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About Randy from USA: MC is my favorite artist of all time and I love her songwriting skills on her introspective songs. My favorite album: Butterfly. My favorite song: Right To Dream.

I'll shut up for now / my favorite things (57,454) by Randy from USA Andrew I hate beer and love liquor. And Bino and Lamb O Chop I have been screaming this stuff from the top of my lungs for ever, I'll move on. Do you guys think with all of this Christmas hoopla, she will record and finally release a cover of "My Favorite Things"? Maybe as a stand alone single or to go with her movie. She said a long time ago it was one of her favorite songs of all time. When she released MCIIY I just knew it would be on there. (Thursday 22 October 2015; 1:54)

I'm a broken record for live audio debates (57,434) by Randy from USA I thank everyone for their comments: good, bad and indifferent. I also thank the webmaster for posting my last message in its entirety. I read this board often and pay attention what people say. I have emailed a few of you back and forth and we've discussed how people on this board turn any criticism of MC turns into the criticizer being a hater. A lot of you don't understand how MCs music helps me through life. When I am feeling alone, I listen to Right To Dream, the saddest song ever written about having hope. When I am feeling devastated, I listen to Languishing, and wonder who is really there for me. When I'm feeling different, I listen to Outside. My All is one of the best love songs ever recorded. To me there is more emotion in that final hook than in Whitney's IWALY, Toni's UMH and Celine's MHWGO combined. I think lyrically MC is up there with Jewel, Sarah Mc, Lauryn Hill and other introspective songwriters. She deserves a lot of respect. But all the number ones in the world though can not make one a performer. So you all are ok with people saying, she's a studio singer? All the excuses in the world, divorces, nodules, sensitivity of voice, earpieces does not negate fact. When MCs voice changed and I heard her in 98, I figured that was her new sound and I went with it. So did she. Notice the full voice belts on SH, ISB, and WYB were lower and she sung all of them without lip syncing, live. But beginning with Rainbow she would struggle through the verses and then magically belt the high parts sounding exactly like the records. Was I the only one disgusted in 2003 when MC released one of the best songs of her career TTR, with no background vocals on the record, but whenever she performed it live there was a wall of background vocalists? Check out her AMA, Oprah, MTV performances. I paid to see her in Columbia MD in 2003 during the Charmbracelet show and she lip synced most of it. Who sings songs on record that can't be sung live? It infuriates me so much because I feel like I am the only fan looking behind the curtain at the Wizard of Oz and then I get beat up for doing so. MC will get millions of dollars to perform NYE. I can guarantee a lot of it will be lip synced. Where is that right for the best vocalist in the world? I have nothing but love for MC and could care less about the ensembles, the diva antics and other things most of you criticize as long as she walks on stage and kills it without lip syncing. She hasn't done that in awhile and gets a free pass. No wait a multi million dollar pass. (Wednesday 21 October 2015; 2:10)

I'm going to reply (57,403) by Randy from USA I normally don't reply on this board when I say something that is easily proveable and get called names, but this time I won't be silent. Someone brought up the Divas 98 topic and said that MC held back because she had class and Celine didn't which made my blood boil, so I responded. I didn't start this topic. I'm starting to realize maybe it's a misunderstanding of culture. Among black gay men on the East coast we argue our favorite divas like guys argue over who's the best on football teams. We have YouTube viewing sessions, we argue sales, relevancy and cultural impact. There are groups on Facebook like The Legends Panel designed specifically for these debates. When there's a spades (card game) party or an awards show, many of us gather and argue. I am a Mariah fan. Have been since the beginning and when we have these debates about Whitney, Beyonce, Patti, Aretha etc. The #1 thing agreed on by others, is that MC cannot perform live. When I argue differently, I am asked for receipts. Receipts mean proof. I have seen every American live televised performance by MC period. When my friends play certain years 1998-2015 of their divas, especially Patti, Aretha and Celine I am hard pressed to find a performance by MC that wows and does not have the full voice belt notes lipped. The Glitter performances of 01 and that impromptu for the fans backstage at Jimmy Fallon are my exceptions. Did you know that there are YouTube videos that go through note for note that she lip syncs based on whether she chose the album track to pull select notes from or a prerecorded vocal that she uses for multiple performance that matches the rasp in her live voice? Probably not. I think when you are a fan sometimes it's hard to objectively hear your artist. I wish Baby and Gino could sit with me in Atlanta one afternoon and go through MC performances. I have plenty of evidence that the voice went through something post 1996 and there's been a lot of smoke and mirrors to cover it up. And the whole argument about well it's 20 years later she can't sing like she used to? Check Patti Labelle singing You'll Never Walk Alone in 1983 at Motown's 25th and then 32 years later at Divas 2004. And Patti didn't start in 2004. But I hold onto that from 1990-1996 MC was quite something and even now she can write anyone under the table. But don't go there with me about live performances. (Tuesday 20 October 2015; 0:38)

