Review 1 of 11

stendu writes:

5of 5 Stars

All I want to say is...looking back 3 years later Mr. Walters must still have his foot in his mouth over this rediculous review. Nothing makes me shake my head more then the statement made in the review, "There aren't any great songs among Mimi's club tunes and pop-chart-conscious tracks". Let's see 2 #1's and "We Belong Together" becomes Mariah's biggest single of her career spending 14 weeks at #1. Can't wait to see what the review for E=MC2 has to say. Let's not make the same mistake twice!

Mar 13, 2008 22:20:49

Review 2 of 11

charliemapleton writes:

5of 5 Stars

She was a talented,inner city sweetheart- dressed in black,destined for stardom and prosperity in the music business.She crafted the most illustrious albums,from her 1990 self-titled debut,to "Daydream",to "Rainbow",and then on.Somehow,the ever-pesky rumors and speculations came into play of her success,nearly blindsiding her many claims to fame.Up until this point,she let it firmly settle in the dust in April 2005.That woman happens to be Mariah Carey,promptly releasing her most sensational,autobiographical masterpiece"The Emanciapation Of Mimi".The first single,"It's Like That",is real livening,Saturday night hotsteppin' not willing to miss a beat whatsoever.So So Def's Svengali and occasional collaborator Jermaine Dupri gets icing on the cake-sprinkling feel-good ad libs and beats all about."We Belong Together" is an ideal ballad regarding being commited to and loving the one you're with(I feel you Luther!)-PERMANENTLY!"You Should Be Mine" is crystal clear and one of the most soulful showstoppers Mariah has ever released."Say Somethin'" is dynamite,vintage 80's r&b(thanks to The Neptunes) featuring Snoop Dogg.Their chemistry is an everlasting glow that beams throught the whole collabo."Circles" is playful,decent soul with "Mimi" letting her solid,five-octave range flutter and dig deep within itself."Shake It Off",another Jermaine Dupri production,is sly but bouncy-with its ooh-oohs,Usher-like harmony-belting flow,and of course "Forget you" dis towards an unfaithful mate.The stellar "I Wish You Knew" is Mariah assuring her audience she has made it through the storm,shining in the brightest way ever."Your Girl" is Mariah displaying a form of seduction-seen from but never barely heard from before.Whatever the outcome,her message is basically "Expect the unexpected".The songstress also known as Honey B. Fly goes to show that life is once again a bowl of cherries-leave the pits behind for the sceptics and speculators.

Oct 4, 2006 16:37:55

Review 3 of 11

Boiddiva02 writes:

4of 5 Stars

At long last... It's the Mariah Carey i know and love. a confidant singer and song-writer whose voice outshines just about everyone around her. This album is definetly the best album Mariah has made in her entire career and is the defining moment of her career. She has a comeback and success that in typical mariah fashion is unlike anything anyone else in the world has done.

Vocally she is back on top of her game with tracks like "We Belong Together" which requires Mariah to transition between different types of singing and the hypnotic "Say Something" gets me jumping all over the place.

However Mariah still suffers from one thing, lyrics that do not make any sense at all. On the song "It's Like That" she compares chicken to ash and lotion with the lyric "them chickens is ash and i'm lotion" not entirely sure what that is supposed to mean?

Overall this is a unusually good R&B album that makes good use of both Mariah's R&B and Pop backgrounds.

Sep 7, 2006 15:37:09

Review 4 of 11

RicanGLV14 writes:

4of 5 Stars

The voice is finally back! But for some reason, "The Voice" isn't neccasarily back. It seems as though she's taking a break. A hell of a long break.

