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About this_is_qhm from the Philippines: I love the intricate vocal harmonies only Mariah can make.

Re: Mariah the "actor" and "artist in the MTV era" (84,194) (84,204) by this_is_qhm from the Philippines That's because Mariah just wants to act but is not an actor at heart. She started as a singer who didn't really see acting as a goal until she made it big and realized the opportunities that were now available to her thanks to fame. To an actor at heart, there would be a much longer list of things that they are willing to do to further their acting career than the list that they would consider deal-breakers. Getting Mariah out of her comfort zone highly depends on how comfortable she is with the people she works with. She only agreed to de-glamorize herself for Lee Daniels. She would much rather work with the usual producers. She would rather look all made-up than just casual. She is a creature of habit who will clearly choose familiarity over new experiences any day. This works for her to some extent, but has also increasingly held her back in everything she does, especially acting. (Tuesday 2 October 2018; 09:02)

Re: Listening party (84,061) (84,068) by this_is_qhm from the Philippines No, just no, you will not be harassing Boy (I Need You) again. That song may be irritating to most but it is far from Mariah's worst. It still stands out from her catalog (for both the right and wrong reasons) and is a more interesting part in her discography than 15 failed attempts at recreating We Belong Together, haha. (Friday 28 September 2018; 14:38)

GTFO memes (83,817) by this_is_qhm from the Philippines One of the upsides of releasing a song with an explicit title and lyrical content is that it instantly becomes meme-worthy. Once GTFO came out, you just knew that a clip of her mouthing the words to the chorus would be snipped and edited into countless memes. Try searching #GTFO on social media. You'll see quite a lot of Mariah-related ones, especially depending on your search history as detected by algorithms. The memes range from really good to amusing to meh to even pathetic, but it's nice to know people care about the song and video enough to wanna perpetuate it even with something as ephemeral as memes. (Saturday 15 September 2018; 15:32)

Song's good, dat vid tho... (83,803) by this_is_qhm from the Philippines I know Mariah hasn't put a lot of effort in her videos since maybe Up Out My Face (hey, at least she was a round girl for Triumphant), but if we ever needed any confirmation that GTFO was only released to test the waters, this video is it. Gorgeously shot, flattering lighting, and Mariah looks her best in years, but just another compilation of vanity shots of her in (gasp) lingerie and (surprise, surprise) a glass of wine. At this point I swear she's probably just living out some frustrated dream of being a lingerie model. Her understanding of sexy always seems to be defined by how many articles of clothing she has left on. She looks stunning, but imagine how much classier and better this would have turned out to be had she rocked some haute couture in power bitch mode and forgot the alcohol instead, even in its same narrative-less state. Oh well. Song's still good though. Surprised it held the #2 spot for over 24 hours now. If it stays within the top 10 for at least 3 days, then we're probably gonna see her highest chart debut since 2013. (Friday 14 September 2018; 22:52)

GTFO (after repeated listening) (83,764) by this_is_qhm from the Philippines GTFO works because of its directness and relatability, but mostly due to contrast. The aggressive theme against the mellow, inviting background. The hateful repeated one-line chorus sung in a blase, almost nonchalant way. The way her rapid-fire delivery of the post-chorus stands out from the relaxed tempo. And of course the provocative title against Mariah's image as an artist. It is hot and cold at the same time without being warm, if you get what I mean. It sort of reminds me of Selena Gomez's Good For You in a way, with its simple, unremarkable melody that somehow sticks due to the great delivery. Mariah has never been the artist that resorts to shock tactics to catch everybody's attention and get the message through (and being suddenly willfully explicit doesn't exactly qualify as a shocking move especially by today's standards) but it's definitely interesting, even exciting to see her do this especially at this stage of her career. Call it desperate, but it's actually doing really well for a buzz track, especially one coming from a legacy artist. With her best standing on iTunes (worldwide) for a non-holiday song in years (with no guest feature), this strategy has played out well so far. But it's still early and we may very well just be giving Mariah and her team too much credit, at least for now. I guess we'll have to wait and see if this track has done its job well enough for its success to spill over to With You next month, which is its role anyway. Still, this has been the most press coverage her new music has gotten since 2013, so that's great. So fingers crossed, guys, and we might as well enjoy the music. (Friday 14 September 2018; 09:53)

