Mariah Carey hits the Half Century Mark!

Looking a tad chubby in later years.

Miss with all due respect, I have my own problems. i have no time to accommodate everyone else's. My sister is suffering HIV right now. Is anyone worried about my problems? Some people can be so damn selfish. Next time you email me with any requests, you will be reported. Have a great day!

She still looks good even if she has put on some weight.

Unlike other great Divas, or any member of the holy three....Mariah should have stopped singing around 2006. She stopped trying long before then. She couldn't sing a complete song live after 1996. Her hits are impressive and her voice is unique. But it would be better the other way round.

She hit the half century mark last year.

WHO is Mariah Carey? No one that I know!

There's a video of singers performing "He Got the Whole World in His Hands" and LeAnn Rimes outsung Mariah. That's how far her voice has fallen.

R5 Math is not your calling. She was born on March 27, 1970 which means that she just turned 50.

R8, on Wikipedia, it lists both 1969 and 1970.

Aries and Leos are the power Diva's of this world. With Pisces a more sensitive player, just as talented.

Whenever I watch TV and see those poor, starving kids all over the world, I can't help but cry. I mean, I'd love to be skinny like that, but not with all those flies and death and stuff.

I remember the first time I heard “Power of Love”.

She was that unique.

Ah, Vision of Love.

Damn quarantine...

[quote] She was that unique.

She was unique.

Happy Birthday, Mimi. The 12 year old girl in her must be gutted to have a milestone birthday during a global pandemic.

Party down...

She’s a very very fat has been. 😂

[quote]I remember the first time I heard “Power of Love”.

That was Celine Dion.

She hit the end of her relevancy in 1996.

Mariah fans are truly the weirdest. She's freaky shit. A remarkable instrument that she did nothing with after she left her husband. He protected her. She doesn't know how to sing. Her interpretations are sonically impressive, but what the fuck is she doing? And it's not a pretty voice at all. She sounds like a crying tween girl singing directly into an oscillating fan. Whitney didn't invent that kind of melisma. Mariah had some stellar performances and vocal moments. Before she was 25. She's been looking off to the side ever since. Not a pleasing - or live, voice.

R12 I know what you mean. The first time I heard Vision Of Love I was driving around in my car and instantly loved it. Went out and bought the vinyl 45 single just like below.

R14

Correct.

Mea culpa.

Power of Love and Vision of love are both such powerful debut singles I confused them.

Now I’m remembering that I actually called the radio station when I heard Celine, but recall Vision of Love while watching MTV at my grandparents’ house.

I don’t know her.

George Michael eventually quit the Columbia label because he said that they and Mariah's first hubby were paying to much attention to her and not enough to him.

Mariah never recovered her career after she dumped Tommy Mottola. He decided to make JLo into a pop star instead.

I think this is Mariah's best song, from Emotions. She had such a powerful voice in her earlier days, now she sounds so shrill.

r25, but Mariah had the last laugh. She came back in the mid 00s after her career was pretty much dead. If that comeback didn't happen, she'd probably be talked about in the same way as Janet Jackson.

Power.of.Love is in no way Celine's debut single, R22. Seriously, stop spreading your misinformation all.over this thread.

[quote]I remember the first time I heard “Power of Love”.

[quote]That was Celine Dion.

OK . . .

Looks like she had a bad eye job in OP's pic.

r15 !

R28

You’re so right. I’d blocked the song that I actually first heard- mostly because it’s awful!

Her voice, though, was so incredible I remember asking the DJ who she was.

If I’d seen the video first I would probably remember her fabulous late 80s hair.

When it comes to Divas with Battitude there's Diana Ross and then the rest of 'em.

Still, get a kick out of Carey's antics.

There are many threads dedicated to the glory and batshit crazy of Celine. She is three times the singer and artist of Mariah. But because Celine is always the sweetest girl - she admires Barbra, Whitney and Mariah the most. She's in their league...

Kelly Clarkson is the most obvious post millennial chick singer who was influenced by Mariah. And Aretha. There is no doubt that Mariah patterned herself after Aretha herself. She couldn't hope to sound like Whitney. Kelly has all the vocal tricks, though the beautiful clarity of her voice has declined a bit in the last few years. She sings raw and wears it out. It's all still there. Just not as clear. Kelly is holding up better at 38 than Mariah was at 28. That use or air in the vocal... it's distinctive. Because Kelly can belt and sing without rasp too. But she likes to rock out and be bluesy.

