Mariah Carey

[piscessiren]

Her "DIVA" act needs to change.

She should have said nothing or danced around like Ashlee Simpson. I wonder what her lambs/stans are saying about this, but I'm afraid to look.

[ratscabies]

Jan 2, 2017 14:18:31 GMT -4 Millis said:

Do all performers use/need earbuds? I dated a musician for years and he played fairly big venues and did not use them. After Prince died I watched tons of live videos of him, didn't notice any earbuds. And talk about a professional! Imagine Mariah "singing" in a torrential downpour.

Not at all, no. Some artists are set in their ways, and still prefer wedges so loud that they make their pantlegs flutter! They feel that having a "sterile, isolated mix" makes them feel like they are listening to a record, rather than playing a show. After a long period of time doing something, it can be disconcerting to change. I tried to start using nicer vocal mics in our show a few years ago. They sounded amazing, and got louder before feeding back. The guys gamely went along for a couple weeks, but eventually they said, "We've been using the Shure mics for 35 years. I don't want to learn all new mic technique now!"

("Mic technique" refers to how close it is to your mouth, what angle you approach it, how loud you can scream at certain distances., etc. Ever notice how much, say, Celine moves the mic closer and further away? She has MASTERFUL mic technique.)

Some people like to downplay their in-ears, and some bling them out with rhinestones and garish colors. If a band is playing smaller clubs, sometimes it has more to do with the system
In the club. Local engineers can get lazy and not want to disconnect their wedges to allow for ear transmitters.

[Margo]

I saw someone on Twitter say Mariah should perform at Trump's inauguration.

[prisma]

Jan 2, 2017 23:27:02 GMT -4 Margo said:

I saw someone on Twitter say Mariah should perform at Trump's inauguration.

Sweet burn.

[Babycakes]

It's time for Mariah to have a come to Jesus moment, and accept that she is no longer 16 years old, a size 00, an ingenue, or any other lies that she walks around thinking about herself. She is too old for this behavior. She's a grown ass woman, and being late all the time, unrehearsed all the time, lit on the left all the time, and a general hot mess all the time is not okay. Yeah, she may have earned her diva stripes in the 90s, but it's time to let go and retire with whatever's left of her dignity. If she calls it a career now, she can be considered an elder stateswoman in music and coast for decades off her former glory. The world has moved on, now it's time for her to as well. She can write, produce, do whatever she wants. She just can't sing live anymore. Ever. Stop it. Stop it now. And it'll leave her legacy intact. But if she goes any further down this path she will irreparably damage her brand.

[Neurochick]

Jan 3, 2017 1:17:53 GMT -4 Babycakes said:

It's time for Mariah to have a come to Jesus moment, and accept that she is no longer 16 years old, a size 00, an ingenue, or any other lies that she walks around thinking about herself. She is too old for this behavior. She's a grown ass woman, and being late all the time, unrehearsed all the time, lit on the left all the time, and a general hot mess all the time is not okay. Yeah, she may have earned her diva stripes in the 90s, but it's time to let go and retire with whatever's left of her dignity. If she calls it a career now, she can be considered an elder stateswoman in music and coast for decades off her former glory. The world has moved on, now it's time for her to as well. She can write, produce, do whatever she wants. She just can't sing live anymore. Ever. Stop it. Stop it now. And it'll leave her legacy intact. But if she goes any further down this path she will irreparably damage her brand.

What she should do is do what Barbara Streisand does. Release new music now and then and perform live once in awhile, if ever. She has devoted fans who will wait in anticipation for the latest whatever she puts out.

She also should change up her look, but that's just my two cents.

[deeconsistent]

I don't really get the "she should leave show business or barely participate in it" thing. I'm a fan and would love it if she was less lazy about her career, but as much of a trainwreck as the performance was, it will be mostly forgotten a week from now. She's had disastrous high profile performances every year for the last few years and she has had good performances sprinkled in. They're not career enders. They just are what they are. She has devoted fans,she likes people paying attention to her and there are people who sound WAY worse than her doing well in the industry, so I don't see any reason for her to shy away from the spotlight. Sure, you can make the argument that someone whose performance skills are so unreliable shouldn't be performing, but at this point in her career, with the level of fame she achieved, the criteria is a little more involved (for better or worse).

[prisma]

I was never a big Mariah fan, so I am saying all this from a sort of disinterested position. I think she's earned her diva status and should have whatever level of career she wants. But she seems to have addiction and mental illness issues, and putting them on display so prominently detracts from her dignity. The addiction trajectory will only get worse unless she genuinely makes an effort to stop, and it seems like she insists on being coddled like a very special baby so I don't see her getting the addiction under control. So I think the proportion of "trainwreck" to "decent" performance will continue to tip in the direction of all train wrecks. And it's hard to watch her do the mutton dressed as a lamb routine, spanxed out to within an inch of her life. If she wants to do this, it's her right, but to me it betrays a lack of dignity that doesn't suit her status.

I think she's approaching Michael Jackson status with regard to delusion and disconnection from reality (but without all of the evil pedophilia qualities, of course). I worry for her because CMJ, Elvis, and Prince prove that at a certain level of success you can be surrounded by people who are too cowed by your status to tell you the hard truths you need to hear. We're debating the level of career she should have but the big danger is that she's going to wind up dead.

Again, I hope her kids have a good support system.

[laurenj]

Jan 3, 2017 13:23:23 GMT -4 prisma said:

I was never a big Mariah fan, so I am saying all this from a sort of disinterested position. I think she's earned her diva status and should have whatever level of career she wants. But she seems to have addiction and mental illness issues, and putting them on display so prominently detracts from her dignity. The addiction trajectory will only get worse unless she genuinely makes an effort to stop, and it seems like she insists on being coddled like a very special baby so I don't see her getting the addiction under control. So I think the proportion of "trainwreck" to "decent" performance will continue to tip in the direction of all train wrecks. And it's hard to watch her do the mutton dressed as a lamb routine, spanxed out to within an inch of her life. If she wants to do this, it's her right, but to me it betrays a lack of dignity that doesn't suit her status.

This is what makes me avert my eyes from her more recent performances. I'm reminded of her performance of Beautiful at the 4th of July broadcast a year or so ago. It was just the epitome of foolish vanity. Her poor duet partner had to stand next to her while she reclined on bales of hay positioned just so in order to show only her famously insisted upon "good side" and preened her way through the entire song.

She goes to such lengths to appear a certain way that she doesn't even seem to notice how silly she actually looks.

Same with the NYE disaster, the entire thing was a shitshow and she was basically wandering around without keeping up with either the song or the dance routine, but she randomly instructed a dancer to dip her so she could do her little leg lift move. Why??? You've literally done none of the routine you planned, but you need to do those random little moves completely out of context?

[Ginger]

My parents sent me their condolences about Mariah's performance since she's my favorite singer and I love her so much. I told them that would be the case if it were still 1990 and I was still 13.

I remember back then...Mariah was known for being an amazing live singer, despite tremendous stage fright. Back then she used to wear something plain and black and actually sing. And now she dresses up like a bedazzled sausage and can't even be bothered to lip sync.