GTFO (83,754) by this_is_qhm from the Philippines If it weren't for the ageism thing, Mariah in her current vocal state and singing style would be quite the hit. GTFO ticks all the right boxes when it comes to the current trends in the music industry: understated vocal performance, minimalist atmospheric production, more profanity than the song/theme actually warrants, an overall defensive and dismissive tone and vibe, blatant and unapologetic sampling - it should be a hit. Emphasis on "should". But because it's a sin for any artist to age, let alone a female one at that, and that any move she makes to keep her career afloat will always be met with criticisms of it being immature or desperate, it really is, in Lily Allen's words, "Hard out here for a bitch." Anyways, the song is good. It does just its job as a buzz single - a familiar re-introduction to Mariah that picks up right where I Don't left off but nothing more. That being said, the background works really well with Mariah's vocals, lending the whole thing an ethereal, hypnotic feel. There are 2 true victories here: 1) Mariah actually worked with a producer she hasn't worked with before and 2) even though GTFO can easily feel at home in either of her last proper studio albums, it somehow manages to be the freshest she has sounded since #Beautiful. This will tide me over until With You. (Friday 14 September 2018; 01:04)

Re: Introduction (83,653) (83,674) by this_is_qhm from the Philippines Then that makes you fully-briefed and ready for all the craziness in here. As you know, it is not for the onion-skinned or even the faint of heart. Haha. Welcome. (Wednesday 12 September 2018; 06:26)

Ariana Grande - Sweetener (83,405) by this_is_qhm from the Philippines Ariana has been wrongfully considered as "the next Mariah" since she broke out in 2013. Her debut album was solid and the closest to Mariah she has ever sounded, and she has struggled to shake off the comparisons by exploring new territory with her sophomore effort, which, in capturing the sound of 2014 Top 40 so perfectly, meant much of it was generic as hell. Dangerous Woman was the first true sign of her coming into her own as the Mariah comparisons started to die down a bit. With her uneven fourth album, maturity still sounds awkward on her, and it stands on the weird position between rehashing previous surefire formulae and wanting to move on to the next thing. Max Martin and his protege Ilya clearly know what makes a blockbuster hit, hence producing Sweetener's two official singles, while Pharrell Williams works his quirky experimental magic on half of the album. Some of it doesn't work, but most really do, and there are less instant single material than usual - probably only R.E.M. and Breathin are the strongest choices. Pharrell is the real star of the show here, laying his trademark unconventional melodies against even more unusual backdrops that involve irritating spoken word loops, breaths as beats, woozy drolls, among others. Successful and Borderline are the better results of this throw-everything-at-the-wall approach. Overall, Sweetener is nowhere near vital pop. Its greatest success, however, is that it further distances Ariana from Mariah that their really isn't any point of comparison anymore other than the vast vocal range of both women. Even the harmonies in songs like Better Off and Goodnight N Go are more Jhene Aiko or Janet Jackson than Mariah. What this really emphasizes, though, is that if we were to draw one last comparison between them, at 25 years old and five years in the business, Daydream was to Mimi is what Sweetener is to Ari, and this speaks volumes about the calibre of Mariah's artistry. Verdict: Competent, but a step down from Dangerous Woman. (Sunday 19 August 2018; 12:47)

Aretha (83,398) by this_is_qhm from the Philippines Rest in peace to the one and only Queen of Soul. When she meets George Michael in heaven, she would say, "I knew you were waiting for me." (Saturday 18 August 2018; 13:01)

