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Though it goes without saying, Mariah Carey has no “need” to ever release another album of new music again if she doesn’t feel like it. Her entire mint now coming from the Christmas cash that rolls in for her every year like clockwork. Maybe that’s, in part, why it’s taken her so long to release another studio album after 2019’s surprisingly good Caution. But perhaps even more than waiting so long because she has such a fat sack of passive income is Carey’s undeniable need to still be deemed “the best” in her class of music. Which, of course, means charting at a certain level, ergo her carefulness about what she chooses to release.
What’s more, over the past few decades, Carey has scarcely acknowledged even the mere existence of “other chanteuses” in her category, save for Ariana Grande, who she actually collaborated with three times in song form: “Oh Santa! (Remix),” “yes, and? (remix)” and “One Heart, One Voice” (on which they’re both “featured artists” of Barbra Streisand’s). With Here For It All, however, Carey seems keen to remind people why she still ought to maintain her crown for being Queen of the Octave Range. However, when it comes to being Queen of Lyrics About Non-Superficial Things, Carey can’t exactly claim the crown. In fact, there are a few instances where Mariah’s vocals, diva “self-parody” and icon status combine as the only “superpowers” to mitigate the reality that there are some real The Life of a Showgirl moments on the album in terms of fluff and speaking from the insulated perspective of being a rich bitch.
Yet Mariah manages to “sneakily” pass it off as being tongue-in-cheek…but you know damn well she’s serious as cancer when she says shit like, “I don’t care about much if it ain’t about Mi/Let the money talk first, conversations ain’t free/I’m the D-I-V-A, that’s MC/I’m the hot toddy, hottie body, yeah, that’s tea.” This being the opening verse of track one on the album, called, what else, “Mi.” With Mariah further shortening her nickname, “Mimi” (as in, The Emancipation of…) to create a double meaning that turns the track into an anthem for being selfish and vain. This made further apparent in such verses as, “I don’t acknowledge time, I do whatever I please/Diamonds in my hair, yeah, that’s pure luxury/I’m a bad bitch, but I’m good company [conversely, Swift announces the opposite on “Eldest Daughter”: “I’m not a bad bitch”]/You would know that if you really knew me/In another class from those ladies/Welcome to my house, pink sand on my feet/Harry Winston diamonds and some Louis XIII/I ain’t checked the price since Emancipation Mi.” Though, of course, Mariah probably hasn’t been checking the price for a lot longer than that. Even if her “diva” persona wasn’t fully cultivated until 2005’s The Emancipation of Mimi. That was the year “MC” turned thirty-six (indeed, The Emancipation of Mimi was released on March 30th, just three days after said birthday).
On “Mi,” however, she’s offering up some lyrics that make her sound much younger/less mature than that as she flexes, “I like my ice cold, I like my wrist froze/I wear my high heels walking on my tiptoes/Yes, I like my back rubbed in my hot tub” and “I stay on your mind, in your head rent-free/I don’t check the price, can’t nobody check me.” Despite all the braggadocio about having so much money, the trashy side of Mariah flickers in when she starts mentioning Cool Whip amidst Hermès and Veuve Clicquot. In another The Life of a Showgirl-y moment, Carey boasts, “I’m an empire, baby” (Swift instead sings, as a “mafioso type,” “The empire belongs to me”). While this might be said as a play on being “from the N-Y-C” (which exists in the “Empire State”)—even if Carey is actually from Long Island (a totally different animal)—it still sounds datedly capitalistic. Yet, for as ultimately banal as the lyrics are, it took Carey and six other songwriters (Ray Romulus, Jonathan Yip, Luke Milano, Jeremy Reeves, Jeff Baranowski and Felisha King) to come up with them. Surely something Beyoncé could understand.