Mariah had a freakishly effortless voice when she started. All kinds of range & beautiful strange sounds. With never a moment of lyrical plausibility. She doesn't understood how to sing and she's famously lazy. She never got better for a day. Her singing basically declined from the day she started. And there's little feeling in her singing. Being glamorous and sexy seemed more important to her. Because her voice was gone before she was 26 I guess. Kelly don't care. She's the real deal. And just as good a singer.

Mariah back in her prime in the 90s was an insanely talented singer/songwriter. I liked her back during the 1990-1993 period when her Aretha Franklin influences were more apparent. Carole King was so astonished by Carey's talent after hearing Vision of Love she contacted her to record Natural Woman (a tune she wrote specifically for Aretha Franklin). Carey declined, saying that she could never do justice to the tune, and instead offered to co-write a tune with King instead. Together they came up with the Franklin-inspired If It's Over, which still remains one of Carey's most soulful, underrated song in her category.

There's a reason why Christina Aguilera, Kelly Clarkson, Ariana Grande, Tori Kelly, Beyonce, and others revere her.

Yes R35. But her time at that level was short. She was spectacular in ways that keep her popular to this day. But the tone of her voice is only sporadically pleasing, to me. I was 7 or 8 years old when Mariah sang this, like that. But I can remember every time Whitney sang on TV and award shows during my childhood. Good singer Mariah memory is from catching it on Datalounge or Youtube. Her vocalizing is spectacular here, but she doesn't know how to sing. She didn't need to with this song. Mariah is a talented songwriter. I believe she can hear what her voice can do. But she should have practiced more than once a decade. But when a great voice is at the top of her game and the singer knows their worth, there is a thrill in it.

Whitney, Celine and even old Streisand could knock Mariah off the stage though. She was a sweet sensation. Until she's 50.

I don't care for Mariah's tone today; it's too thin, airy, and whiny now. Her chest voice is completely gone, so she doesn't belt like before. And she no longer does those phenomenal, intricate, Stevie Wonder-like vocal runs that made her so famous and influential. But her tone kept changing throughout the 90s. By 1995 her tone changed entirely from the sultriness from the early 90s to this sweet girliness. Many consider 1995 her peak because vocally, she was more confident on stage. And the more comfortable she is on stage, the more flexible she is with her voice, where she freely improvises, making key changes from the original recording.

This performance of Underneath the Stars, a tune that's a tribute to one of her idols, Minnie Riperton, was a clear example where she ate this up live.

Nice R37. As usual her sound is meaningless, but that was very pretty.

R34

Clarkson is so good at every song she sings. Effortless.

I always leave her out of the “élite” league, perhaps unfairly.

Her fan selected covers are incredible.

What does the DL think of Jessie J?

She had her time just like Madonna. But we have to see they're sad and pathetic lives to remain irreverent.

Yeah R39. Kelly goes for it. Her voice is the most beautiful in pop music. Her vocal palate is very impressive and taken for granted. That beautiful trained head voice, her signature belting voice, with or without rasp. the solid low notes with gorgeous vibrato and her incredible breath support that makes every lyric and melody meaningful. She's pretty great. Likes to rock out too. Put all that grit and air in the vocal. Kelly is not obsessed with being perfect - she wants to get somewhere in a song. She has recorded some pretty great pop hits herself. She's just not a diva. And that's the bit lacking from her. She digs in vocally to a song and she understands it, but she's not the best at making a performance of it. I love KC. That girl can sing anything.

[quote] Mariah had a freakishly effortless voice when she started. All kinds of range & beautiful strange sounds.

Mariah's vocal performances are the absolute opposite of "effortless." Her style is characterized by grimaces, wild hand gestures and deep audible breaths before each belt as she pushes and strains to create a sound that resembles what technological wizardry cooked up in the recording studio.

I do enjoy her recordings though.

Mariah's television debut singing "America, the Beautiful" at the NBA Finals was phenomenal. No doubt, you can hear the deep soul and gospel influences in her singing -- as well as Minnie Riperton. She was never consistently great live as Whitney Houston (who was groomed by her strict mother, Cissy Houston, hugely talented in her own right). Mariah didn't come from the same background as Whitney, who lived and breathed the church, continuously singing in front of crowds every day out the week. Mariah didn't have a famous cousin like Dionne Warwick, where she toured around the world as a little girl, soaking up how to perform in front of large crowds. Mariah didn't have the privilege of being a little girl listening and studying the likes of Aretha Franklin, Chaka Khan, Natalie Cole, Luther Vandross, and others in the studio when her mother did background sessions. So, yes, Whitney Houston becoming this phenom was inevitable. She was destined to be great from the moment she opened her mouth and decided to sing for a living. Whitney came from a solid foundation.

