might actually listen to mariah’s pre-TEOM albums in this coronapocalypse!

starting MARIAH CAREY aka debutriah now.

activistriah gave us an anti-capitalist, anti-white supremacist anthem w ‘there’s got to be a way’.

‘i don’t wanna cry’ is a beautiful, dramatic cunt powerballad.

‘someday’ sounds like whitney. def one pf the tracks she woulda sneezed on had nippy done the same, per dionne.

and ‘vanishing’s melody gives teas of aretha’s (and carole’s) ‘you make me feel…’

she singing her mf face off on this hoe tho. excited for the unplugged version tbh.

don’t really love ‘all in your mind’ but the lul vocal acrobats at the end were a wonderful treat!

at ‘alone in love’. the song’s cute but the album’s beginning to sag to me.

‘you need me’ is cute. really cements the fact that she really probs did wanna work w niggas off top and tommy barred her from it as much as possible. this needs a rap feature like shit.

SFUA is sooo ‘90s! do the lambs go up for this?

‘prisoner’ feels like prime ‘90s retail/mall music. like it belongs in a montage from a movie from the era.

WOW AT THIS RAP VERSE MAMA JUST SPIT! GAGGETH I AM.

‘love takes time’ feels like one of her iconic ballads i’m just not terribly familiar with. an amazing way to end an album tho.

it was a nice debut tho. mama did what needed to be done! it’s not seeing RN1814 and it’s about on par w IYBT. but considering how much younger she is than the both of them, i think she obvs has more to offer in the ‘90s.

i kept VOL, IDWC, someday, vanishing, LTT. and prisoner.

onto sophmoriah aka EMOTIONS. i obvs looove the title track.

‘emotions’ is an amazing sophomore lead single. it amps up who mariah is/what she’s capable of in a way unseen on debutriah. what an upgrade. loooooove it.

i can skip AYDR and be okay. so overwrought in that way that late ‘80s/‘90s ballads could be. “trustingly”? frfr sis?

at you hearing where they punched her in on that last high ass note at the end of AYDR.

although you could certainly say the chorus of ‘can’t let go’ is iconic, the lyrics in the verses are a lul sophomoric.

that key change is heaven tho.

21 year olds these days are not giving you all this rn tho.

‘make it happen’ is one of my favorite mariah songs. a working woman’s anthem! production is v xunt too! *vogues old way*

the ad libs at the end w just the hand claps >>>>>>>>

‘if it’s over’ sounds like a song i’d enjoy more live than on wax. i hear sis but i’m struggling to make it thru.

mama brought the bluesy drama on YSC tho. living for the intro. do we call this new jack swing? it hits!

no shade but i hear whitney on this too.

i get what she’s doing on ‘so blessed’ but i’m bored to tears. poor this on a corny coming-of-age movie soundtrack from the early ‘90s and let’s move on pls.

listening to ‘to be around you’ (that i love) and i’m getting that this album is more r&b/gospel-tinged than the debut. i respect it even though i don’t love every song. wondering how big of a risk this was for her at the time, post-debut.

i love ‘till the end of time’ but can’t help but comparing the melody to ‘you give good love’ in some places. i can see why she was throwing jabs at auntie nipp.

YGGL/AAO melodies tbh.

are there lambs out there that really loooooove ‘till the end of time’?

‘the wind’ feels like a deep, deep, deeeeeeeeepp cut. who knew sis could give this jazzy moment like this? shoulda gave the doll a film noir themed music video to top it off. woulda loved to’ve seen it!

‘emotions’ is def a level up from debutriah tho. more soul, a lul more shake. and even though the sound is blacker, it still feels more diverse—mimi (was she even mimi then?) covered more genres/time periods here than before.

NO SHADE: if the lambs did a comparison amongst the gerls and the albums they released at/around 21-22, mariah would win some rounds! a lotta girls’ll be scared. and i’ll name em!

MUSIC BOX is up next. this is where mariah’s [EXPANSIVE AF ASS] discography begins to confuse me. i can’t recall anything in particular from this era—singles, videos, nothin. like was this the ‘hero’ era?

*drops needle*

OH IT IS THE HERO ERAAAAAA!

*bankhead bounces to ‘dreamlover’*

was ‘dreamlover’ the beginning of mimi’s emancipation? it’s so blissfully escapist! she was tired of t***y?!

i know i skipped her MTV UNPLUGGED album but i’m only hitting the studio alberms gerlies.

‘hero’ is still so great. mymymy. what a moment.

listening to ‘anytime you need a friend’ i think of how mariah says she writes songs for herself to be inspired by first—than trying to make an “inspirational” song. i know she wrote her heart out this. you can feel it.

marialonda adams is CHEWING AYNAF bbbbbbbbb!

