Ever since her rebirth a few years ago, Mariah Carey has been on a
roll. Once destined as a pop-star-flameout punch line (she started the
decade with the nearly career-killing Glitter), Carey has spent
the past four years and three albums renovating into an R&B sex
kitten and reclaiming her title as one of her generation’s best and
most popular singers. On Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel, producers The-Dream and Tricky Stewart steer Carey toward her most
sturdy-sounding album (only the overblown cover of Foreigner’s “I Want
to Know What Love Is,” which closes the record, breaks the flow).
“Betcha gon’ know how it feels when I get you back/And I’m gon’
la-la-la-la-la-laugh,” she sings on Angel’s prologue, setting up
an hour of paybacks, smackdowns and get-outta-my-face slaps — all
of which Carey easily slides into. She even calls out Eminem on
“Obsessed” for his dis earlier this year: “You’re a mom and pop/I’m a
corporation,” she sings over one of The-Dream and Tricky’s typically
bouncy beats. Angel isn’t all about chugging the haterade, but
when even the album’s best ballad is called “H.A.T.E.U.,” you know
Carey is on to something. — Gallucci
This article appears in Oct 14-20, 2009.
