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About Lee from UK: Favourite Songs: All I've Ever Wanted, Underneath the Stars, The Roof, Outside & Butterfly.
Favourite Albums: Music Box, Daydream & Butterfly
Instagram: @leemdylan

Yes, And? (105,466) by Lee from UK

I don't hate the remix but there are three things that surprise me. The first is that this song sounds very much like a Madonna song and I never in a million years thought Mariah would go there. Secondly, why did Mariah not try and blend in with Ariana's vocals (in the same way Brandy did on The Roof), it would have been more pleasing to the ear. Mariah's shouty adlibs could have been better executed and more melodic. Finally, Mariah needs to lay off the auto tune, it's not even subtle. This remix feels rushed and I would be even more surprised if it reached #1.
(Friday 16 February 2024; 08:43)

Chin wave (103,932) by Lee from UK

Can anyone tell me if there is any hidden meaning behind Mariah's "chin wave". I don't think it's a new thing but I have seen about 5 random videos recently in which Mariah puts the back of her hand underneath her chin and waves her fingers. I feel like I've seen it lots but have only just thought about how strange it seems. It's almost like it is a code for those in the know and I'm clearly not in the know.
(Wednesday 1 November 2023; 14:16)

Music Box/Proctor's Theatre - my origin story (103,372) by Lee from UK

Proctor's Theatre was my introduction to Mariah. My uncle gave my older brother a VHS called "Here is Mariah Carey". I remember being 10 years old and walking into the living room while my brother was watching it. I was mesmerized. I could not believe the sounds her mouth was producing. I studied this VHS tape, every note, every riff, every hand gesture, every inspirational thing she said. I know it word for word from the beginning to the end. I needed to hear more. I wore out two copies of this VHS due to rewinding, pausing and playing so frequently. Shortly after, my brother gave me his cassette of Music Box (he did not turn out to be such a fan in the end). I didn't even have my own cassette player so I spent most of my free time in my brother's bedroom playing and replaying the Music Box album. Every song was sheer perfection but the two that really stood out to me where All I Ever Wanted and Everything Fades Away. I eventually received a CD player for Christmas with a CD version of Music Box and simply being able to "skip" between tracks made listening to this album an even better experience. I have had several copies of this album on CD over the years as they were very well used and ultimately became scratched and would skip. Eventually, I ripped an MP3 from the CD making listening even easier, I recorded it to mini-disc (remember those?) I even used a couple of aux leads to record the Proctor's Theatre VHS audio to a minidisc and I could take the concert with me everywhere I went. I am so grateful we now have the Proctor's Audio on Spotify and the video on Amazon Prime.

This was prior to the days of the internet and no 11-year-olds where I grew up in Liverpool, England, were listening to Mariah Carey. I had so much to say about how she sings and why I adored her so much but no one would listen to me for long enough. My family would gift me with various CDs from her back catalogue for birthdays and Christmas and then the first album I ever bought for myself was Daydream. Thank goodness the internet was invented and by 2001 I had found a community of like-minded people who just wanted to share their love for Mariah. I have been obsessed ever since.
(Friday 8 September 2023; 13:54)

Vanishing live in Sydney (Butterfly Tour) (102,458) by Lee from UK

Yes, yes, yes. Butterfly era vocals on Vanishing. Chef's kiss. I really enjoy coming across new rarities. Thanks for this.
(Monday 3 April 2023; 22:51)


this is a reply to message		102,412

I owe Mariah's earpiece an apology (102,140) by Lee from UK

I always thought that the constant fiddling with the ear pieces was Mariah's way of giving a signal to the sound engineer. It seems to me that every time Mariah touches either ear piece, the pre-recorded vocals kick in.

Mariah never really did the whole earpiece touching until she began using pre-recorded vocals. She would often stick a finger in her ear when hitting a high note, but that was done in a way that made you believe she needed to hear herself better.

There was none of this daft shaking of the head during whistle notes back in the day either. Mariah shakes her head when lip syncing along to whistle notes because she doesn't know one performance to the next which pre-recorded version of the whistle she is using. It is like she thinks that by shaking her head, we won't notice if she messes up. But we do. I love it when she misses the onset of a whistle note and forgets to pretend to sing it.