‘music box’ has the best melodies i’ve heard from a mariah song up until… ‘music box’.

i don’t remember hearing this on the radio as a kid but this def feels canonical mariah. the harmonies! backgrounds!

i know the latinx sissies had to be turning it up to ‘now that i know’ way back when! the ‘now that i know / that you want me for me / i can be what you want / i can be what you need‘ lyric seems backwards af to me but issa bop!

‘never forget you’ sounds like the first song she pitched to BOYZ II MEN that they rejected but she recorded w babyface anyway.

i can’t really go where she wants you to go w her on ‘without you’ either. at this point, the bonnie raitt ‘80s love powerballad feels stale. and again, a little overwrought.

you brought in a whole choir of niggas to tell one nigga you couldn’t live without him?

i really don’t have to hear JTHYOA, but i am. it’s cute or whatever. beautiful pen, gorgeous pen. i would love something more kicked up from ‘emotions’ here. this album seems to be missing that right now.

THEN IBTAY COMES ON! THANK YOU SISRIAH! WE NEEDED A BUMP, DOLL!

why she couldn’t have a lul heavy d or BBD feature on IBTAY?! even hammer! it woulda been cute! fuck t***y!

MAMA IS GOING THE FUCK INNNN ON IBTAY! LIKE I CAN’T EVEN SEE THE TIMECODE RN BUT I KNOW WE DEEP IN THIS SHIT AND SIS IS STILL GOING TF IN!

wow. she ate that track by herself tho. *imagines her ending the album here*

‘all i ever wanted’ has aged to be just another one of those generic ’90s love ballads, (although beautiful climax, gorgeous climax!) but this is the first time i’m able to really appreciate how v much her voice has matured since debutriah.

[not listening to MERRY CHRISTMAS because i hate christmas music]

starting ‘daydream’.

‘fantasy’ still makes me feel the same way it did when it dropped! it was such a moment.

so many of my childhood memories involve mariah being on a car radio. mfs was cashin dem CHEQUES!

shoutout to ODB.

awwwoh. ‘underneath the stars’ is so beautifully breezy and retro. at that first verse. but the melodies everywhere else are gorge. is this minnie homage?

GOOSEBUMPS AND IMMEDIATE WELLING OF TEARS @ ‘one sweet day’!!!!!!

wow at music actually MOVING you emotionally! who remembers that?

gorgeous gowns @ ‘open arms’. they didn’t service this to radio? sounds v obviously like one of those big ‘90s sweeping love ballads that were huge then.

yaaaaaaaaaaasssss at ABMB! hood ANTHEM! the way we used to belt this shit out as snaggletooth, kool-aid stained kids in the back of the car!

the way she goes off at the end of this song is LEGENDARIC though.

YOU AND IIIII / WILL ALWAYS BE / NO WAY / YOU’RE NEVER GONNA / SHAKE ME / NO WAY / YOU’RE NEVER GONNA / SHAKE ME

AN AD LIB FOR THE AGES! SHE SANG THAT! SHE FELT THAT! WHOO!

i’m sorry! i had to pause ‘i am free’ just to give mamas her flowers! A RECORD!

i like that she’s calling back the gospel feel in the music on ‘i am free’ but the lyrics feel… saccharine. and a lil vapid.

‘when i saw you’ is also pretty painful to listen to up until about the bridge and the climax. ONWARD!

oh shit @ this production on ‘long ago’ kickin in the do’ and wavin the fo’-fo’ on this album like this!

YES JD! got mariah sounding this fresh and fly! *bankhead bounces*

‘MELT AWAY’ IS ONE OF THE BEST SONGS ON THIS ALBUM. SAY IT’S NOT AND WE SQUARING UP!

ONE OF THE BEST SONGS IN HER CATALOGUE UP TO THIS POINT IF I’M KEEPING IT FONKY. ‘MELT AWAY’ IS THAT GIRL.

i can appreciate ‘forever’ though i don’t loooooove it. def feels like foreshadowing for the next album. MC is indeed a writer.

this ‘daydream interlude’ is refreshing palate cleanser! tossing my hips but where is mama taking this?

OH WOW @ ‘looking in’ being so dark and eerie like this. COME ON, DEPTH. this is literally a complete 180 from where we started the album.

oh her heart is on the page on this. i really feel this. poor sus. what was going on w her around then? t***y was acting crazy? was she well?

we’re all acknowledging that ‘looking in’ is muva to britney’s ‘lucky’ and whatever it is christina’s song was, right?

starting ‘butterfly’ momentarily.

i just wanna recap what my stand-out songs were from each era.

from the vvvvv haunting + mysterious ‘daydream’ album. mithth mamath gave uth THE ORIGINAL elusive chantountryrose~ concept! -

from music box: the sustaining tertiary act!

from ‘emotions’—the funky-fresh sophomore album! mama got loose a bit WHILE elevating the standards set by debutriah! SLUMP WHERE??

