[Brando]

Originally posted by Meredy

How old are you? Do you even read books? I could write All Too Well in like just an hour. Her narration is sloppy as if it was written by an average teenager. Mariah didn't rely on using exact words like 'scared' or 'cold' or cliche phrases like 'magic's not there anymore' to tell how she felt. . She was able to describe how she felt firmer using sensory details.

Pretty much. The whole mist of Taylor being a "good songwriter" is just one delusional mess. She does write like a sloppy teenager and it's certainly not her forte.

[Wicked]

Mariah is one of the greatest songwriters who ever lived.

My All, Looking In, Underneath the Stars, The Roof, Vanishing, Vision of Love, Outside, etc. Are better written than any Taylor song and I borderline Stan Taylor.

[Miracle Whip]

Mariah and it's not even close

Taylor is a good songwriter but not amazing

Where is her Vision Of Love, Breakdown, The Roof, Butterfly, Can't Let Go etc...

[SeanET]

Originally posted by IVY

So we have Taylor Swift whose lyrics are always praised to heaven by the critics and then Mariah who rarely got any credit for her songwriting. But who do you think is the better songwriter?

17 #1 singles as a songwriter

Taylor will never

Originally posted by Ash12345

Taylor is still going
Although as of right now id give it to Mariah
Taylor's the Mariah of her generation though tbh

[Ties]

Originally posted by Meredy

How old are you? Do you even read books? I could write All Too Well in like just an hour. Her narration is sloppy as if it was written by an average teenager. Mariah didn't rely on using exact words like 'scared' or 'cold' or cliche phrases like 'magic's not there anymore' to tell how she felt. . She was able to describe how she felt firmer using sensory details.

Hello? Threw caution in the wind? Twisted in the web? Are these not cliches?

All I see from these The Roof lyrics are flowery descriptions of a certain moment of time and her recollection of it. Don't be fooled by the vocabulary, we aren't being told anything more than 'it was a wonderful time and i felt good'. We really don't learn anything. There's no complexity of emotion.

Taylor tells a complete tale with striking specificity in All Too Well, something far more admirable.

[artpop]

Mariah and its not even close.

[Meredy]

Originally posted by Ties

Hello? Threw caution in the wind? Twisted in the web? Are these not cliches?

All I see from these The Roof lyrics are flowery descriptions of a certain moment of time and her recollection of it. We really don't learn anything.

Taylor tells a complete tale with striking specificity in All Too Well, something far more admirable.

Try googling those phrases with quotation marks, those are not widely used phrases and Mariah was able to use "threw caution to (not 'in', kid) tastefully and no other person aside from Mariah has used "twisted in the web of my desire."

"Striking specifity" more like "striking basicness"

"You're on the phone with your girlfriend she's upset"
"You taught me 'bout your past, thinking your future was me."
"Photo album on the counter, your cheeks were turning red."

Brando has succinctly stated what's I think about Taylor's songwriting skills, by the way.

In the roof, Mariah has described a single moment in her life in a very descriptive way, like you can actually feel it. Unlike Taylor who sounds like a basic hormonal teenage girl.

Also,

[EJQL8]

Yass @ The Roof ha lyrics.
Who else could write something that romantic and dramatic about getting ha ***** pounded by a Yankee shortstop on the rooftop and how much joy and pleasure she felt that she loves to relieve it.

[Miracle Whip]

Originally posted by EJQL8

Yass @ The Roof ha lyrics.
Who else could write something that romantic and dramatic about getting ha ***** pounded by a Yankee shortstop on the rooftop and how much joy and pleasure she felt that she loves to relieve it.

[abrahamjmr]

Swifties always stick to All Too Well. It seems like it's the only good song has written when she has so much better. There's a reason why Marian is on my sig and I will go with her. Taylor doesn't have a single song like My All, The Roof, Vision of Love, Vanishing or Looking In. Sorry.

[Meredy]

Originally posted by EJQL8

Yass @ The Roof ha lyrics.
Who else could write something that romantic and dramatic about getting ha ***** pounded by a Yankee shortstop on the rooftop and how much joy and pleasure she felt that she loves to relieve it.

@Wicked

I always thought that Fourth of July is superior lyrically and production-wise compared to Underneath the Stars.

[Wicked]

Originally posted by Meredy

@Wicked

I always thought that Fourth of July is superior lyrically and production-wise compared to Underneath the Stars.

How could I forget that one!!

And I think I agree with you there.

So starry eyed
On the flowery hillside
Breathless and fervid
Amid the dandelions
As it swept over me
Like the wind through the trees
I felt you sigh with a
Sweet intensity and baby

Chorus

Then you put your hand in mine
And we floated away
Delicately lay entwined
In an intimate daze
A crescent moon began to shine
And I wanted to stay
Tangled up with you among the fireflies
On that Fourth of July

[EJQL8]

"Looking In"

You look at me and see the girl
Who lives inside the golden world
But don't believe
That's all there is to see
You'll never know the real me

She smiles through a thousand tears
And harbors adolescent fears
She dreams of all
That she can never be
She wades in insecurity
And hides herself inside of me

Don't say, "She takes it all for granted"
I'm well aware of all I have
Don't think that I am disenchanted
Please understand

It seems as though I've always been
Somebody outside looking in
Well, here I am for all of them to bleed
But they can't take my heart from me
And they can't bring me to my knees
They'll never know the real me

Who else could write a "**** you haters" song this gentle and mellow? G0D ha literary prowess.

