Music: The album Mariah Carey was released 32 years ago.

[SirClintonPortis]

Just before June 12 expires.



There's a confluence of influence in her music, pulling from different sources.

Click to read more...

 

[Stylizer1]

I was in love with her.

 

[hotcabbagesoup]

She's amazing.

 

[John Price]

 

[tarheelhockey]

Undeniable talent combined with looks, but I never got the hype over her actual music.

Edit: and I don't mean that from a music-snob point of view. Even in the light-pop radio scheme of things, I just don't get the appeal.

 

[MVP of West Hollywd]

Surprisingly considering her brain should be fried by now, she released one of her best albums in 2018 (Caution)

 

[Hippasus]

Delete.

 

[SirClintonPortis]

Undeniable talent combined with looks, but I never got the hype over her actual music.

Edit: and I don't mean that from a music-snob point of view. Even in the light-pop radio scheme of things, I just don't get the appeal.

People will call me insane, but I hear and perceive many of the tendencies in Mozart in many of her songs. Obviously not the overt style, as Mozart catered to the nobles of his day. But the way the notes flow, so to speak. The way the "lines" of melody or harmony are put together into a seemingly perfect whole. This is not actually that far-out, given both have a substantial link to opera and naturally, it's tendencies.
The "Rosetta Stone" that cause me to believe such a thing was Mozart's Clarinet Concerto, performed by Sabine Meyer. Not only is there a little similarity in timbre in parts of Mariah voice to the clarinet, the leaps in range and the "melisma" of the clarinet part helped make the connection.

Like Mozart, the style is not engaging for everyone, but for those who do get caught, well, it's basically experience musicality in its most "intuitive" yet deceptively complex form.

To me, her songs have a "concerto" like quality to it, where her part often acts independently with the other parts.

Another tendency that I find is the introductions to the songs, where there are no lyrics but she "hum" a note in harmony with the rest of the instrument. These notes actually stand out quite a bit despite being lyricless.
The opening of "I Don't Wanna Cry" reminds me of Hadyn's Cello Concerto No. 1. Starts off so quiet it can barely be noticed and it crescendos.



The ending begins with an orhcestral opening. The soloist enters at 18:00 with a single note, first in unison with the other bassists but crescendos into an independent role. The second movement also utilizes this.






There are numerous other seemingly insignifcant harmoinzations and flourishes peppered throughout her songs, but they are not put in an overly prominent manner.

The general structure of pop songs is two repeats, a differing middle section, and the a repeat with some subtle changes here and there. The endings to Mariah's songs, however, usually go well beyond this bare minimum, employing numerous devices and methods, but they all "come together". This manages to keep many listeners engaged all the way to the end. They essentially get treated to three forms of the song. The "bare" structure in the beginning, a slight and subtle repeat, and then a full blown exploration of differing harmonic and melodic techniques from all facets(Mariah herself, the backing track, instruments) to end the song.
A later Mozart piano concerto also tends to offer the same "unfolding" of the initial tune. I find the 17th piano concerto of Mozart particularly useful in finding insights to Mariah and vice versa.
Mozart's music can be very melismatic in his concertos. Varying a reprise and improvisation were a standard operating procedure of his era.

 

[hotcabbagesoup]

Surprisingly considering her brain should be fried by now, she released one of her best albums in 2018 (Caution)

Why should her brain be fried by now? She's only 53. Lee Ann Womack is around the same age and she's as perky as ever (and she still has the voice).

 

[MVP of West Hollywd]

Why should her brain be fried by now? She's only 53. Lee Ann Womack is around the same age and she's as perky as ever (and she still has the voice).

Mariah is a bipolar mess who by the sounds of it has pretty much been an alcoholic and prescription pill addict for her whole adult life, also has been hospitalized for mental health reasons multiple times. Her family is a trainwreck and unfortunately these things can be cyclical, with both nature and nurture being a bitch.

Lady Gaga is an example of someone who done a lot of substances and I think her music hasn't been the same after the first two albums, whether it's for that reason or not. Mariah at same age and stage of her career was releasing Emancipation of Mimi which was one of her most popular periods.

 

[tarheelhockey]

People will call me insane, but I hear and perceive many of the tendencies in Mozart in many of her songs. Obviously not the overt style, as Mozart catered to the nobles of his day. But the way the notes flow, so to speak. The way the "lines" of melody or harmony are put together into a seemingly perfect whole. This is not actually that far-out, given both have a substantial link to opera and naturally, it's tendencies.
The "Rosetta Stone" that cause me to believe such a thing was Mozart's Clarinet Concerto, performed by Sabine Meyer. Not only is there a little similarity in timbre in parts of Mariah voice to the clarinet, the leaps in range and the "melisma" of the clarinet part helped make the connection.

Like Mozart, the style is not engaging for everyone, but for those who do get caught, well, it's basically experience musicality in its most "intuitive" yet deceptively complex form.

To me, her songs have a "concerto" like quality to it, where her part often acts independently with the other parts.