VH1 Divas Live 1998 (57,382) by Randy from USA I was mortified when Celine went up against Aretha. I was like where is MC? People always say, well MC doesn't have a gospel background and she's a studio musician so she can't "show off" live. I called pox on all of that because listen to the "Jesus" chorus at then end of Jesus What A Wonderful Child on the Christmas album. That was MC going off and I loved it. All she had to do was replicate that and the audience would have been wow'ed. But only 4 years later, when Aretha called MC out and said help me lift him, MC vocals were strained. Celine stood up next to the queen of soul and matched her note for note. I was mortified as a MC fan. But I forgot, MC didn't get enough rest the night before, her earpiece monitor wasn't working, there wasn't enough humidity in the venue, she was sick, she was a last minute addition to the show, she was nervous, she was upset, you know the usual excuses for someone that is considered one of the greatest vocalists of all time. I will excuse MC for not singing well in 2015 but not in 1998. Which again begs the question that no one has answered, what happened between that Tokyo Dome Daydream performance (her best) in 96 and that Oprah 1997 performance that caused her voice to change dramatically forever? And don't attack me folks, do your research. (Monday 19 October 2015; 12:29)

I've always wondered (57,228) by Randy from USA What 1990 MC would think of 2015 MC? (Sunday 11 October 2015; 20:27)

5 Questions (really 10) (56,700) by Randy from USA Amazing topic but I would have to go tough and light: Tough questions: 1. What happened to your high full voice notes starting in 1997? 2. Why do you continuously sing songs on wax with high full voice notes that you cannot replicate live? 3. You are 45 years old, when will you stop collaborating with younger hip hop artists? 4. How long is your natural hair without extentions? 5. If you claim to be over the Tommy era of self-consciousness, why do you still claim to have a good side and need good lighting? Light questions 1. Who is dandelion, little sister and little brother in Petals? 2. Will we ever hear the song "Crave"? 3. You said you would remake "My Favorite Things" and put it on a Christmas album, you never put it on Merry Christmas II You, will we ever get to hear it? 4. Glitter is a masterpiece, were you told by your management to dismiss it as a soundtrack and a concept record during your Charmbracelet promotional tour because it didn't sell? Or do you not stand behind the record? 5. What would it take for you to collaborate with Walter A or Ben Marguilies again? (Wednesday 16 September 2015; 23:48)

Edward (56,064) by Randy from USA I listened to a few moments of the "remix" and turned it off. I often just feel she's not making music for me anymore. That's ok. But I do wonder who is she making it for beside herself? I wonder how long this eternally 12, goddess in a mermaid dress that makes music with current hip hop artists can last. Not to be ageist but will all this make sense in 5 years at age 50? I'm not saying she should be put out to pasture but what she's been doing since 2009 can't last. PS I miss our private email MC debates. (Saturday 15 August 2015; 16:38)

Mariah's fans (55,253) by Randy from USA We do have varying tastes lol. Paul you nearly killed me when you said Right To Dream is among her worst. That's my favorite song of all time. Lyrics are perfection and the voice was raw and unadorned. The Beautiful Ones is another fave of mine especially towards the end. MC has never drawn a song out damn near 7 minutes like that before and I love the outcome. I have to agree Boy I Need You is awful. Among my least favorites are: All In Your Mind (though the vocal is sick), To Be Around You, The Wind, Now That I Know, I've Been Thinking About You, Long Ago, Irresistable, Your Girl, I Wish You Knew, OOC, The Impossible, Dedicated. (Monday 13 July 2015; 22:56)

Lee / Mariah's blackness (54,986) by Randy from USA This is just my opinion. I think the black community doesn't embrace MC because she has never really come out and said she's black. My best friend explained that she doesn't look like Halle Berry, Faith Evans or Barack Obama the other mixed celebrities who are considered black. My other close friend said she remembered MC saying early on in her career, during an interview, that she wasn't black. I searched and could never find such an interview, however what I did find was MC in 1991 at the Soul Train Music Awards winning an award and thanking the black community for embracing her. She has separated herself by holding onto the label biracial. Racist America has never had a biracial pre Civil Rights Era, everyone who had any black heritage was just that, black. MC should embrace all of her races. The final nail in the coffin, in my humble opinion, is while she has soul, Mariah's achilles heel is always going to be her live performances. If she "showed off" more like a Patti, Whitney, Chaka Khan, instead of standing still and singing the songs like the record and in some cases lip syncing the high full voice belts, she would have gotten a lot more respect from the black community as a vocalist because of the impromptu belting, scatting, riffs and runs that go along with singing live R&B and Gospel. I don't want to argue with anyone, this is my humble opinion. I answered a question and did not attack MC. It's sad that I have to end with a disclaimer to post here. (Tuesday 30 June 2015; 19:33)