But what makes Mariah Carey extraordinaire is that she didn't come from that strong musical pedigree and became a unique talent anyway, writing her own songs as a teen while developing her voice. In early-Mariah, you could hear a range of influences from Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Minnie Riperton, Deniece Williams, Teena Marie. Mariah developing her soulful voice (especially since her mother is an opera singer), is something to respect. She didn't have that solid foundation like Whitney. However, I appreciate the fact that despite coming from poverty and suffering from insecurities (mainly due to being mixed race) and bipolar, along with a bad case of stage fright, she still became one of the most influential singers of all time. She's a unique talent whose voice is a national treasure.

Mariah Carey is not my favorite singer, but she is in the Pantheon of musical greats. If she died, there would be pandemonium.

She will never regain what she had in the late 80s / early 90s, but even at 75%, she'd be awesome. Alas, she seems undisciplined.

She doesn't need to, but tries to play Beyonce's game (wearing a one-piece bathing suit-type outfit on stage). She ends up just looking physically lazy (hanging onto other people for balance). Dance was never her strong point.

One of the all-time great singers, a spectacular singer, especially back in the day when she was younger. But as someone pointed out she has become too preoccupied with looking sexy, curvey, and young, and the fantastic young lady of yesteryear has pretty much disappeared. Now she is mainly all show and very little substance, but her greatness and that gorgeous voice will always be remembered.

You see R44. True. All those influences and her natural talent still make that an overly ornamented performance. Mariah never creates a mood because her voice just doesn't have enough connected legato or smoothness between tricks. She would get better than that.

This is the always sincere and a bit bombastic Celine. With a beautiful performance. Celine knows how to sing, takes care of her voice, has a plan of where she's going in a song and possesses a most beautiful soprano. She respects a melody. It's a matter of taste. I love Aretha and Whitney. But Mariah ain't them. Carey does too many meaningless vocal tricks. Celine does a lot, but she's a proper singer. Listen to that resonance.

I think everyone knows Mariah will never sing again like she did at 25, she's 50 people! There aren't too many vocalists out there that can maintain their voices for decades, especially women. Child birth alone can wreak havoc on female vocalist's voice. For the last 20 years, Mariah has been just as well known for her over the top antics as she is for her former voice and songwriting skills. I think that actually has helped her stay somewhat relevant.

She hit 50 last year. Like most celebs she lied about her age.

R42

Agree 100%. She can nail the notes and the emotion of any song she sings. Bernadette Peters level emotion!

She’s the most talented singer/interpreter in pop. Why is she doing TV?

Did she wear anything other than that black spandex dress from 1990-1991?

Kelly Clarkson has an amazing voice and I can't figure out why she's not more successful.

My gut feeling is that her look is just not working in her favor. She's overweight, but so was Adele. Half the time, she looks like a trucker. I know it sounds mean, but I think if she bit the damn bullet and took the advice of a *good* stylist or image specialist, she could go so much further.

The voice (Clarkson) is there.

Well, R47, I'll have to respectfully disagree because while I find that performance from Celine cute, it was quite dull for me. Yeah. She created a mood, all right, one of sheer tedium. You're right, though, it is a matter of taste. Celine can blow, I would never take that away from her. However, Celine is only entertaining and moving as a singer when she's theatrical. She's like Patti LaBelle in that way.

I think you underestimate Mariah's strengths as a vocalist, though. If gospel legends like the Clark Sisters or a musical genius such as Stevie Wonder are singing your praises, then Mariah must be doing something right to impress not only them but millions of people who've purchased her music. And while you are breaking down Mariah's singing using vocal pedagogy as to why she can't interpret a song, countless vocal coaches and singers all over YouTube who have also studied her voice say otherwise.

But I get it: Mariah's voice doesn't move you the way Whitney, Aretha, Barbra, or Kelly Clarkson does. Yet that's based on your preference and not any defect in her singing.

There are many defects in Mariah's singing. From the get go. I am not a Celine Stan. I just don't like fake soul singers. Mariah is a fake soul singer. She makes sounds - she doesn't really sing. She doesn't understand how to sing. It doesn't matter who praises her. She had a freakish gift. I've never seen one complete performance from her. Not even Happy Birthday. Bitch doesn't know how to sing. And Celine has nothing in common with Patti Labelle but belting power. Mariah is much more like Patti has a voice but doesn't understand how to sing LaBelle.

Enjoy your preference R53. Let's agree on Whitney and leave it there. Mariah's ass can't sing.

[quote] Mariah's ass can't sing.

