Mariah Carey: I Want To Know What Love Is (Single Review)

by Bradley Stern
filed under: Foreigner, Mariah Carey, Single Review

mc elle0807 225x300 Mariah Carey: I Want To Know What Love Is (Single Review)

Oh, haven’t you heard? Mariah Carey is about to release a new single. Let’s discuss:

+ It is a cover of Foreigner‘s “I Want To Know What Love Is,” which basically means you’re going to have your fair share of “The original is better!!!” comments on your local forums and YouTube videos.

+ It is very slow and controlled.

+ Whereas “Obsessed” was good in the sense of it’s-so-bad-it’s-good, “I Want To Know What Love Is” is good in the sense of “Hey, this sounds like a legitimate Mariah Carey ballad.”

+ It features some signature whistle notes (which, I might add, I always want to call ‘whale notes’ for no apparent reason, which sounds absolutely ludicrous in conversation.)

+ There is a choir section to remind us all when it’s time to get epic.

+ It is generally very good.

Overall, I approve.

So is Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel actually going to be something worth stealing/streaming/downloading/purchasing in your local CD shop? Eh…maybe.

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Listen to Mariah Carey on iTunes | MySpace | Official Website

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  • http://ugaugaguga.com.br guga

    agree agree agree!

    but doesnt it feel a lil lil lil bit like a step back for her r&b journey?
    hope it turns out to be the hit “they” need
    :)

  • RJ

    Ballads are very 1980-1990. And I was never a fan of the “MARIAH CAREY BELTS IT OUT OVER GENERIC BACKGROUND MUSIC” songs.

    Oh, well. *Gets out George Foreman*

  • http://www.muumuse.com Bradley Stern

    I figured it was assumed, but I probably should have clarified: It’s no “Obsessed.”

  • Michael

    Note to self: Include a choir when I want to go for EPIC.

  • http://www.itsthemoneyshot.com JJS III

    I generally like songs with choirs, but I’m with RJ on this one. Sincere ballads like this are generally on the brink of death. Emotions much be conveyed mid-tempo or over a dance track these days. Basically Brian Cox or Stargate productions are the new ballad.

  • http://www.itsthemoneyshot.com JJS III

    much = must.

    I apparently took my dyslexic pill this morning.

  • viciuzurban

    “Basically Brian Cox or Stargate productions are the new ballad”

    Disagree. They are formulaic and souless. They have little staying power or repeat value i.e. Whitney’s take on Johnta Austin’s “Call U Tonight”, substandard, just look at the new Day 26 album, littered with overpriced beats but little emotion. The Stargate formula is strained and in need of a makeover, its predictable and overrated, hence Neyo’s album struggling as is the new Elliot Yamin.

    The new ballads are the ones produced by Ryan Tedder and Tricky but the formula is getting real old to me. Battlefield is not that great. Love vs Money was great at the start but you soon realise its shelf life. Hopefully the new Mariah album is more than bargained for.

  • http://www.itsthemoneyshot.com JJS III

    @viciuzurban: That’s what I’m saying. All of these producers–Tricky, Ryan Tedder, Brian Cox and Stargate produce the same crap. And it’s the closest thing to a popular ballad that we’re going to get right now. Inspirational and sentimental shit is completely over.

  • viciuzurban

    “And it’s the closest thing to a popular ballad that we’re going to get right now”

    Its popular only because people eat that shit up and their view of good music is skewed and largely determined by their short attention spans and gimmicky beats and reality shows such as Idol – the emphasis is on all the wrong things and its unhealthy. The average pop song is 3:50 long and designed for the masses. When you start having songs produced only by a select handful of writers and producers and big businesses, you delegitimise not only the quality of music that has gone before us but you standardised that quality that people only know and appreciate one thing.

    “Inspirational and sentimental shit is completely over”

    Its not over. You just need to look beneath the surface.

  • musician4life

    COMPLETELY agree with the comment from ‘viciuzurban’ … The “masses” are so obsessed with having what they want, when they want it… so what happens: a new song comes out. Instead of having to buy it or wait for it to come out on radio, you hook up your iPOD, jump onto pandora.com, youtube.com, etc., etc… and you have access to every and any song you want 24/7. Eventually, you end up “burning” out a song in 2 days. In order for the ‘music business’ (let’s not forget its a business) to keep up with that, you constantly have to reproduce more and more songs… unfortunately, a certain style (I mean those that stick and will because a concrete part of POP history) has a lifespan of a few years (or so it should). In the 90s (and especially before the 90s), a style of music was created by an artist and mimicked by a few. Then, either that artist (if they were the handful that constantly re-invited POP music) or another artist created a new sound or writing style that would evolve pop culture. Then the mimicking artists would come around and imitate their style… and so the cycle continued. Its the equivalent of the pharma industry… you create a drug and few years later the generic format comes out and the give pharma companies then need to come out and create something new….

    Well, we’re reached a point in pop music culture where the ‘handful of re-inventing’ artists simply can’t keep up because THEIR unique style is mimicked constantly OVER and OVER and OVER again.

    List to the 2000s punk/rock sound … SOOO many bands with the same freaken sound!

    Then you’ve got the Jordan Sparks of the world that are the generic version of the real thing….

    Unfortunately, we’ve gotten to the point where everyone who sings has access to getting their music published and onto iTUNES, Amazon, and eventually onto a radio station near you. And the other unfortunate thing, and it mostly for these ‘seasonal’ artists that are only going to be around for 1-2 yrs, is that not everyone can be a part of the 10% of the richest demographic… the same way that not everyone that can carry a tune can be a top selling recording artist.

  • ILM

    I will bet the group FOREIGNER is thinking, “OMG, she just ruined our beautiful song.” It sounds as if she is just reading words off a piece of paper, no emotion or feeling. If this song is any indication of the noise on this album, it will flop big time.

  • B.

    Love this song, so much. Have played it over and over, dissected it and STILL think it great. Brava, Ms. Carey!

  • nerve ending

    Agree with ILM
    Mariah is ruining this lovely song and apparently going hysteria ala constipated whale at the end. WTF!!

  • jagged

    Mick Jones (from the Foreigner) is the one who produced the remake with Mariah. so he reuined his own song? dumbasses!

  • al

    goodness…i like the song.period. after reading all your comments, i figured…u can never really please everyone…stop hating guys…its not as bad as u think it is. mariah is mariah. she changes the song so ppl will think of her like it was her song … all those whistles, belting, “whisper”-like falsetto…those are her signatures…she has all the right to use ‘em to make the song her own.

  • o.o`

    i think it’s awful.
    she screams it off the top of her lungs, and there’s no emotion at all. Definitely not one of her best songs.



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