On the next track, “Play This Song,” it took about as many people to land on something like, “At the drive-in eating with your little friend/I used to buy you steaks and scrimps/Don’t act like you don’t miss me.” This part sung largely by Anderson .Paak, who Carey is now purported to be dating. For she’s not one to stay single for very long, nor one to date someone who isn’t at least a couple decades younger. At any rate, the sound they’ve come up with is one that seems designed to serve as their own answer to Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga’s only slightly more cornball “Die With a Smile,” which is accompanied by a very 70s-inspired video. In point of fact, Mariah noted of her Anderson collaboration, “…when we got into the studio, we decided we wanted to do something that was kind of 70s, and we did give you that kind of vibe. So we started working on ‘Play This Song,’ and it was just one of those ones that I really loved. Working with him in the studio, he’s a great companion in terms of making music.” And clearly, a great companion in other ways for her as well.
To lend a somewhat more modern feel for at least one occasion on this record, the track that follows is “Type Dangerous,” which served as the lead single that launched Carey back to a number one position on the Billboard charts, even if the more niche “Adult R&B Airplay” category. Throughout the track, Carey conveys the same “full of myself and feelin’ myself” aura that she started with on “Mi,” particularly when painting the picture, “I came in the door, dripped in Balenci/Cropped leather coat and some nine-inch Fendis/The crowd opened up and I started to strut/I need my space, but I’m signing autographs and such.” Mariah’s penchant for telling off other would-be competitors who would dare to either 1) steal her spotlight or 2) claim to be on the same level as her also comes to light again when she sings, “Hit the little girls’ room to powder my nose/Then came in three hatin’ ass hoes/They don’t know the meaning of water nor soap/I don’t have time for the rigamarole.”
But, in truth, Mariah very much has time for it. Especially when it comes to ensuring the proper amount of shade is thrown. Something that occurs in a more general form on “Sugar Sweet” featuring Shenseea and Kehlani. As the second single from Here For It All, it offers a mid-tempo pace that finds Mariah playing a long game when it comes to “securing the ring,” as it were. For this is, evidently, a renewed interest for formerly independent women, if RAYE’s “Where Is My Husband!” is anything to go by (which it definitely is). Thus, Mariah shruggingly sings of her ability to not go off on a man she’s trying to “lure in” for the long haul, “Hate it when you have to leave/But I don’t say a thing/‘Cause I will absolutely get the ring/No hurry, no worries/Oh baby, baby, baby, baby, I’m/Gonna use my expertise [a sexual innuendo if ever there was one]/I’ma keep it nice, I’ma keep it neat/I’ma keep it sugar, I’ma keep it sweet.” Though, of course, anyone who has seen Mariah at her shadiest knows that isn’t exactly true.
Nor does she keep it “sugar” or “sweet” on “In Your Feelings” (whereas Lana Del Rey and Drake preferred to name their songs “In My Feelings”), during which she gets rather accusatory with the lyrics, “I thought I was yours/Then again, you pretend, so I didn’t know for sure/I thought we could fly/Guess you’re probably scared of heights, I’ll let you go.” Of course, she won’t let whoever this person is go without throwing some major shade, while also throwing it back. For the sound of “In Your Feelings” (co-produced by Carey, Anderson .Paak, Rogét Chahayed, Alissia Benveniste) has an extremely throwback feel to the Mariah ballad heyday of the 90s, particularly on albums like Emotions and Music Box. At the same time, there’s a hint of Whitney Houston’s “I Have Nothing” to the sound and intonation of Carey’s voice. Which wouldn’t be out of the realm of her intentions, considering she’s been more keen of late to pay homage to her erstwhile “nemesis.” Whatever her “aim” with it, however, “In Your Feelings” does start to feel rather redundant, therefore, much longer than its three minutes and twenty-two seconds.
