The narrative of Mariah Carey’s latest album is a little difficult to follow. “Welcome to a day of my life,” she states at its front. This—and the disc’s (cringe-worthy) title—implies an exercise in autobiography, but while Carey reportedly maintains a happy home life with husband Nick Cannon, Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel’s main concerns are heartbreak and lies. “Betcha Gon’ Know (The Prologue)” details her discovery of her lover in bed with another woman, and many of the other songs revolve around broken hearts and plans for revenge.
The Details
But though the story is a bit confusing, sonically the work is quite consistent. Mostly crafted by Carey and producers The-Dream and Tricky Stewart, the tracks are crisp and fairly brisk, eschewing the cloying, saccharine tendencies of most contemporary R&B. And, as is typical of a Mariah Carey album, most of the singles pop. “Ribbon,” for example, is a hip-hop ballad with an unshakable down-tempo beat. “Obsessed” serves as a satisfying rebuke to Eminem’s disses—and is as infectious as recent Carey hits like “Touch My Body” to boot. Her cover of Foreigner’s “I Want to Know What Love Is” feels fairly pointless, however, especially since she doesn’t do much to reinvent it. Reinterpreting it as a banger, rather than a ballad, might have been an improvement.
In any case, Carey feels extremely engaged with her material. She reigns in her trademark melisma, as if aware that her fans are more interested in her emotions than her vocal skills these days. Although it’s difficult to tell what’s true and what’s fictional here, there’s never any doubting her sincerity.
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