Re: Demi Lovato is a complete idiot (83,309) (83,312) by this_is_qhm from the Philippines I wish addiction were as simple as mere impulses that one can control. If that were so then we would have more recovering addicts than addicts themselves. Sure, they should not have tried the damn thing in the first place let alone allow it to progress towards addiction, but the sad thing is that once they already are addicted and are on their way to supposed recovery, they will always be drawn to whatever substance they're addicted to. Self-control is still there, but the instinct of an addict takes over and they relapse. It it selfish, considering how much they affect the lives of those around them. And you're right, they make horrible role-models. With that being said, while I have never been an addict myself, I have seen what addiction does to a person and his/her family. Firsthand as my dad was an alcoholic, so I still sympathize with Demi to a certain extent. What I am not a fan of, though, is how the public reacts to these types of situations depending on who suffers from it. When it happens to be a celebrity, there's this overwhelming outpouring of support from pretty much everyone. But when it's ordinary people involved, then they are considered low-lives who got what they've bargained for. That's what pisses me off. (Monday 6 August 2018; 12:53)

Release strategy (83,304) by this_is_qhm from the Philippines I know many of us at this point are pretty much dying to know details about the new album and its first single, but I for one would not want her to release something unless she's gonna be truly commited towards promoting it, which is to say that there shouldn't be any other major projects on the line to distract her. It's not like she can't juggle multiple ventures and priorities at the same time and sure, she can use her current residency and upcoming tours/concerts to promote it (albeit to a limited audience per show) but I just feel like since she's taking years between releasing albums now, then she might as well prioritize each time she drops one to make it even more worthwhile. The general public slept on the last one, which was her best since TEOM and most entertaining since E=MC2, and this new album doesn't deserve the same response. I'd rather her start the single rollout next year as she seems to already have her plate full for what's left of 2018, not to mention Mariah season is fast approaching and they're probably focusing on how to push for AIWFCIY to chart even higher. What y'all think? (Sunday 5 August 2018; 15:45)

Re: A message for B (83,200) (83,205) by this_is_qhm from the Philippines I agree. The thing is, though, that she doesn't really need to come out and say it. Any observant fan would know the difference. The general public knows as well, although to a lesser extent. If she, despite living a more disciplined (i.e. more boring) lifestyle still does not help her sing better than she does now, then she just has to work around better ways to take advantage of what she currently has. The funny thing is that she already does these things - dropping key, rearranging, etc. - but just not as much as lipping. So if she were to lip, then she should go back to the recording booth, do a 2018 version of her vocals for the songs and use that. Lipping is practially a criminal offense for vocalists, but if she does it well and right like Celine has mastered better than her, she'll be fine. It's all about being convincing. If you're gonna sell something, you might as well sell it hard. It's still unfair to the fans who have paid their hard-earned money to see her, but it still beats jarringly shifting between 2018 and 90s/00s vocals anytime. (Saturday 21 July 2018; 05:19)

Re: Victoria (83,182) (83,184) by this_is_qhm from the Philippines Aww, adorable. How could I have been so blind? (I don't really check profiles than much.) (Friday 20 July 2018; 13:04)

Re: Andrew (83,177) (83,183) by this_is_qhm from the Philippines Look, Andrew is acquired taste. And even that is putting it mildly. You'd probably know more people who'd sooner warm up to marmite than to him. But we have learned to accept him as part of this dysfunctional family because he does bring some spice to this board. He does rub most the wrong way, but I personally would be lying if I don't find any truth at all in his posts. If there's anything I have learned on this board, it's that we may not always agree with each other but as much as we hate to admit it, we'd prefer it that way. I've seen the most devotedly positive people become more and more honest about their criticisms as time went by, and I should know because I'm one of them. It would be unrealistic for any fansite to constantly be a complete lovefest. Those are the types that don't last. This messageboard has existed for 2 decades now because our webmaster is considerate and open enough to let all types of Mariah fans in the spectrum to coexist in one space. If you don't like a (his) post, then just scroll through. (Friday 20 July 2018; 11:27)