“Nothing Is Impossible” runs a second longer than that, but somehow comes across as being less belabored. Yet, as far as “empowering anthems” go, it’s fairly generic. With Carey essentially confirming the “one size fits all” nature of the track with her comment, “I think it’s something, if anything, it would help somebody get through something.” And sure, it’s “something” all right, awash in the vocal range she’s known for and expected to deliver. Yet somehow, it just doesn’t land on the “authenticity” front and, in a way, it’s almost like it wants to serve “Beautiful” by Christina Aguilera, but doesn’t quite land it. This even if the themes of each song are quite different, as Mariah discusses resilience in the face of incredible struggle (so wait, maybe it is pretty similar to “Beautiful”—not “#Beautiful”—in that sense). While she might be talking about any number of the personal struggles she’s endured, including the death of her mother and sister on the same day in 2024, nothing specific at all comes through, as though Carey is trying too deliberately to make the lyrics as “catch-all” as possible. Apart from referring back to her “Butterfly” lyrics, “Spread your wings and prepare to fly,” with, “I knew deep down inside that I could fly.” A sentiment that, to be honest, conjures far too close of an association with R. Kelly declaring, “I believe I can fly.”
Switching from the maudlin and ballad-y back to her other spectrum, cunty and R&B-tinged, “Confetti & Champagne” is the next offering. And arguably the shadiest track of Here For It All. Directed at an ex she wants to goad in her distinctly Mariah way, she once again brags about her status and wealth with such verses as, “Find me in the crowd/With diamonds all around” and “I stay surrounded by/Confetti and champagne/Bright lights like a big game.” In a certain sense, it mirrors Madonna’s “fuck you” to an ex (and yes, also a much younger one) on 2015’s “Unapologetic Bitch,” during which she gloats, “I’m poppin’ bottles that you can’t even afford/I’m throwin’ parties and you won’t get in the door/Said it, get it, love it, hate it, I don’t care no more/Tell me how it feels to be ignored.”
There are other elements in the song that evoke certain comparisons as well. For instance, a backbeat that channels major Janet Jackson energy (think: The Velvet Rope era), or the fact that Carey repeats, “Look at me now/Yeah, look at me now” in such a way as to remind one of Chris Brown’s 2011 song of the same name. However, when Mariah sings the post-chorus, “Cheers, cheers, cheers, cheers, cheers/To me, not you, just me/That confetti and champagne/Clink, clink, clink, pow/Look at me now,” it is uniquely her.
Having clearly hit her stride with the shade-throwing, she continues down that path for “I Won’t Allow It,” which, has a certain sound to it that makes it almost deserving of being called “Type Dangerous (Part II).” Once again radiating the sonic touch of Anderson .Paak, there’s more than a slight tinge of 70s-ness to it as Carey repeats the phrase, “I won’t allow it.” And what she won’t allow is being made to feel like shit by someone so clearly “lesser than” her. In this way, too, there’s echoes of Madonna’s “Unapologetic Bitch,” which also offers such lyrics as, “You know, you never really knew how much you loved me till you lost me/Did you?/You know, you never really knew how much your selfish bullshit cost me/Well, fuck you.”
Carey has some choice words for her own ungrateful, “fame fucker” (an Olivia Rodrigo nod) of an ex when she asks, “Whatcha gonna say when we go our separate ways/And you see me outside with my billion dollar bae?/Please enjoy your Chick-fil-A.” An insult that has the same “kapow” effect as Regina George telling Jason in Mean Girls, “You can go shave your back now.” Mariah then continues the “Unapologetic Bitch”-meets-“vampire” motif by adding, “Wanted the fame, used my name/Bet you thought you could do that/I won’t entertain all your narcissistic ways.” Because, to be sure, the only “narcissistic ways” Carey will entertain are her own.
Slowing it down yet again for “My Love,” Carey provides her listener another “90s signature” of her albums: the cover song (hear also: “Without You,” “I’ll Be There” and “Against All Odds.” As far as choices of songs to cover go, it does align with Carey’s usual love of “reinterpreting” ballads with her own vocals. But, in this case, as Mariah tells it, “It’s more an homage to my childhood, because I remember being a little girl and riding on the back of a motorcycle with my mother’s friend’s daughter and her boyfriend. This was their song, and they were in love.” As far as lyrics to love songs go, however, this one is pretty sparse, mostly repeating, “It’s in the hands of my love/And my love doеs it good.”