[Nemo]

Mariah Carey is one of the best songwriters of all time... So her
But they're both astounding songwriters

[Tigre]

Originally posted by Ties

Hello? Threw caution in the wind? Twisted in the web? Are these not cliches?

All I see from these The Roof lyrics are flowery descriptions of a certain moment of time and her recollection of it. Don't be fooled by the vocabulary, we aren't being told anything more than 'it was a wonderful time and i felt good'. We really don't learn anything. There's no complexity of emotion.

Taylor tells a complete tale with striking specificity in All Too Well, something far more admirable.

Well actually if the lyrics in the song continued (because the OP only included a portion of the critically acclaimed masterpiece) the song ends:

Last night I had the strangest dream
It was actually quite symbolic
And I whispered
That I loved you
Very silently

So she's eluding to how the mystery man gives her more feeling and love on one rainy night than anybody she ever had experienced a connection with. Pretty deep. When will Love Story?

[Pecinta Mariah]

Originally posted by Tigre

Well actually if the lyrics in the song continued (because the OP only included a portion of the critically acclaimed masterpiece) the song ends:

Last night I had the strangest dream
It was actually quite symbolic
And I whispered
That I loved you
Very silently

So she's eluding to how the mystery man gives her more feeling and love on one rainy night than anybody she ever had experienced a connection with. Pretty deep. When will Love Story?

I didn't know that The Roof is about that , Mariah's lyricism sometimes is hard to understand what the meaning behind those words is, what her intention is etc. etc.
When I first listen Outside, It took me like months to comprehend words behind Outside

It's hard to explain
Inherently it's just always been strange
Neither here nor there
Always somewhat out of place everywhere
Ambiguous
Without a sense of belonging to touch
Somewhere halfway
Feeling there's no one completely the same

[Chorus:]
Standing alone
Eager to just
Believe it's good enough to be what
You really are
But in your heart
Uncertainty forever lies
And you'll always be
Somewhere on the
Outside

Then I was "Oh **** man, this bitch is telling me to be myself"

[muddysquirrel]

Taylor.

How much has Mariah written solo? Like ever? "The Roof" has 6 songwriters credited.

[Wicked]

Originally posted by muddysquirrel

Taylor.

How much has Mariah written solo? Like ever? "The Roof" has 6 songwriters credited.

On the actual 'Butterfly' disc she's credited for the lyrics (solo) on majority of the album.

Edit:

[EJQL8]

Originally posted by muddysquirrel

Taylor.

How much has Mariah written solo? Like ever? "The Roof" has 6 songwriters credited.

Mariah had many songwriters credited because of sampling.
And her collaborators (and her) have stated that she writes the lyrics all by herself, then they work on the music (coz she can't play instruments). They'd just contribute a line or two here and there, but the lyrics are 95-100% hers.

[anti-bitch]

Let me just quote what Mariah said about her songwriting back in 1994 for Q Magazine.

I stand by my pop songs, definitely she says. I've had to put up with a lot of people accusing me of being either 'too white' or 'too black' and I hate that, but music for me is such a celebratory thing; sometimes when I'm writing it's coming from such a place of happiness. And then there are the schmaltzy ballads, I acknowledge that's what they are, I'm a realist about it, I have a sense of humor about it, but the truth is sometimes it's OK. Y'know, there are moments when you can't resist schmaltz. People are affected by it; they're moved; it can help them.

One person could say Hero (her eighth American Number I) is a schmaltzy piece of garbage, but another person can write me a letter and say, I've considered committing suicide every day of my life for the past 10 years until I heard that song and I realized after all I can be my own hero. And that, that's an unexplainable feeling, like I've done something with my life, y'know? Here I am the propped-up doll tralala singing a song - and it meant something to someone. So you can critique it to the end of time, I've done my job.

Maybe someone will hear one of my singles and go, Oh, please, that's such a tired lyric. And I'd acknowledge, yeah, I just had to get that finished - it fitted but it wasn't the most moving line I ever wrote, she says. But then you could look at album tracks like The Wind (from Emotions) which is about a friend of mine who died because of a drunk-driving accident.
That song flows from personal experience, which may be the key. It's not as if she's had an uneventful life. Wouldn't real-life stories, rather than amorphous generalizations or dewy platitudes, open up more substantial possibilities for her? I tell my stories in my own way, she insists. Not everything has to be soul-searching, gut wrenching, heart-rending. I'm not going to kill myself digging in night and day for that inner pain. If I did, I think it would be too heavy. I would hurt people and I would hurt myself. I'm not ready for it.