To start with, THE EMANCIPATION OF MIMI is a better album than Charmbracelet and the most cliche' MERRY CHRISTMAS. Although, that's when Mariah had "The Real Voice." Now, Mariah just has "The Voice."
The first cut "It's Like That" really sets that Mariah doesn't care what anyone says about her. Now that she has her own label, why should she? The #1 "We Belong Together" and "Shake it Off" is really upbeat and beautiful but for some reason, they're actually not the best tracks on the album. Ballads like "Mine Again" and "Circles" are so emotional that you actually fall in love with them the minute you hear them. While the so called live "I wish you Knew" does soar into the high, it does really sound cliche' that it's enough to say that Mariah was pretty exaggerating with the audience on the track. She could've at least really snag it live and recorded it, then put it on the album. But with the fake crowd, the track is not fun to hear.
The ballads aside, "Get your Number" features Jermaine Dupri and is possibly the best upbeat track on the album(next to the Kanye West's "Stay the Night)and relatively close to "Say Somethin'." The vibe on these two tracks are amazing and they really make you wanna shake your money maker.
With the gospel like "Fly like a Bird" Mariah really can be a preacher. She does have it in her and it's the best way to end an album. While "Joy Ride" is the second best vocalized track on the album, it doesn't beat any other ballad to the floor. It's just as bad as "To the Floor" just ballad like and more vocalized.
THE EMANCIPATION OF MIMI is one of the best albums Mariah has made and as she keeps on going, she'll get even better.

Aug 19, 2006 20:12:18

Review 5 of 11

vtmc writes:

3of 5 Stars

This is one of Mariah's better albums! Certainly not as good as daydream or Butterfly but it is nontheless a solid effort! The album flows naturally delivering a remarkable mix of up-tempos, midtempos and ballads! in this album Mariah relied on a more old-school jazzier instrumentation and took her artistry one step further! But of course she ridiculously outsold some really important people during the 90s so we might as well not give her any recognition and hope that she fails! Who cares if the album's success (6x platinum- we belong together at #1 for 14 weeks will make us look stupid)will later on make our comments look stupid!

Jun 17, 2006 12:18:24

Review 6 of 11

txhonaybefly writes:

2of 5 Stars

People made a big fusss over this album...But to me it wasnt her best! i was very disapointed
there was only like 5 songs that i liked; We Belong Together, Mine Again, Stay The Night, Joy Ride, Wish you Knew & Its Like That. Basically all the songs without rappers because
they just messed everything up.lol Some collaborations she did in the past were great
but i just dont know where she went wrong this time....

Apr 20, 2006 18:56:02

Review 7 of 11

cplc1592 writes:

3of 5 Stars

In an effort to make her comeback, Carey stepped it up a notch with The Emancipation of Mimi. With producers such as Kanye West, The Neptunes, and Jermaine Dupri, Carey created an album that is completely different from all her other albums.

The album's first track, It's Like That, is a club banger with awesome beats and sounds. This is followed by We Belong Together, one of the best songs of this album. Although it lacks emotional punch in it, its simplicity would make an impact in all listeners. Other noteworthy songs are "Stay The Night", the hardcore ballad "Mine Again", the emotional "Circles", "Joyride", and "I Wish You Knew". Finally it ends with a gospel tune "Fly Like A Bird".

The downsides of this album is the Neptunes-produced song, mainly, Say Somethin and the horrible track To The Floor. Her voice here would remind anyone of the Charmbracelet era. Also "Shake It Off" and "Get Your Number" lacks the vocals other tracks have.

All in all, this is a good album (minus The Neptunes)

Apr 8, 2006 11:13:12

Review 8 of 11

SongofMagi writes:

4of 5 Stars

In all honesty, I would rate The Emancipation of Mimi (TEOM) 3 1/2, because it's a solid effort on Carey's part. However, TEOM comes with it's flaws. We may find that Mariah's voice is improving after her last few in-studio efforts. However, it's still not too the condition of how it sounded when she first hit the scene in 1990, or even 10 years ago for that matter. There are tracks where Mariah's voice feels more forced than controlled ("Stay the Night", "Mine Again") and then there are tracks that just seem natural for her present voice("Circles", "Fly Like a Bird"). However, with lucious tracks like "Joy Ride" and "We Belong Together" it's easy to ignore whatever theory you may have for her present vocal shape. The music is what holds power in TEOM (despite The Neptunes and Nelly decided to add their efforts in making a filler track for "To The Floor"). Not her voice, even though it has it moments in TEOM; and certainly not her lyrics that have seemed to be absent since she first expressed her clever poetic-esque style of writing in the mid to late 90's.

Mar 28, 2006 00:11:18