Re: She uh have nice gowns - Aretha (83,089) (83,096) by this_is_qhm from the Philippines Yeah, I guess I get upset too. Haha. But yeah, that last thing you mentioned, that's actually one of the biggest reasons why her current state disappoints me so much. I think many of you don't know this, and I have mentioned it a few times on this board before - in our country (and in fact most of East and Southeast Asia) we are still pretty hardcore Mariah fans when it comes to loyalty and support, and that especially shows every time she releases new material. The Philippines and its neighboring countries are usually the first ones where Mariah hits #1. In our country, Mariah is just as revered as Celine (Whitney is too but just not to the same degree) to the point that she is still considered the ultimate (caps) vocal goddess, which explains why we have a lot of female singers who can pretty much mimic almost every run she does on her most difficult songs (see Lead The Way by Kyla or Jona or maybe Through the Rain or Never Too Far which I also assume they have done covers of). Regine Velasquez, Nina, Morisette Amon, the list goes on. They all can sing current day or even late 90s Mariah under the table when it comes to effortlessness, fluidity and power. Sure, they're younger and they will never really ever have Mariah's tone (though Kyla comes close to Mariah's breathy coos), but some of them, have been in the industry for a long time and still can sing like they have during their prime such as Regine (about the same age as Mariah and has been in the industry longer) and Kyla started in 2001 and still sounds exactly like she did back then. But I'm gonna say this again, these wannabes have nothing on Mariah in terms of overall musicianship, songwriting and most especially that unique vocal tone, but I fear that this won't be the case for the last one for long, especially not with her mostly forced, unpleasant or uncomfortable current sound. Couple that with her current lifestyle choices, ego and stubbornness and we have a recipe for an accelerated vocal decline. (Wednesday 11 July 2018; 23:06)

Re: Who's a singer? (83,078) (83,082) by this_is_qhm from the Philippines Exactly. My understanding of singing, as someone who has been a part of many choirs in the past, is that if you wanna sound good, no matter what environment you're in, then there's only one approach - give it your all, period. (Wednesday 11 July 2018; 14:36)

Re: She uh have nice gowns - Aretha (83,079) (83,081) by this_is_qhm from the Philippines I knaaaaw right? This woman is seriously bad at pretending. I mean if you're gonna use playback then at least record a version with your 2018 vocals where you can do countless retakes to perfection and then play that. Geez. The reason why this upsets many fans is because it's an insult to us - our intellect and our ability to listen. She seems completely unaware (or completely dismissive) of the fact that as such avid fans, we have learned pretty much every detail of her songs from playing them incessantly, as well as watched her perform them live in many shows and videos that we can easily tell if she's faking it or not. She always says that she does these performances for the fans. So realistically speaking, she mimes for the fans and charges them with amounts her star power warrants? I mean nobody's dragging anyone or holding a gun to their head to buy a ticket and see Mariah perform "live", but still, this is just unfair and quite frankly, insensitive and inconsiderate. And all we want is to see and listen to her, she who has inspired so many of us and still does. And to many of us that may be enough, but when it's show after show after show, then like, when is it gonna end? This issue is such an old dead horse that it there is no beating it anymore when it's already decomposed, and I know many of us are sick of seeing it time and again on this board, but it will always keep coming back for as long as Mariah keeps selling herself as someone who can still sing her hits like she used to. And for the record, no, I think nobody's expecting 90's vocals from her anymore. But at this point, we just want authenticity and truth, which apparently is too much to ask from her these days. There are ways to go about performing her songs that she can no longer reach - ways that she already does but sadly not as often as staccato singing or lazily just relying on playback: dropping key (Emotions), doing mashups and medleys (Heartbreaker/Love Hangover), rearranging (Thank God I Found You), incorporating elements from remix versions (My All), etc. Something, someone please help her remember that more than just the high notes; it's her unique tone that still keeps us wanting more of her, and she still has that in her lower register, so why not focus more on that? After all, "range" isn't just stratospheric. I really hope this is just a one-off and she tries to sing at least 5% of I Still Believe next time. It's a great thing that Mariah identifies herself as a songwriter first - she's still good at that, so at least there's an ounce of self-awareness there. P.S. We have reached a point where you can tell from the minimal audience response that they know what's real from what's not and therefore know how to act and applaud accordingly. Give your fans some credit, Mariah. (Wednesday 11 July 2018; 14:33)