(Friday 27 January 2023; 15:56)


this is a reply to message		102,128

Global Citizen (101,338) by Lee from UK

I was not prepared for the Honey/Heartbreaker mash-up. I would love for Mariah to release this as a remix. The whole set was everything I expected from a Mariah Carey performance in 2022. Lots of poorly executed lip syncing because Mariah can never remember which version she is miming along too. Strained vocals with lots of staccato in place of smooth runs and transitions. Some rambling soliloquy made up of half-completed sentences and under formulated thoughts. Mariah used to be so eloquent and now it's like she second guesses every other sentence she utters. My hope for Mariah is that she continues to make music for the studio but then creates alternative versions of those songs that she can comfortably perform live. She has said before that she makes her songs too high in the studio as she thinks they sound better. If she did some stripped back versions in a lower key, the world get to see that, actually, her vocals are great when she is comfortable and not reaching for notes she can only hit in the studio.
(Monday 26 September 2022; 22:17)

Re: Honey 4K (101,222) (101,224) by Lee from UK

Ah, that makes more sense. Thank you.
(Friday 16 September 2022; 11:03)

Brandy (101,223) by Lee from UK

I've not watched the masterclass with Brandy yet but I recall people here being upset that Brandy was relegated to background vocals. Listening to the track today, it sounds like, at least on the first verse, that Brandy sings every other line? Am I wrong?
(Friday 16 September 2022; 11:01)

Honey 4K (101,221) by Lee from UK

Besides most of the Butterfly 25's bonus tracks already being available for many years, the 4K version of the Honey video was uploaded to YouTube 12 years ago. I wonder whether Mariah has provided us with an incorrect link?
(Friday 16 September 2022; 09:58)

Mariah Carey at the BBC (100,116) by Lee from UK

Mariah at the BBC was a little treat on BBC 2 tonight. This opened with a live version of Vision of Love that I hadn't seen before which was lovely. Lots of older performances cleaned up and looking crisp. It also contained some of Mariah's worst lipped performances but it is what it is.

(Sunday 10 April 2022; 00:49)

Re: Change (99,189) (99,195) by Lee from UK

There was definitely some rasp in Mariah's belts back in the day. I have recently been listening to some of the studio "stems" from the Daydream era and, without all of the production, you can definitely hear the rasp. I think the way in which the final versions end up on the record are probably over-produced to the point that the voice we hear on the CD version of the songs is very engineered.
(Thursday 16 December 2021; 22:27)

Re: Change (99,145) (99,193) by Lee from UK

Here is my two pence worth - I think Mariah's voice has changed in a number of ways but, for me, the two most obvious ways are accent and vowel sounds. Now I know that vowel sounds tend to be strongly related to accent but I still think they are two separate issues for Mariah. Most singers, even British singers, sing with an American-ish accent as it makes the vowel sounds more pleasing. Now I say American-ish because most people would not detect an accent especially on Mariah's first 3 or 4 albums. Some people would call it a neutral accent. However Mariah seems to have made a shift from singing in a neutral accent, with pleasing vowel sounds, to singing with more New York-type, nasal, vowel sounds. Mariah was a master at manipulating her vowel sounds to give us more resonance on belted notes or more depth or air-iness on other notes. More recently, this has been more challenging for Mariah and you can hear it on the Appple TV Christmas specials. Mariah was in good vocal form in 1994 during the original Merry Christmas recording. Merry Christmas gifted us Mariah's very best vocals. This was her prime. Listening to the re-recorded versions of these songs is painful as the vowel sounds are very forced and often nasal. Mariah's riffs and runs obviously occur on vowel sounds so it's no wonder they are not as clear or as well executed as they used to be. Even Mariah's current whistle register which mostly uses vowels feels forced and unpleasant to the ears. This is all just my opinion, I'm not a vocal coach just a long time fan of Mariah's live vocal performances.
(Thursday 16 December 2021; 22:23)

Mariah's videos (98,831) by Lee from UK

Here is my issue with almost all of Mariah's music videos. They are mostly recorded using double speed play back so that when it's slowed down to regular speed, the video looks like it's in slow motion but is actually in time with the track. I remember Mariah talking about this during the making of the Heartbreaker video and she has used this technique on most videos since. It is most noticeable when Mariah is singing along to runs and riffs as it never quite looks right.
(Thursday 4 November 2021; 20:36)

Mariah "live" (98,557) by Lee from UK

I do not know if these have been posted here before but there is a YouTube account which posts some amazing Mariah audios. They usually post acapella or stripped down versions of songs using the original studio stems of Mariah's songs. They have begun posting "live" versions of songs Mariah has not performed live before. Obviously they are intended for entertainment purposes only but they are so realistic with 'live' instrumentation, added notes, additional rasp. This "live" version of Outside is awesome. Whoever made this knows Mariah's nuances very well and is obviously a fan of Mariah's live vocals.
(Saturday 28 August 2021; 09:53)

WBT Valentine's mix (97,389) by Lee from UK

I enjoyed the new arrangement but you can't convince me any of that was performed live. You can even hear the auto tune in several places. My wish for Mariah's next album is that she would record songs she can sing live.
(Wednesday 17 February 2021; 18:41)

High note moment (96,986) by Lee from UK

My favourite part of the Oh Santa! video is Mariah's signal to Ariana that their high note part is coming up at 3:03. When Jennifer sings "I know he will", Mariah signals with her hand while looking at Ariana. At first, I thought she was gesturing to Jennifer's vocals but I think it was more of an invitation to Ariana to go for it. It's the briefest of moments so I could be wrong but I enjoy my interpretation of it.

