‘Emotions’ by Mariah Carey: a 30-year retrospective | Arts

0


[ad_1]

Mariah Carey is, and always has been, an artist with a well-defined philosophy. This philosophy, however, changed at one point in his career: after his separation from record company manager Tommy Mattola, Carey’s image and sound changed from the soulful and Christian turtlenecks of his early years. to hip-hop samples and sultry choreography. .

As above, so below: From the stratospheric transcendence of Carey’s high register to the earthy soul of his chest voice, Carey’s voice exhibits a characteristic dualism. Her voice acquires sublime and divine qualities (the high is as if she speaks in tongues, the low register as if she were a gospel soloist in a black church) when it is juxtaposed with the modesty at first sight of her premiere. period and bodily qualities ecstasy and rapture when juxtaposed with the overt sex appeal of his newfound freedom after his separation from Mottola.

Carey’s second album, “Emotions”, falls firmly into its first period. The pyrotechnics of his virtuoso voice are balanced by more conservative elements in his writing. As radical as its vocal range is, all of the songs on this album seem to be grounded in old guard musical grammar – gospel, soul, R&B and, in the consistency and control of its technique, even classic. (maybe it was in his blood – his mother studied opera at Juilliard). This base in tradition, associated with the freshness of its savage virtuosity, makes “Emotions” as seminal as its author. And because Carey insisted on having a hand so involved in every facet of her music – she wrote and produced almost every song – she can comfortably claim that title. Like the great pianist-composers of the 19th century, Carey wrote music perfectly suited to his instrument; each song seems to refract Mariah Carey in all its colors. Due to a combination of this instrument’s primacy and its early conservative bent, the album is much more interesting musically than lyrically.

“Emotions”, released in 1991, was Carey’s second album, and it more than sustained the star power catalyzed by his debut single “Visions of Love”. Just as Carey herself was the star of her self-titled album, the title track “Emotions” was – and still is – the clear star of it. The counterpoint between the funk aesthetic of bass and synthesizer and the classic R&B ethos of piano and percussion is certainly appealing and masterful in its own compositional right. That said, what makes this song so popular today (including its mythologization via the meme) is the same as what took it to the top of the charts in 1991: the insane rise of the highs just before the chorus. It’s a gesture that is repeated throughout the album and defines Carey’s artistry.

Other elements of the album, although potentially nostalgic for some, read as outdated. In “And Don’t You Remember”, the sonic color of the synthesizer, the use of the tambourine and the damp reverberation create an atmosphere whose forced nostalgia is hard to take seriously. That said, the control she exhibits in pushing the fullness of her chest voice through its full range to jump, in a jaw-dropping moment, to an increasingly high-pitched string of notes, gives the song a feeling. convincing of catharsis, if not just a jawbone. dropping of the technical feat. A similar atmosphere characterizes “Can’t Let Go”. This may be the result of Pavlovian conditioning via the ubiquity of ’90s pop music in grocery stores, but it is difficult to get past the initial aesthetic impression of both commodified and commodified music; even on first listen, it almost seems too familiar to enjoy it.

On the album’s fourth track, “… Make it Happen”, Carey sings “What if you get down on your knees at night / And pray to the Lord / He’ll make it happen.” This religiosity finds an echo, albeit in a latent way, in the musical atmosphere of the following piece, “If It’s Over”: the combination of the piano, the top hat and the choir gives the song a prayerful and gospel flavor. “You’re So Cold” is the album’s most interesting song in terms of narrative arc: the drama of the opening piano gesture and Carey’s powerful low register breaks into an upbeat dance, like a cavatina. and a cabaletta in the bel canto tradition, or the recitative and Mozartian air duo “In quali eccessi” and “Mi tradi”. This last comparison is appropriate when it comes to content: the songs of Carey and Mozart speak of the cruelty and coldness of the singer’s romantic partners. “So Blessed” expresses an opposite experience: it opens with “Lying near you / This joy is so deep. The fact that such diametrical views of love exist on the same album perhaps implies that Carey’s inventory is made up of common emotions and not lived experiences, but maybe it just betrays. the non-denominational conservatism that characterized much of the content of her music when involved in Mottola.

In the next track, “To Be Around You,” the powerful chesty vocals Carey used throughout the rest of the album takes a 30-second pause as she opens the song in a wispy, breathy tone, which she effortlessly alternates with her denser, huskier chest voice. Like layers of exquisite trifle adorned with gold leaf, the two vocal textures are punctuated by the otherworldly glow of her flute whistle tones, which she effortlessly jumps over. Carey’s panting tone softens further – an extraordinary vocal feat – in “Till the End of Time”, where he takes on an incredibly intimate, almost erotic quality; we can feel its breath on our skin as if it is whispering in our ears. The last track, “The Wind”, opens with a high-jazz piano improvisation. A full string orchestra and a singing top hat emerge to support a multiplicity of colors in Carey’s iconic voice. An original recomposition of a jazz instrument written 40 years earlier, Carey combines lush orchestration with lyrics about a friend killed in an accident. It’s both the most musically sophisticated song on the album and the most personal, though perhaps too sophisticated for some traditional pop sensibilities. Not all of the songs on the album were a hit – none as successful as the eponymous first track – but Carey, of course, shines on each one.

Acknowledgments: Special thanks to performer, musicologist and close friend Jamison Hillian of the Curtis Institute of Music for his historical guidance.

[ad_2]

Leave A Reply

Your email address will not be published.