Clueeey and Giovanni (54,662) by Randy from USA You need proof of vocal deterioration? Watch Mariah sing Vision Of Love after "the answer that heaven has sent down to me" until the end in 1995 at Madison Square Garden then go three short years and watch it become an epic fail at The View in 1998. Then watch it become an embarrassment at 2003 Shining Through The Rain and then watch it become a laborous strain to prove the point she still has a voice in 2005 at BET's Blueprint. All of these are on YouTube. Need proof of lip syncing? I have plenty of those. No one thinks it's odd she refuses to have anyone but the engineer in the room when she records her vocals? Delusion is very real on this board and it's getting old. By the way, before the nasty messages start, I'm not calling you two delusional. I don't know you as people to make that judgment. (Tuesday 16 June 2015; 5:43)

Special K (54,579) by Randy from USA Firstly, welcome back dahling. Your presence has been missed. You hit it right on the head. When MC performs at these awards shows and she is known for her voice, it is embarrassing how other female singers come up and look comfortable and blow. And don't give me that MC songs are hard to sing, or how long MC has been performing. (Friday 12 June 2015; 14:57)

B on behalf of those you call negative (54,453) by Randy from USA I never said MC needs to lose weight. That's a battle no one wins. Oprah has given up, Kelly Clarkson has given up and even I have gained a ton of weight since my breakup in May of 2013. My last post was a simple logical question: if Mariah is straining to hit notes and sounds incredibly cringeworthy at times, and she is 45 years old with 25 years in the game, shouldn't she take a break or start singing songs that are simple like Right To Dream or Languishing because she has 25 years more to go before she is Patti's and Aretha's age. What will she sound like then at the current rate of deterioration and difficulty? I don't think that's disrespectful or negative. I have gone through many emotions with MC over the years. I have been enamored, at times indifferent, a few years ago post GMA Touch My Body I was furious with her. These days it's worse. I look at LA Reid and JD's comments. I look at her live performances. I look at her personal relationships. I look at the music and videos she's putting out and I feel worst than anger. I feel pity. And if you guys want to know why myself, Andrew or whosoever you all think are critical of her it is because everyonce in a while there's a distant glimmer of hope. We all love MC and she has impacted our lives tremendously but to see her legacy being threatened due to very poor choices, we feel we have to speak up. P.S thanks for the compliment. (Tuesday 9 June 2015; 18:32)

B (54,421) by Randy from USA I don't address others in my posts. I don't insult MC in my posts. I ask logical questions based on what I see. Calling me a goat is an insult and I deserve an apology. (Tuesday 9 June 2015; 7:10)

Fan colored glasses (54,332) by Randy from USA I love MC. But parts of that Walmart performance was dreadful. Especially ABMB. I wonder how many of these recent performances do we think are good because she's better than Rockefeller and Christmas debacles or because she's created new backing track adlibs to match the current raspiness of her voice rather than singing to the adlibs of the original record. I had a dude laying next to me (don't ask) when I played the performance and he wasn't paying it any attention. He said "Ooooh she sounds like she's messing up." This is not about MC sounding like 1990-1997. Sometimes her full voice isn't even pleasant to listen to when she performs live. How does a woman who is primarily known for her voice explain this? She's been beating it through everyone's head that she's a songwriter for the last several years and I think it's an attempt at moving the attention away from her being a singer. No one expects her to sound like old MC but can she sound less cringeworthy? She needs a break from live performing because if she is going to continue to decline, she won't have anything left when she's Patti, Aretha, Chaka and Glady's' age. I really feel bad for her. (Sunday 7 June 2015; 17:55)

Crowded rooms, so alone (54,283) by Randy from USA If anything, this whole Morgan debacle shows that MC is truly alone. Look at her brother and sister. Her and her mother don't seem that close. Her husband is gone and all that's left is her kids. I feel bad about her family situation. And you can't make fans and backup singers your family. They'll turn on you quicker than family. I feel bad for her. (Saturday 6 June 2015; 18:37)