(Saturday 19 December 2020; 10:24)

All I Want For Christmas UK number one (96,887) by Lee from UK

I have seen this reported in at least two outlets now but I don't think it's true. When you look at the official charts Ariana Grande is still at number one with Mariah at number two. Are they reporting prematurely? Will Mariah reach number one on Friday?
(Tuesday 8 December 2020; 19:00)

MC, Ari and J Hud (96,805) by Lee from UK

Can anyone confirm whether these 3 actually met for this video or was it all done through green screen in different locations? Their interactions seem awkward and unnatural which makes me think they all filmed their bit separately.
(Friday 4 December 2020; 13:09)

Oh Santa! collaboration (96,804) by Lee from UK

I am pleased that Mariah collaborated with two other female singers on Oh Santa! It's refreshing to see women supporting each other rather than trying to out-diva each other for a change. With that being said the whole thing seems a little shady. Who told Ariana to sing her lines in a whispery voice which completely under-represents her talents and destroys the pace of the song. Why didn't J Hud get a moment to shine. Oh Santa is too weak for J Hud's vocal talent. The surprise moment was Mariah allowing Ariana to harmonize in whistle register. Thank God they removed the auto-tuned whistle from the original version.
(Friday 4 December 2020; 12:43)

Divas Live (96,078) by Lee from UK

Just to weigh in on the Divas Live débâcle, I truly believe Mariah is bitter because that night, her voice wasn't in the best condition to have a moment with Aretha in the same way that Celine had a moment with Aretha. I mean bless Mariah, she did try during Natural Woman and you can hear her giving it her all even though the camera was on Celine and Aretha. Unfortunately for Mariah, she was being over-powered and drowned out by the crystal clear notes being hit by Aretha and the powerful well controlled riffs coming from Celine. You can hear Mariah try and then give up during this "call and response" style vocal battle but she couldn't make herself heard. Aretha was obviously looking for someone to play with and Celine brought it. Besides obviously being vocally weak that night, perhaps Mariah's reverence of Aretha also held her back (as she states in the book) but I feel if Mariah was on full form she would have went for it. Celine didn't care. Whether she was genuinely responding innocently to Aretha's prompts or wanted to showoff or didn't want to be bullied into submission, it doesn't matter. If this moment didn't happen, it would have been a shitter show for it. Come on, the clue is in the title Divas Live.
(Saturday 10 October 2020; 16:20)

I'm Real (95,932) by Lee from UK

Loved this dig after Mariah spoke about Loverboy becoming the biggest selling single of the year.

(Saturday 3 October 2020; 12:47)

Re: OHOMO lyric vdeo Easter egg (95,797) (95,810) by Lee from UK

Is it "Chick" I wonder? Apparently Mariah wrote and sang on a "grunge" album called "Someone's Ugly Daughter" in 1995 under the name chick with her friend Clarissa. See this video for more details.
(Sunday 27 September 2020; 22:17)

Save the Day (95,525) by Lee from UK

This music video feels like "I Don't" crossed with "I Want to Know What Love Is". I'm confused about how this song has been linked with a tennis tournament. The lyrics just do not match in anyway. Everything about this song and the video seems so haphazard. Remember when Mariah said she couldn't bear to make another video in denim shorts? I wish she'd apply that to hanging out in the back of cars.
(Saturday 12 September 2020; 23:38)

Re: Andrew (95,065) (95,076) by Lee from UK

This 100% I wanted to post something similar but you worded it so much better.
(Friday 21 August 2020; 15:04)

Re: Mariah on GMA (95,031) (95,053) by Lee from UK

Every Mariah fan I know would prefer Mariah to do a one-take, fully live rendition of a song. Mariah is not cutting, pasting and over-engineering vocals for the fans. She's doing it for everyone else, the casual listeners who happen to be tuned into the show. The fans know and (mostly) accept that Mariah's vocals have declined with age and she cannot sing the songs the way she could in her younger years. The fact the she is pandering to the non-fans by trying to deceive them about her current vocals is sad.
(Friday 21 August 2020; 10:41)

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