Re: Criticizing Mariah / other divas and fans (83,043) (83,046) by this_is_qhm from the Philippines This is an interesting discussion. To me, Mariah seems to be held to a higher standard than other divas because she still chooses to put herself out there. She refuses to take long breaks and clearly loves to keep herself busy by making music and selling out shows and other high-profile media type ventures. She is a record-breaking workhorse and a perfectionist one at that especially in the studio. And as long as workhorses like her and Madonna enjoy basking in the limelight, they will always be subjected to criticism and comparison, much more so in the age of social media. Mariah will never be enough for the public, let alone her fans because of the towering success she's had and the impossibly high bar she set for herself which she continues to perpetuate by keeping up this facade that she can still sing as effortlessly as she used to. Even when she brought hip-pop to the mainstream, she still cannot earn half of Mary J's street cred. Despite writing almost all of her material, she still trails behind Whitney and Celine because 1) people still don't care much if you write your own stuff and 2) her catalog is overall edgier, less calculated, and less obviously geared towards the masses than the arguably schmaltzier material of those two. I guess having a voice of such unique tone and being able to sing in pitches less than 1% of singers can't reach is less appealing than having a naturally powerful, soulful, gospel voice or having lungs of steel and unusual belting stamina. It is unfair, but this is something that Mariah chooses to keep doing and there's nothing wrong with that - we just have to learn to accept that it's a double-edged sword. Plus she happens to have some of the world's worst critics as fans, so that brings us all here. It's messy and even harsh at times but we love everybody. (Monday 9 July 2018; 14:39)

Re: Mariah's voice (83,034) (83,039) by this_is_qhm from the Philippines Thanks for clarifying. This explains a whole lot especially with regards to the loss of the usual "open" quality of her voice. This is why she mostly sounds like she's forcing everything out of her lungs, compressing her voice and almost making her sound like she's singing with an accent that she did not have in the 90s. You'd think having an opera singer as a mom and having all the resources in the world would be able to help her improve her current vocal situation. So it basically boils down to self-discipline on Mariah's part. All the cups of honeyed teas, humidifiers, and checkups aren't there to offset a bad lifestyle of constant "splashes", stubbornness and late-night partying. (Monday 9 July 2018; 09:41)

Re: The endless gigging / The Butterfly Returns (83,026) (83,027) by this_is_qhm from the Philippines I think I wasn't clear enough. I did not mean her personal life. I meant messy performances onstage. Watch pretty much any performance she did in support of her final album. (Sunday 8 July 2018; 15:55)

The endless gigging / The Butterfly Returns (83,023) by this_is_qhm from the Philippines I guess the music alone doesn't sell as much anymore and so she finds performing more lucrative, even if it means having to do the same thing over and over again for the rest of the year. That's fine, I guess, but it seems like the more that she continues to do this, the more her voice sounds labored and forced, making the difference of her prerecorded and live tones more apparent, which ultimately makes her lipping less convincing. Has she ever watched herself sing? Especially like how she struggles for dear life when pushing herself to reach high notes? Because this is something that she never seems to learn when she mimes. You can't all of a sudden look relaxed and ecstatic on the climaxes after barely making it through the build-up. Lip-syncing is fine as long as you don't try to pull a Milli Vanilli, but the least you can do is make it as convincing as possible. And when you're Mariah Carey, the expectations are even higher. Being true to your current voice is one thing that I appreciate from Whitney. Even when her voice was at its worst and she pretty much made a mess of every performance onstage; even when disappointed fans were walking out of her final tour, she still owned her mess and refused to hide it. The Butterfly Returns seems like a step towards that direction. There's less reliance on playback than usual, leaving Mariah's now mostly razor sharp tone cut through the background music. Her voice continues to become more acquired taste than pleasant, but at least she's starting to show more of the real situation. And this is the best she's looked since the AI days. (Sunday 8 July 2018; 12:53)