Morgan (54,110) by Randy from USA Have you guys read what he just told the National Enquirer? I thought they were close. (Wednesday 3 June 2015; 17:16)

No new music for awhile? (53,984) by Randy from USA In all of our petty arguing over nothing, have we not noticed that the first thing MC did on Epic was a compilation album and now they are re-releasing Merry Christmas and then LA Reid talked about a covers album? We waited 5 years for MIAMTEC and unlike many of you, I wasn't impressed. Do you think LA Reid is nervous about creating a studio album and therefore hesitating with all this other "stuff"? (Monday 1 June 2015; 2:04)

Infinity booklet (53,743) by Randy from USA I bought the single but I'm not buying a compilation album since I have all her albums. Where can I view what she wrote about each #1 inside of the booklet? (Sunday 24 May 2015; 15:25)

Mariah live (53,710) by Randy from USA She's singing. Is it perfect? No. But she has been looking professional and less nervous than usual. On Live with Kelly & Michael she sounds amazing. Now I could nit pick a lot by saying she's singing along with her pre-recorded voice or the jury's still out whether she's singing that one dramatic part on Infinity where the music is quiet. But she's really working to restore our confidence in her vocal abilities and I'm impressed and am holding my head up higher as a fan. (Saturday 23 May 2015; 13:40)

BBMA (53,439) by Randy from USA I gotta give it to MC. That's how you perform when you've lost your voice. No one knows whether you were singing or not because there are so many voices in the background between your singers and you and your prerecorded track lol. I think she sang 75% of it live. Notice there was a break between the full voice belt and the false note but her mouth was still open, yet only I would nitpick. To the general public she sounded aamzing and I guess that's all that mattered. (Monday 18 May 2015; 3:06)

This is a futile undertaking (53,403) by Randy from USA Abraham, Jake, B and whoever else, I could invite all of you over my house for a day of YouTube year to year comparisons. Then it would make sense. It's difficult to argue live performances when you're confined to words. On a side note why was MC looking at the audience with a help me look instead of outsinging Whitney B? I'm giving up on this argument because I can't defend my position as I would like due to the limitations of this board and our distances. But if you are ever in Atlanta, I could show you what I mean. I'm not one to offer generalizing, sweeping statements if I don't have evidence. I'm going to just wait and see what happens this week. P.S. I am glad you all live in cities and have friends that are all pro MC and don't ridicule her when she sounds bad. As an MC fan things are hard for me in the A. (Sunday 17 May 2015; 1:59)

Abraham and others (53,392) by Randy from USA Whitney's voice after 94 was shot? Look at her Divas 99 or Arista's 25th performances. And let's not forget she murdered MC at the Oscars in 99. Crackhead or not, I wasn't cringing whenever she stepped on stage. And the only reason I hold out any hope for MC live anymore is because of the Jimmy Fallon impromptu performance which shut me and some of my MC bashing friends up. So let me ask you this, what is it that whenever on TV she can't do what she can do in front of fans alone? Because you got me hot. Name one performance where she got a standing ovation and there was no lip syncing? Have you noticed that "My All" and "Through the Rain" have no background singers on the song but whenever she performed either she had a wall of background singers? MC is many great things: songwriter, vocalist on wax, beautiful, classy, smart, great producer. Where she lacks for a diva of her caliber is "live performer at least where it counts. Watch what happens this week at Billboard, Jimmy and Kelly and Michael and we will see. I want to be wrong here but if history is on my side, I don't think I will be. (Saturday 16 May 2015; 22:28)

Ty (53,387) by Randy from USA I thank you for not beating me up and having actual evidence of your argument. Now sit with a Whitney fan or a Patti fan and go performance for performance on YouTube and watch how underwhelming MC is live. The first time I did it I was very embarrassed. I think sometimes as fan we tend to be unaware because of our intense love for our artist. (Saturday 16 May 2015; 20:20)

Nervous (53,378) by Randy from USA I don't care how well MC has done at her concerts, there's something about awards shows where she falls apart or lip syncs. Especially if she opens. As usual, I hope this time will be different. But it almost never is. And before you all attack me, remember that out of all my friends, I am the only MC fan. Everyone else are Patti Labelle or Whitney Houston fans who were masters of live performing. Whereas their music lacked. MC is a master of music but live performances, mostly after Oprah 1997 except in a few cases, have been mediocre at best. (Saturday 16 May 2015; 17:05)

The Mail article (53,156) by Randy from USA It's the first article in years I have read about her where I learned things I didn't know. That's the problem with being a fan. That was an amazingly heartbreaking piece and now I feel bad about being so critical of her. (Saturday 9 May 2015; 18:09)

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