To you, yes, but to millions of others, more famous, influential, and talented than you and I could ever dream of, disagree and say otherwise. But okay, she can't sing. Thank you! Thank you for revealing this devastating information to so many poor, deluded, ill-informed, unfortunate souls who've been hoodwinked for 30 years! Praise the lord for Dr. Vocalogist unveiling such revelations!

Keep spreading your word, good doctor. Maybe one day the rest of the world will finally catch up to your engrossing analysis!

I remember when "It's Like That" came out, some girls hated Mariah Carey's new look (and sound), some weren't ready for it, which is fair enough, I was tuned out, listening to Gershwin and Porter - anyway, years later it plays on the radio and suddenly I'm imagining myself dancing like Moira Shearer in The Red Shoes, such a good going out song. I appreciate the earlier, classic, foundational era of Mimi and her later incarnations which are more mature in a playfully immature way

R55. Why would I wait on the world when I know better? Accomplished people don't do that. I've been more complimentary than Carey deserves. It's only really possible to enjoy a phrase or a little run of hers - though most of her runs are musically meaningless. Sometimes a crescendo, back when she started. She can't sing a whole song with meaningful dynamics or mood. Ever. Not even Love Takes Time, a simple song. She just doesn't have the musical or melodic sense to make a complete song of it. Until she took up hoarse whispering. THEN she made a success of being a different kind of singer. But not a great vocalist. Girl should have learned to sustain a n o t e if she wanted to be remembered as a good singer. She can't and she won't be.

Witness good singing. Not as signature of sound as Mariah - but still a much better singer. The phrasing and build of the song, a beautiful vocal that is serving the song, not the singer. Incredible breath and phrasing. That subtle downturned run....gorgeous. Mariah couldn't sing this song if Trey lip synched it for her.

Miss Carey. Wouldn't dare try. This. And her voice was never this nuanced, powerful AND beautiful. Kelly is imperfect. Try it bitch. LIVE.

Jesus, R57 /R58, we get it! Mariah Carey can't sing!

And I knew it would be a matter of time you go unhinged. It happens all the time in Mariah Carey threads on DL. It never fails.

No matter how many singers you post, or all the vocal pedagogy you display on DL, it will never change the fact that Mariah Carey is one of the most influential singers to ever pick up a microphone. She's respected and revered by those who matter.

Sorry that bothers you.

I'm not unhinged. You're a problem. I haven't been on DL for ten years. Not even six. I can give you hundreds of examples of why Mariah is not a great singer, but others are. Including Stevie Wonder. But only when he was young. Not LATELY. But as one of Mariah's dresses would say - at some point you'll have to pay for my services.

I can name 50 current female singers better than Ms Carey. Easy. But not one as special as Whitney.

[quote] Try it bitch. LIVE.

Guurrrrl! And here you talking about not being unhinged?

[quote] I can name 50 current female singers better than Ms Carey. Easy.

And at the end, no one would care. You typing out your dissertations as to why Mariah Carey can't sing will not change anyone's perception of her talent. But I'll give you a few golf claps for trying.

Bless your heart.

Oh lord the stans have arrived! Yall should get some dick and stop this pettiness!

Who is this fucking cunt saying Maria can't sing. For years she had an incredible octave range. Some claimed 7 or 8 octaves even though that many don't even exist. But she has or had a huge range and she also sang perfectly in the whistle register. So fuck off you cunt, saying that she cannot sing. Shitney Houston only sang well for a couple years at best. Attack that cunt for being over rated.

Scroll down and press PLAY. There's a singer with every vocal gift, including emotion. Beautiful. Kelly Clarkson. It's Quiet Uptown.

Lol. I'm not a stan of hers. Not anymore. (I would be again if she drops a dance/disco album.) I was back in the 90s as a kid, but not today. Her tone of voice annoys me now.

I just like pushing Dr. Vocalogist's buttons. He REALLY despises Mariah Carey. He talked smack about Aretha Franklin and Barbra Streisand back in the day as well. But when it comes to Mariah Carey, Dr. Vocalogist really goes unhinged because the world simply doesn't agree that she can't sing.

The good doctor is a highly credentialed musician from Canadian who has played with the best singers and bands (don't believe me, just ask'm, he'll tell ya!) and knows music better than 99.9 % of the mere mortals in the business today! So don't you dare say that he's wrong when he lays down the gospel truth on a singer he dislike.

He'll most likely cut a bitch.

After that nose job her speaking voice always sounded like she had a cold.

Not at all true about me disliking Aretha - except when she got old and lazy and phoned it in. She's one of the greatest singers ever. Get your lies straight old man R67. You were about 40 in the 1990s.