Re: Studio singer? (82,933) (82,940) by this_is_qhm from the Philippines Great point. I also believe that Mariah has always been more of a studio singer than a live performer. Which is of course not to say that Mariah doesn't do well live, as have an overflowing arsenal of amazing performances especially from her prime that prove she deserves her legendary status. It boils down to individual differences. Whitney and Celine are better equipped as live belting workhorses, while Mariah is an inconsistently brilliant live performer who surpasses the former two in other aspects such as creativity, artistic instinct, songwriting abilities and versatility. Some people are physiologically more capable of doing 2-hour shows every other day and Mariah is not one of them. Plus, Mariah herself said it in an old interview to promote Rainbow - she has this bad habit of writing songs in a higher, more difficult key to sing in because to her it somehow "sounds better" that way. Which is of course alright when you're in a controlled environment that allows you to do countless retakes. The flipside of this is that she fails to consider the actual possibility of performing her songs live. I feel like that is why she always resorts to the same old songs on her setlist no matter how varied she promises it to be beforehand. It's less because of the fact that they're fan favorites or #1s but more likely because of her comfort level with performing such songs (mostly) live. We all know that Mariah has only become lazier as a performer throughout the years, relying more and more on theatrics, visuals and gimmicks that, while makes things more interesting, distracts from the true highlight of any Mariah show - the (now mostly prerecorded) voice. There's been so much smoke and mirror-tactics that she has employed in the last few years to varying degrees of success that it's become hard to ascertain whether or not she is still capable of pulling off an honest-to-god, fully live performance of any song that isn't VOL. But I guess that's what makes us fans, because at the end of the day, we still believe in her enough to never give up on her. (Friday 29 June 2018; 06:34)

Underneath The Stars (Smooth Harmonies Version) (82,920) by this_is_qhm from the Philippines Heard this yet? Smooth, intricate ethereal harmonies. Mariah at her true vocal peak. The perfect balance between levity and gravity. (Wednesday 27 June 2018; 12:35)

Re: Underneath the Stars/Fourth of July Mashup (82,916) (82,919) by this_is_qhm from the Philippines I have always listened to these songs back-to-back and is my favorite Mariah combo of all time. You're right. Sometimes I listen to Mariah's more recent lyrics and while they are still more relatable and honest that what she started writing during the beginning of her career (albeit have become progressively try-hard or even immature at times), I miss the poetic quality, that special thing that both of these songs overflow with. (Wednesday 27 June 2018; 12:08)

Re: Mariah and Britney... maybe? (82,866) (82,871) by this_is_qhm from the Philippines As long as Mariah willingly collaborates with another female artist that isn't a rapper then I'm all for it. Lover her or hate her, despite Britney's limited (nasal) vocal capabilities, she is still able to hold her own amongst the stronger, more musically talented competition because of her uniquely recognizable tone, even when severely autotuned. Like I said before, she is a good vocal actress and is the perfect muse for experimental producers. She knows her limits, never pushes too far, and even sounds quite alluring when she uses her voice well. Her last album was her most critically well-received outing since Blackout. Should there any be truth to this rumor, the next big question after "what will it be?" and "how will it sound?" will be "whose project will it officialy be on?" Mariah's? Britney's? Both? Neither? It could suck. It could sound fine. And it could also be a bop. Whatever it turns out to be, it's definitely something. One of the more interesting rumors in a while. (Tuesday 19 June 2018; 13:21)

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