E=MC2

As a hardcore Mariah Carey fan, I was so very excited for this album. I had been waiting for it ever since I finished listening to her fantastic 2005 comeback album "The Emancipation of Mimi". Mariah herself said that this new album would be the dessert to the main course that was TEOM. Unfortunately, that's not true. This album is such a departure for Mariah...it's vapid, soulless pop-n-b. The beats are run-of-the-mill, the lyrics are sophmoric, and all in all, each song sounds like it could have been done better by Beyoncé. This is the worst album in Mariah's discography. It finds her nearing 40 and yet still trying to desperately for fit in with young R&B singers in their 20s. Mariah can't be a Beyoncé, she can't be a Ciara, she can't be a Keyshia Cole. And why would she want to be? She's supposed to be a legend but this music is far from legendary. Not to mention, her voice is in tatters. Her once glorious voice is now breathy, brittle, and barely there.

If this were a Beyoncé album, I'd give it five stars. But this is music from a LEGEND. I'm disappointed.

Once again Mariah has come out with a record reflecting both her hardships, as well as lightening up with some 'fun' songs with little significance and nothing but a happy sound. And once again, she is incorporating strong R&B and Hip Hop elements, to reverberate her own music preferences.

She has been doing both since her deliverance from Sony amd all that came with it, but it is a shame that the quality of her music diminishes with these increasingly negligible lyrics ("I'm That Chick") and annoyingly untalented rappers.

The most blatant example is the track "Side Effects", featuring a rapper whose contribution should undoubtably have been kept to shouting "hey" and "ho" in the background, because that is what he does best.

By making such unwise choices, Mariah turns her album into one of those that require skipping WITHIN a song - and that is unnecessary.

For someone with so much talent and passion for music, she should focus on high quality rather than "a young sound" and strongly colloquial lyrics.

Nevertheless, I do like this album. "Migrate" is an excellent product of Mariah's attachment to "music for the clubs", "Stay in Love" is as close as she comes to ballads these days (successfully), and "Last Kiss" seems like a new "Always Be My Baby".

She is the old Mariah, she is the new Mariah, she's just herself and she is in her music.

All in all very enjoyable.

Okay, so I'm not going to do the whole spill on "Old Mariah, New Mariah".

We all know the old Mariah back in the 90's is gone.

"The Emancipation of Mimi", in my opinion was one of her best Cds....this however, is quite forgettable. I put it in my CD player once and rolled my eyes. I sold it back to FYE the next day. Mariah's music has, in my opinion, gone downhill. Mariah has a great gift, but she didn't use it on this cd. There's mabey 3 good songs on here, but that's about it. Not reccomended.

It's been a while, but Mariah's latest albumn was well worth the wait. The tunes are catchy and memorable and keep you wanting more. 2 of my favorites include "I'll be lovin U long time" and "Bye Bye". You won't be sorry if you buy this albumn, as the songs are even better the more you listen to them.

Let's start off by being completely honest in the fact that Mariah hasn't had a good album since Butterfly and her last great single was Heartbreaker. After that it was all downhill...the voice, the talent, the music. Again we are served up bland and boring R&B which is sooooo overplayed it is not even funny anymore. It is a shame because the ladies have been having a great year with excellent releases from Donna Summer, Janet Jackson, Madonna, Jewel, Leona Lewis and Alanis Morissette. Whitney, it is time for you to come back and retake the R&B throne from this poseur.