[R69] You definitely talked shit about Aretha Franklin, dismissing her singing as "gospel embellishments" and how Whitney Houston had a better instrument and vocal technique. This was years before Aretha's death. Don't backtrack and lie now. I would pull up the threads as receipts, but I'm too lazy and tired to do so, being that I'm old at the tender age of 37 and all.

Your rep as being a pompous, know-it-all, pseudo-musicologist is well known in these parts, good doctor.

^ You're unhinged. I'm no doctor. I can't help you old man.

R70 I have that repulsive cunt on block. There is only so much stupid one can take. And this cunt is the size of frickin Andromeda. Anyone who says Mariah CANNOT sing but Shitney Houston CAN is a fucking moron. Shitney was a terrible singer even at her 2 best years.

She wild?

The only reason people still even mention her is because she releases that fucking Christmas song EVERY year. She’s a lazy, one-trick pony if there ever was one.

She seemed to stop maturing mentally and emotionally around age 22.

R75 O please. She represents 100% of all stupid entitled American cunts. The whole world knows this. Stupid, beyond ignorant and clueless, vapid, born entitled, especially white girls, they think the whole world should bend down to their fascist will just because of the cunt between their legs. Mariah is all American girls.

More like the half century mark hit her.

^ and didn't stop hitting.

“Vision of Love” is so enjoyable to me. What a great song.

Happens to the best of us R68.

Mariah must be at home ready this shady ass thread and decided to post a little something for you cunts!

YASSSSS

^ She's grotesque and self centered as always - what a sensitive soul and performer! Yuck. Put your gloves back on Mariah. Y'all can't think OR sing.

Corona, I don't know her.

She's morphing into "Private Secretary" '50s TV series-era Ann Sothern territory in the looks and volume departments.

Whether you like her songs or not, she worked almost non stop from getting her record deal in 1988, coming out in 1990, until she got pregnant with twins in 2010. Unlike Celine an Whitney, Mariah not only wrote all of her songs, but she did remix versions that were totally different...and put out an album every year in the 90's. Of course, her voice is going to deteriorate using it so much.

Also...."All I Want For Christmas Is You." She wrote it.

She likes her fries for real. Her implants are horrible. She’s already barrel chested and the implants make her look top heavy.

Mariah won the Best New Artist Grammy Award in 1990, one of the few recipients to not be undone by its well-known curse.

It's been said she was horrible in Glitter, released shortly after 9-11, but she was excellent as a social worker in Precious. Apparently the part where she tears up was not in the script.

The arguments about her technical prowess or lack of it are a sideshow. The fact is, people enjoy listening to her music, and she’s sold plenty of it.

Period.

Interesting fact: Celine Dion actually sold more than Mariah in the 90s!

Maraiah/R85, you didn't release an album in '96.

R85 I disagree with your statement regarding the cause of her voice deteriorating. There are photographs of her heading into a marijuana dispensary. If a soprano with a voice as feminine as hers (1996 voice) smokes weed, the voice will be ruined. She also uses her falsetto too much (her careful whisper singing) which is also harming her voice. While she did put out an album almost every year in the 90s, her voice actually improved between 1990 and 1996. Many of her fans say, that her daydream tour in 1996 ruined her voice. However, the tour had only like 7 dates. If this is going to ruin your voice you shouldn't be a singer. I suspect her bad habits and her fans excusing them instead of calling her out on them led to her vocal decline. When she was pregnant, she was allegedly drinking less (Though there was an article of her alledgedly drinking during pregnancy). During that time you noticed how her 90s voice slowly came back (look up some late 2010 performances on youtube). Also in R81 you see how careful she sings and how feminine she tries to sound. That is just not healthy singing and I am not surprised that the people singing around her actually have a fuller sound than her. I actually miss the voice she had during the beginning of her career. She should have continued to sing like that but I suspect she personally found it to deep and mature sounding. While I do like her music too, people could also admit that her music was hugely "inspired" by many other artists and "sampled" many of their melodies.

I think her voice peaked during the Emotions/Unplugged Era. Her range and power during that time was insane. It was still strong in the Merry Christmas and Daydream Era. But it is really interesting how much her voice changed from 1990 to 1997. I don't think I've ever heard a voice deteriorate as fast since Marianne Faithful. She sounds really off-putting on Butterfly and I don't get why so many of her fans love that album. It was the beginning of her really campy album titles that continue to this day. And her persona, of course, became really campy too.

[quote]Mariah Carey hits the Half Century Mark!

How old are her tits?

21 years old.

Mariah's real goal was to look like a whore and get applause. She doesn't really like singing. Easily bored that one. Not a good singer. Great success at looking like a whore.

The latterday pic in the OP looks like she's doing Yellowface.