Another tendency that I find is the introductions to the songs, where there are no lyrics but she "hum" a note in harmony with the rest of the instrument. These notes actually stand out quite a bit despite being lyricless.
The opening of "I Don't Wanna Cry" reminds me of Hadyn's Cello Concerto No. 1. Starts off so quiet it can barely be noticed and it crescendos.



The ending begins with an orhcestral opening. The soloist enters at 18:00 with a single note, first in unison with the other bassists but crescendos into an independent role. The second movement also utilizes this.






There are numerous other seemingly insignifcant harmoinzations and flourishes peppered throughout her songs, but they are not put in an overly prominent manner.

The general structure of pop songs is two repeats, a differing middle section, and the a repeat with some subtle changes here and there. The endings to Mariah's songs, however, usually go well beyond this bare minimum, employing numerous devices and methods, but they all "come together". This manages to keep many listeners engaged all the way to the end. They essentially get treated to three forms of the song. The "bare" structure in the beginning, a slight and subtle repeat, and then a full blown exploration of differing harmonic and melodic techniques from all facets(Mariah herself, the backing track, instruments) to end the song.
A later Mozart piano concerto also tends to offer the same "unfolding" of the initial tune. I find the 17th piano concerto of Mozart particularly useful in finding insights to Mariah and vice versa.
Mozart's music can be very melismatic in his concertos. Varying a reprise and improvisation were a standard operating procedure of his era.

Great read and an interesting point of view. I definitely didn’t hear her music this way until after reading this.

 

[SirClintonPortis]

Great read and an interesting point of view. I definitely didn’t hear her music this way until after reading this.

This track currently has my attention. It opens with her characteristically "effective" intro. Purely harmonic coloring of sorts, but it sure sets the song up well. The verse and chorus sung with subtle inflections the first go-around; to me, this first go-around feels full of mystique and reflection. It is repeated with subtle variations, but the feeling conveyed to me is more positive and with growing energy. This then at 2:32 suddenly yet seamlessly transitions to the extended ending, which extremely hard to describe in writing. But basically, what comes the measures before sets up the measures after. There's lot of intricacy and "back and fourth" between various parts of the track(her solo part, the background singers, the guitar, etc) . At least to me, this 1 minute, 30 seconds of a "stream-of-consciousness" passes by without me noticing that much time has passed.
Giving the mood she's trying to emulate, which is the "euphoria" when you do meet someone charismatic or perhaps a true love "sent from up above", the ending's unique properties manages to achieve this feeling.
The effects she employs during this "finale" is uses many "tools" out of the musical toolbox. Even the backing track becomes a melodic entity rather just merely droning on to fill out the allotted time.
I mean, you hear long notes, short notes, her harmonizing with the backing track "independently", her single in unison with the backing track. At 3:14, she(or the other producers) drops the volume on her "solo part" singing the word "life" but it's still singing with the backing track...and it subtly crescendos back into prominence.

Just right now, I notice that at 11 seconds into the track, she drops what appears to be single note harmonizing with the instruments. In actuality, it's three lines of her singing the exact same note, and one drops out earlier at 12 seconds, another line continues for another second, and then the third ends at 14 seconds. That's quite the detail to add and not exactly necessary if just writing for a "bare minimum good enough" pop song. You do have to raise the volume at bit to hear that third "drop off".
This is not something music theory would be able to explain well or at all, because it is the same note playing in harmony with the other instruments. But the layered terminations, for lack of a better term, does create a musical effect.
Mozart could do things that appear boring from a music theory standpoint. Eine Kleine Natchmusik's opening, for example, is just a little Mannehim rocket in G major would become a posthumous signature(at the expense of some of his more deeper explorations of genius)

I have some very amateur performance experience, having studied the piano in high school, so I can follow music in a detailed manner to some extent, but I have no perfect pitch or anything. I'm also mostly deaf to the differences in chest voice, head voice, etc, so I actually cannot grasp by listening many of the "technical" aspects that Mariah is brilliant in. I think not even some of her biggest fans have picked up one of these details I mentioned. But they are part of the reason why she reeled in as many fans has she does. Sometimes the smallest things can enhance the experience even if the audience doesn't necessarily notice what's happening.

I'm a very late fan. I only started listening to her albums this winter because I want hear new music before my ears got old.

Also, she does share one feature with Belinda Carlisle. They can make this visceral, gritty crack. Mariah actually employs this technique quite a lot. 1:07 in Heaven is a Place on Earth for Belinda. Mariah employs it in "Sent from Up Above at 3:03 and 3:40. It's more overt and common in her MTV Unplugged of "Emotions", giving it little more edge than her studio recording. At 1:19, she does it on the "E" of Emotions, at 2:09. She does on the word "feeling". That's also another subtle varied repeat. 2:32, 3:06, 3:15, 3:23 are the other moments. Given that she doesn't do these things at those moment on the record, this is an example of ornamentation. She doesn't over do it either, singing many other notes without this particular inflection. On the record, she does it once on the word "higher" and on the "mo" in "emotions" in the final section.