Mariah Carey’s First Album Celebrated: What Would Jennifer Lopez Say?
Mariah Carey may have been dissed by Jennifer Lopez recently, and is also having a rough time with her present-day career. However, nobody can deny her legacy. Several media outlets have celebrated the release of her first album’s 25th anniversary this past week. Billboard described how Mariah Carey arrived on the scene.
“Mariah Carey, a 20-year-old from Long Island with a well-noted case of stage fright, quietly slipped her debut album out in June of that year. But what Carey may have lacked in performing confidence she more than made up for in marketing power.”
Billboard noted that Mariah Carey had label chairman Tommy Mottola to back her up and make her debut album a top priority. Both Tommy and Mariah delivered as her debut album scored four No. 1 hits.
People described how Mariah’s arrival changed the pop music scene.
“Aside from changing the pop landscape for good, Carey’s debut album earned her a Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, along with two other nominations for ‘Vision of Love’ (and the unofficial honor of being one of the most difficult songs in karaoke history).”
Bustle noted that despite its success, Mariah Carey’s first album got mixed reviews. They quoted a review from Entertainment Weekly.
“EW gave Carey’s first album a B- and critic Greg Sandow was impressed with her voice, but not much else. ‘Debut of R&B singer with astonishing vocal range and high ideals,’ he wrote. ‘At her best, her singing burns with an innocent flame. But the content of her songs is often thin.’ “
Bustle goes on to note that Rolling Stone published an article on how Mariah Carey wasn’t in charge of her own album. That may have seemed like an insult at the time, but Mariah Carey would later reveal how much she was controlled by her ex-husband, Tommy Mottola, who ruled Columbia Records at the time.
Mariah Carey’s debut album would begin a decade that saw her become the best-selling artist of the 1990s. Unfortunately, Mariah Carey took a huge crash in the next couple of years. At the time of the release of her single “Loverboy,” Fox News slammed Mariah for manipulating the charts. In order to appear as hits, some of Mariah Carey’s songs were discounted to either 99 or 49 cents, which was far cheaper than the average price of a single.
Mariah Carey proved her critics wrong with the release of The Emancipation of Mimi in 2005, which launched the single “We Belong Together,” the No. 1 hit of the decade according to Billboard. She released several albums afterwards, with varying success. What is your favorite album from Mariah Carey? Tell us in the comments section.
[Photo Credit: Billboard]
