to make a brief general summary of an X-Men story that I've been cooking up for a while. It would begin with a scene where one of our protagonists, Jean Grey a.k.a. Marvel Girl, arrives at the Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters in Westchester County, New York. This however is not a story of a teenage Grey arriving at the school for the first time. It's just a callback to that; she's an adult now. She goes back to the school to visit her old professor, Charles Francis Xavier a.k.a. Professor X, because why not reunion? Anyway, Grey would meet the other previous students of the school. In order of appearance: Henry "Hank" McCoy a.k.a. Beast who would answer the door for her, Scott Summers a.k.a. Cyclops who's currently in a heated debate with Warren Kenneth Worthington III a.k.a. Angel, and Robert "Bobby" Drake a.k.a. Iceman who jus...
Post a Comment
Read more

"Remembering When You Were Mine" — A Mariah Carey Review Series: Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas, 1994 Carey's fourth studio album, released only a year after her biggest album Music Box , is a Christmas-themed album titled, well, Merry Christmas . The album is filled with classic Christmas carols and ballads, with three additional original songs completing the collection. Let's take a look. It starts with a serene take on "Silent Night," a song about the nativity story. Carey's take builds the song around the atmospheric soundscape from the production. It truly sounds as if you're listening to a biblical narrator singing about the story in the barn where Jesus Christ was born. Talk about a journey to the past. The album then continues to the next song, "All I Want for Christmas Is You." The first original composition here, this is a song that I believe so many people have already known even from the title alone. One of the most famous songs on Earth, and I can hear why. Cheerful production amidst an even more cheerful singing de...
Post a Comment
Read more

"Hold On to the Memories" — A Mariah Carey Review Series: Music Box

Music Box, 1993 We've come to this moment. A moment to wish for a dream lover to come and save us, to cherish our heroes if we can find them within us, and to be immersed in, strangely, sorrow. Opening song, "Dreamlover," is a lovely lowkey dance number with lyrics that are far fluffier than anything Carey has ever written up to that point. Her songwriting has grown to be softer and milder. Lines like "I want a lover who knows me, who understands how I'm feeling inside" and "baby, come on, take me away" come off as a bit surprising from the same woman who has delivered biting lyrics with the likes of "Someday," "Prisoner," and "You're So Cold." The next song, "Hero," is a ballad about self-esteem. You heard it right. The composition is very ordinary but manages to be effective in conveying the message. At one point, you can literally hear the sky turns bright after a cold dark night. Her voice also goes a...
Post a Comment
Read more