As for a “real” reason Carey might have covered the song, there’s no denying it’s something worth checking off her “I’m a true legend” list to be able to get Paul McCartney to collaborate on the track in some way. For she herself remarked, “I’m still hoping that Paul McCartney might play something on it, which would be amazing. He is one of the greatest of all time, ever, and I just asked before I recorded the song, would he mind if I recorded it? I had a conversation with him, and he was like, ‘No, give it a shot, send it to me.’ And I’m like, ‘How do I do this?’ Because I really want him to be on this song doing background vocals, something.” Ah, such a testament to Mariah’s diva-ness to think that Paul McCartney ought to provide her with background vocals.
By way of explanation for him not doing any such thing, she added, “I don’t think that’s where he’s at right now, but he might lay something [down] for the deluxe version. I would be thrilled out of my mind. But yeah, if you talk about the emotion when I’m singing it, it’s definitely about finding someone that you really revere and care for.” Someone of which you would say, “Don’t ever ask me why/I’ll never say goodbye to my love/It’s understood.”
Perhaps for the time being, Carey has found that with Anderson .Paak. Or perhaps she’ll have to settle for finding it with Jesus. As she seems to indicate on the penultimate track of Here For It All, “Jesus I Do” featuring the Clark Sisters. And while it’s not a secret that Carey has no issue releasing gospel-y, Jesus-lovin’ fare, with “Jesus I Do,” she’s perhaps gone too far this time (in other words, one will take “Thank God I Found You” featuring 98 Degrees over this any day of the week). An upbeat, 70s-sounding (yet again) number, Carey does her best to fill her listener’s soul with the spirit of the good lord, Jesus Christ. But, like Taylor Swift failing to read the room in terms of releasing certain material in a climate like this, it just doesn’t work. For Swift, it was opting to put out a record about being rich and in love at a time when the world is at a nadir; for Mariah, it’s releasing a song that’s ultra-Christian at a time when the U.S.’ so-called Christianity is exactly what has it in the fucked-up state that it’s in.
Even so, Mariah and the Clark Sisters act like they’re nuns married to Jesus when they say shit like, “I, I thought I would never find/A true love like You/Now I can never turn You loose, loose, loose.” The cringily romantic fetishizing also shows up in such verses as, “When I am down in misery/I call Your name [“Like A Prayer” much?] and I receive/The joy I need to set me free/From all of life’s atrocities/Jesus, I do, ooh/I do, Jesus, I do.” The “I do” loosely alluding to these women believing they’re married to Jesus (just like most nuns do). And while it’s a technically “good” song, it doesn’t really have a place on the album, sticking out like a sore thumb and begging to be put on its own separate Mariah record, perhaps a gospel-themed one.
Even so, Mariah seems to want to make it “gel” by then leading into the title track, which is also gospel-tinged at a certain point. Placed as the last song on the album (this done, Mariah insists, so that everyone would have to listen instead of skipping over it—as if that’s really controllable), “Here For It All” takes up the most “space” on the record, clocking in at six minutes and thirty-eight seconds. Deemed by Mariah to be the song she’s most proud of on the album, it’s clear she wants to conclude by showing her octave range (complete with piano notes that have shades of “Hero” to it). In addition to her range when it comes to being simultaneously “humble” and braggadocious (case in point, “And baby, I’m here for it all/Red carpets in Cannes and applause/Bugattis, whatever they’re called/Yeah, baby, I’m here for it all/Our virtual sleepover nights/That kept me from losing my mind/Through things I don’t care to recall/Still baby, I’m here for it all”).
At about the four-minute mark, the song starts to shift and morph into something else, with a new musical opening that briefly recalls the sound of “We Belong Together.” Carey then proceeds to go off on the kind of musical tangent she perfected on Caution’s “Giving Me Life,” which also enters the six-minute range. A track that, incidentally, suggests, “So, then maybe if the stars align/We’ll fix our minds on another tangent.” With Here For It All, though, the only tangent Mariah has fixed her mind on is one focused on throwing shade and throwing it back. In other words, reliable fare. But nothing “earth-shattering” (or, in Mariah’s vocal case, “glass-shattering”).
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Genna Rivieccio
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