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Re: Toni Braxton (101,148) (101,174) by BFF from United States I love Toni's later albums as well. She's definitely maintained a commitment to classy adult-oriented R&B. I really thought the "Pulse" album was slept on - "If I Have to Wait" and "Why Don't You Love Me" are really great ballads. Ditto for songs like "Please" and "I Wanna be Your Baby" on "Libra". "The Heat" also has some fun album and lesser known songs that didn't get the attention they deserve - that "Spanish Guitar" (H2Q Club Mix) is one of my favorites to have on when I'm running. (Saturday 10 September 2022; 16:41)

Re: The Ballads compilation (101,143) (101,145) by BFF from United States Seal's first two records are two of my absolute favorites. I love the first album because it combines so many different styles of music - electronic, alternative, blues. There's a live version of "Whirlpool" on the Killer EP from 1991 that is absolutely brilliant. And as much as I hate Mariah's being snubbed at the 1996 Grammys, I think the Grammys were justified in giving Record of the Year to Seal over Mariah/Boyz II Men. I've seen him twice in concert, and both times he was absolutely fantastic. (Monday 5 September 2022; 21:45)

Re: The Ballads compilation (101,136) (101,142) by BFF from United States Toni's house remixes with David Morales and Frankie Knuckles are definitely worth a listen. The remixes of "Unbreak My Heart", "Spanish Guitar", "I Don't Want to", and "You're Makin' Me High" are fantastic. I'm also a big fan of Seal generally and many of the remixes of his 90s and early 00s stuff. (Monday 5 September 2022; 13:53)

Re: The Ballads compilation (101,131) (101,132) by BFF from United States Oh yes. The Remixes could have been so much better. Disc 2 in particular really messed up by including "Sweetheart", "Crybaby", "Breakdown", and "Loverboy (remix)". None of those tracks are remixes, including "Loverboy" which was just extra rappers inserted into the original version. Also a complete mystery why that version was the first track on the "Glitter" album. And I would have loved to see more deep cuts on "The Ballads". All of the songs you mentioned would have been great. I think my ideal track listing (if they were sticking with singles releases) would have been: 1. Vision of Love 2. Love Takes Time 3. Can't Let Go 4. I'll Be There 5. Hero 6. Without You 7. Anytime You Need A Friend 8. Never Forget You 9. Endless Love (with Luther Vandross) 10. One Sweet Day (with Boyz II Men) 11. Forever 12. Butterfly 13. My All 14. I Still Believe 15. Whenever You Call (with Brian McKnight) 16. When You Believe (with Whitney Houston) 17. Can't Take That Away 18. Thank God I Found You (original) 19. Never Too Far I think Toni Braxton should have also released a compilation like this. I could listen to her ballads all day. Probably my second favorite "diva" after MC. (Saturday 3 September 2022; 14:21)

The Ballads compilation (101,130) by BFF from United States I always enjoy listening to this compilation but think the track listing could have been improved a bit. I would have loved to see "Never Forget You", "Forever", "Butterfly", "Whenever You Call (with Brian McKnight)","Can't Take that Away", "Thank God I Found You (original)" and "Never Too Far" included. Some of the songs included didn't really fit the theme IMO. "The Roof", "Dreamlover", "Always Be My Baby", and "TGIFY (Remix)" are all great but aren't really "ballads". And I have no idea why "How Much" and "Reflections" were on there instead of better songs from their respective albums. (Saturday 3 September 2022; 05:00)

Re: Butterfly 25 (101,085) (101,095) by BFF from United States I've always wanted to hear Mariah's original versions of "Last Chance", "Don't Go Looking for Love", "After", "Make You Happy", and "Head Over Heel,," so I hope this information is legit! (Monday 29 August 2022; 19:53)

Re: Article: Mariah Carey wants to trademark "Queen of Christmas" (100,986) (101,016) by BFF from United States Very tacky but unsurprising that she's doing this. Like others have already said, she is looking for non-music revenue streams because her voice is shot and any new music she records will be virtually unlistenable or heavily reliant on pro-tools. It fits into the pattern of endorsement/business deals like "Mariah's Cookies" (if you look this up, the reviews for it are absolutely terrible), the "Mariah Menu" at McDonalds, the perfume, Hostel World, et cetera. There was a glimmer of hope for her music career in 2013 when "#Beautiful" came out and maybe again with "Caution" in 2018, but these just seem to be minor successes in a pattern of steady decline that really started with "E=MC2". The Vegas residencies were an opportunity for her to develop some needed discipline around performing, but that obviously came to an abrupt end. (Monday 22 August 2022; 17:23)

Re: Trey Lorenz (100,974) (100,976) by BFF from United States I love his debut album! I think it's a travesty that he did not become more popular on the strength of that album. (Sunday 14 August 2022; 23:47)

Re: Is something going on? (100,936) (100,938) by BFF from United States My honest opinion is that she needs to give up alcohol completely, especially because she has a diagnosis of bipolar II disorder. Giving up alcohol would greatly help with the severity of her psychiatric diagnosis and would also considerably cut the amount of residual sugar she is consuming. Alcohol use is generally discouraged for people with a BP diagnosis, and it surely cannot help to mix it with whatever medication she is taking. (Monday 8 August 2022; 19:15)