DEBUTRIAH - legendary muva. honorable + iconic (even if a lul bit dusty). ULTIMATE GAG: you nor your fave were likely doing this at 16-18.

‘honey’ comes on sounding so late ‘90s fresh luxe like only bad boy production can. nostalgia on a hunnid millie billie!

bankhead bounces and headbands and tube tops are def coming to mind.

it it obvs by the sequencing that she wanted to get the frothy radio bop out the way to get into the deeper content of the album? next on news at 9.

‘butterfly’ is certainly one of her best crafted, most-spirited ballads tho.

give me a better written bridge than mariah’s ‘butterfly’? QUICKLY.

AND THEN ‘MY ALL’?! OMMMMGGG. what is this three track whoom-WHAM?!

‘my all’ is one of the greatest songs of all time. outside this context. also within this context. in and out of time.

i’ve never heard ‘the roof’ before but i know a lot of the lambies d*e on the cross for it.

omg. as nice as the beat is, imm forced to listen to the lyrics! omg @ this storytelling!

i love mariah but honestly sis sometimes less syllables are just better for the melody.

there is a creaminess to her vocals on this v hard ass r&b-soul/hip-hop beat that is just sooooooo perfect.

this is now a LETHAL ass four-song streak.

what inspired mariah for ‘the roof’? like musically? that was a BAAAAAAGGGG baby!

*goes pee* @ ‘forth of july’. but BEAUTIFUL harmonies. GORGEOUS harmonies. also love her singing over livey productions.

this is cute for a lil two-step on the veranda under the fireworks when the weather is nice and the kids + in-laws didn’t completely work the fuck out your nerves for the day.

‘breakdown’ is immediately so great for breaking you out of that dreamy trance-like state mariah’s music can put you in sometimes.

love the crying vulnerability of these lyrics tho. can relate to experiencing something like this. and am def moved by her painstaking description of it.

these ad liiiiiiiiibbbsssss?!!!!!?????!!!

SO IF I WAS—NOT—BROKE DOWN, I MOST CERTAINLY BE AFTER LISTENING TO THE ALBUM VERSION OF ‘BREAK DOWN’.

omg i love ‘babydoll’. where is kelly price?

baybe if mariah could do a loose hip roll/wine, she coulda sailed the seven r&b seas performing this mf in shows!

‘babydoll’ was the track that birthed ****** ******’s whole everything. like we can discuss earlier tracks for her CONCEPTION but this was the song that birthed her.

i def respect ‘close my eyes’. it’s def one of the nicer of the infinite amount preachy ass ‘90 ballads that exist out there. i feel the lyrics + arrangements, but yawning.

‘whenever you call’ is also pressing on that downward slope of the album. but this one is romantic. i love the passion behind the vocal. love how much she’s doing the super far apart harmonies here.

WOW at this climaaaaaaaxxx! *knocks everything over*

OMG AND SHE DOES IT AGAIN?! YOU BETTER DIE ON THIS PIANO BITCH! YOU BETTER COME WHENEVER HE CALLS!

OMG WHERE IS BABS?! IS BARBRA STREISAND IN THE BUILDING?!

woooooowww! and for this ‘fly away (butterfly reprise)’ to come immediately after is child’s play! is this HER end of the album?

i’m noticing that her album reprises give like ol school credit sequences before the gag reel/bonus scenes.

mama is singing the fuck out of this song tho! this is house music mamas! *does a b**p; keeps dancing*

dru hill is really cute on this TBO cover + it’s well placed at the end of this album. i want mariah to sound a lil more… alive?? like maybe take it that high/screechy place prince took it? it’s vvvvv sedated to me. what do i know?

sisqo is taking me where i wanna go tho. ‘do you want me / cause i want you’. i believe him!

OMG at mariah turning up like this at the end! sis better get up off the bench! she is really going toe to to w this singing ass man like this omg!

this feels v warm + passionate in a teena marie/rick james kinda way tho. won’t deny that.

omg. who was it talking about how all the late ‘90s/early 00s r&b albums would end w the gospel song at the end?

i will say that this album is MARKEDLY more r&b than everything she’s released prior to this. you could argue for the chicken or the egg but i just wanna say that.

if you ever wonder whether or not mariah carey is a black woman, listen to ‘outside’ from her groundbreaking ‘butterfly’ album. you cannot deny the gospel goodness.

yeah that’s def her best album y’all i get it now please stop badgering me i finally understand why y’all go up for it so hard kthxbai