Mariah Carey MTV Uplugged: Emotions Live

      I want you to know that I am grateful to every single person who has taken the time to read my blog.  I want to especially thank all of you who have come back again and again.  If I miss a day occasionally please be patient and know that I will be publishing again very soon.  Thanks for sticking with me.  If you want to make a request or a comment you can write it in the comment's section or feel free to email me at offthechartsblog@gmail.com.  Once again, thank you,
J

Vision of Love

       In 1990 Mariah Carey released the song Vision of Love.  Worldwide the song and her debut self titled album sold about fifteen million copies.  In the song, and on the album, the beautiful and talented 20 year old, displayed an astonishing five octave vocal range which started at a sensuous alto and soared all the way up to incredible bird like whistles.  On Vision she overdubbed herself to provide all the backing vocals, including secondary leads dropped in at exactly the right moments.  The video (linked above) shows her doing this.  Starting at the 2:13 mark you'll see Carey singing the lines of the verse with cuts to her singing the secondary leads.  She didn't invent the technique, but her mastery of it changed the way many artists approached their own studio recording.  A perfect example of the influence Carey wielded can be heard in Nelly Furtado's wonderful 1991 song I'm Like a Bird.  While Furtado doesn't have nearly the range of Mariah Carey she does display the same uncanny control of her voice and her "drop in's" sound fresh and attractive despite being conceptually unoriginal.

Nelly Furtado

      Carey did not tour to support her debut album, possibly because she was afraid of how an extended series of concerts might harm her voice.  But her lack of touring led to accusations from the music critics that she was just a studio artist who couldn't perform her music live.  Understandably she was stung by the criticism, she was after-all still a very young woman who, because of her towering talent, suddenly found herself an international sensation.  There are no no manuals to explain how someone should handle being a nobody one day and the most famous person in the world the next, but she felt challenged to show that her doubters were wrong.  She felt compelled to prove that her music was not due to some producers wizardry but that she truly was the talented young woman who was worthy of her Grammy Awards.

MTV Unplugged 16 March 1992

       Another criticism leveled at Mariah was that  she relied too heavily on the technical brilliance of her singing but didn't evoke enough emotion.  While the criticism of her avoiding extended touring might have been fair, this pugnacious assessment of her talent was maddeningly off the mark and it upset her and the 15 million people who bought her debut album.  Her response was her next album which she entitled Emotions.  The first single released from the new record was also called Emotions.
       Her fear of damaging her voice was not unfounded and she continued to resist doing an extended tour.  Understanding the importance of promoting her records, she traveled the world performing a kind of "Beatles on Ed Sullivan" tour, appearing on television shows almost everywhere on the planet.  This helped with record sales but it didn't quiet her critics.

The Emotions

          Musically the song Emotions is similar to Cheryl Lynn's Got To Be Real and The Emotions Best Of My Love.   The wonderful studio version of Emotions is a disco based, highly dance-able, jewel of a song.  It's style is somewhere between soul and pop and what it lacks in originality is more than made up for with the emotional eloquence her critics (wrongly) claimed was missing in her earlier offerings.  Lyrically the song is a celebration of a woman feeling the power of first love.  Carey's sparkling rendition is contagious, forcing listeners to smile or get up and dance.  Her vocal agility is on full display beginning in the middle range of her natural alto then jumping right into her fascinating bird whistle voice.  Not only does Carey nail the whistling notes, she also has perfect control as well.  She scales up then back down with the same fully realized vibrato and ardent passion she exhibited on Vision Of Love.  The blazing sensuality and emotional depth she achieves can only come from a highly skilled, fully mature vocalist.  The song ends with her laughing and you can almost feel her saying "Take that" to all the naysayers in the press.
       Still resistant to embark on an extended tour to support her albums, she chose instead, to perform a full show for MTV Unplugged.  This electrifying concert, filmed at Kaufman Astoria Studio's in NYC, is carried off by a poised and spirited young woman in total command of her stage.  This pretty much ended the criticism from all but the most strident voices in the press. If you look closely in the video you'll notice Emotions co-writer & member of C&C Music Factory Robert Cole playing the piano.  Also in the background is a four piece string section, a ten member choir, and playing the bass is Randy Jackson formerly with the band Journey and a future judge on American Idol.  It's a special performance by a special singer and that's why I've chosen it for today's feature.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Mariah Carey's spectacular live performance of:

 Emotions