Re: Is something going on? (100,917) (100,927) by BFF from United States My guess is that it's related to a combination of things: poor diet, lack of exercise, lack of quality sleep or irregular sleep schedule, and alcohol consumption. Mariah has a tendency to cycle in and out of crash dieting as well, so I'm sure that has a negative impact on her metabolism. (Sunday 7 August 2022; 16:05)

Re: MC hurry up (100,890) (100,892) by BFF from United States Oh, yes. Diane needs to catch up to artists who are "pioneering" the "innovative" practice of appropriating ideas from other song rather than coming up with their own song ideas and *gasp* actually composing on piano or other live instruments! How dare Diane upset empress Beyonce's army of sheep? True innovators outsource their songwriting to committees of 24 people. (Wednesday 3 August 2022; 21:25)

Re: MC hurry up (100,869) (100,882) by BFF from United States And now we have the BeyHive big mad because Diane Warren asked a simple question: "How do you have 24 writers on one song?" This question pretty much summarizes my opinion of most of Beyonce's musical output. If you have to borrow this much from other people, why not just release an album of cover songs? (Tuesday 2 August 2022; 20:09)

Re:#Butterfly25 (100,870) (100,877) by BFF from United States I'm definitely against any re-recordings of tracks from the "Butterfly" album. No need to mess with perfection. Before the MC#30 campaign, I would have advocated for a "Deluxe Version" release of the album with remixes and alternate versions like Fly Away (Butterfly Reprise) (Def B' Fly Mix) or The Roof (Morales Funky Club Mix) or even including the extended "remix" versions of Honey (Bad Boy), Breakdown (Mo Thugs), and The Roof (Mobb Deep). The guest features worked well on those songs and probably should have been the "album" versions. But releasing a "Deluxe" version would be kind of pointless now with all of the EPs available on Apple Music. I wouldn't mind a full-length concert release of one of the tour stops from the "Butterfly" Tour. But I'm not sure there's much of anything from this era that would be a big surprise if released. (Monday 1 August 2022; 22:37)

Re: MC hurry up (100,867) (100,868) by BFF from United States Beyonce's best solo album was the "B'Day" album, but she always worked better in the context of Destiny's Child. She's always felt pretty mediocre to me and likes to repurpose ideas from other artists and present them as if they are her own or as if she was the first person to think of them. Her albums and the accompanying visuals always come off way too carefully curated to the point where appears to be a blank canvas for producers/writers/musicians to paint their ideas onto. And everything has to be this overwrought political statement. It's like... lighten up. You're not some political revolutionary. You're a rich pop singer insulated from the problems of the vast majority of people. And yet the mainstream media outlets literally write about her as if she's Nelson Mandela or Martin Luther King, Jr. (Sunday 31 July 2022; 15:21)

Re: MC hurry up (100,856) (100,857) by BFF from United States I am doubtful about the amount of "effort" that Beyonce puts into her albums considering most of her songs have closer to ten writers credited. Her production company clearly hires committees of tastemakers to write the lyrics and melodies and then they take the finished product to Beyonce, she changes a word or phrase here and there, and then takes a writing credit for something she had little to no involvement with. Ne-Yo confirmed this back in the mid 2000s when he questioned why Beyonce was credited as a writer on "Irreplaceable" from the "B'Day" album. She was even sued by Des'ree's publishing company for her shameless rip off of "Kissing You" for the "B'Day" album. You can't simply retitle the song "Still In Love" and expect "Des'ree" to be too stupid to notice this. As far as I'm concerned, Kelis has every right to go after Beyonce for not even bothering to ask permission. Beyonce is a serial and repeat offender when it comes to plagiarism and is enabled by people like Pharrell, who swindled Kelis out of revenue for her most popular songs. And the way she's being praised for incorporating gay ball culture into her visuals as if that hasn't been done over and over by other artists is pretty rich. But I'm sure her production company paid every mainstream media outlet handsomely to praise her album no matter how mediocre the product is. (Saturday 30 July 2022; 22:37)

Re: What sank Charmbracelet? (100,807) (100,824) by BFF from United States The vocals on the album were very poor quality in my opinion; I find most of the album unlistenable due to this. The only song on the album where she sounds vocally strong is "Bringing on the Heartbreak". I liked a lot of the lyrical content and some of the production choices on the album, but the vocals were just not cutting it. The songs and the album itself were too long, she probably should've cut it to 12 songs. I could've lived without "Boy (I Need You)" and "You Got Me". She also just didn't take enough time off between "Glitter" and this album. I don't think fans would have blamed her. The bright spots of this period were the tour and the fact that she looked really healthy, fit, and confident - especially in 2003 during the tour. She seemed to be taking much better care of herself than during the 1997-2001 period. She was really energetic during the tour performances, moved around a lot, and sounded pretty good vocally. (Monday 25 July 2022; 19:01)

Re: Thoughts: which album do you think MC dislikes (100,804) (100,806) by BFF from United States I totally agree. And the "Rainbow" era, despite not being her best album output, was really a lot of fun. She seemed pretty carefree and happy. The tour was a lot of fun. And I liked that her style was super casual. (Sunday 24 July 2022; 15:41)

Re: Thoughts: which album do you think MC dislikes (100,754) (100,801) by BFF from United States If I were Mariah, I'd probably say "Rainbow" for her Sony period. That record had some good songs on it, but it just did not work as an album. Plus she even admitted that it was her "get me off of this record label" album. Aside from "Heartbreaker", "Thank God I Found You", "Crybaby", "Petals", and "Can't Take That Away", most of the songs are pretty forgettable. I could also see her not liking the debut either. The production was just all over the place and rendered her pretty anonymous on most of the songs. There was such a vast improvement from that record to "Emotions". I still cannot fathom how "Emotions" did not sell better and how it didn't get rave reviews. Easily my second favorite album after "Butterfly". In terms of post-"Glitter" records, I would bet "E=MC2". That is definitely my least favorite Mariah album. It seemed pretty evident that the only goal for that it was to recreate the success of the previous one. (Sunday 24 July 2022; 02:04)

Re: Walter (100,779) (100,787) by BFF from United States Walter A is an evil man who ruined Mariah's life by helping her write great songs. How dare he! Mariah needs someone to buy her a chaise lounge to faint on from the burden of having to share writing credits with someone so terrible. (Thursday 21 July 2022; 21:50)

Re: What's on your MC rotation these days? (100,564) (100,570) by BFF from United States The "Emotions" album has been in heavy rotation for me recently. There's something very unique about it in the context of Mariah's catalogue. She took full creative control for the first time, but it was before the marriage to Tommy left her jaded and cynical. She was pursuing her vision, but that pursuit was not necessarily about "rebelling" in the way that it was in the late 1990s. I love the blending of gospel ("Make it Happen"), disco ("Emotions"), old school soul ("If It's Over"), house ("You're So Cold"), and jazz ("The Wind"). There isn't a weak track on the entire album, and it's borderline tied for first place with "Butterfly" as my favorite Mariah album. (Saturday 25 June 2022; 00:51)

Re: Songwriters speech (100,475) (100,476) by BFF from United States It's absurd that a 53-year-old adult behaves like this but then in the next breath complains about "not being taken seriously as a songwriter". (Friday 17 June 2022; 17:47)

Re: Collaborations (100,427) (100,441) by BFF from United States We unfortunately have to accept that we will never see the quality we grew accustomed to during Mariah's 1990s heyday. We've seen glimmers of it, but she's just not disciplined enough to pull off anything like did she with albums like "Butterfly" or "Emotions". She hasn't taken very good care of her voice since the late 90s/early 00s, and the lengthy recording processes for the post-Glitter albums has often not been in proportion to the quality of the finished product. (Monday 13 June 2022; 17:24)

Re: AIWFCIY (100,387) (100,397) by BFF from United States Unfortunately, there is a chance that she may have to pay something to this writer. There are enough similarities between the two songs. Sam Smith had to give Tom Petty a writing credit on "Stay with Me" for similarities between that song and "I Won't Back Down". Just for the record, I don't think Mariah should have to give the writer anything because thematically it's very hard to not see similarities between Christmas songs (and, really, popular songs in general). I'm just coming from the perspective of thinking how a judge will interpret the situation. (Sunday 5 June 2022; 23:00)

More Rarities (vol. 2) (100,336) by BFF from United States Songs that should be considered for inclusion if she does another set of unreleased material. For a few, I'm speculating that she cut her own version of songs she gave to (or wrote with) other artists. 1. I Lose Control 2. Help Me Find a Way to Your Heart 3. Someone to Hold 4. Always in Love 5. Dreamlover (Dave Hall Original Mix) 6. Just Be Good to Me 7. Make You Happy 8. Head Over Heels 9. Last Chance 10. After 11. Don't Go Looking for Love 12. Do You Know Where You're Going To? 13. Where Are You Christmas 14. There for Me 15. Turn You Loose (Lillie's Blues) 16. There Goes My Heart 17. Reach for the Sky 18. I Feel It 19. Right to Dream 20. Help Me Make it Through the Night 21. Don't Explain 22. Runway (Friday 27 May 2022; 23:20)

Re: Wish/Could've beens list #1s (98,684) (98,693) by BFF from United States That's a good point, but "Butterfly" had more crossover appeal than "Candle in the Wind" due to the "Fly Away (Butterfly Reprise)" house mixes and received more airplay than the Elton John song. "Candle in the Wind '97" sold a lot, but I don't remember it being particularly popular on the radio. It only peaked at #32 on the Mainstream Top 40 chart. "Butterfly" went to #14 on that chart based on airplay alone, and peaked at #16 on the Hot 100 Airplay Chart. I think Mariah could have had a shot at #1 even against "Candle in the Wind 97". To this day, I find it very frustrating that "Butterfly" never got an official release. It's one of her signature ballads and really deserved the recognition. (Sunday 3 October 2021; 16:31)

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