Mariah Carey | Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel – PunchBowlBlog initial review
The Buzz | Intimate playback of 6 tracks from MC’s 12th studio album
The Makeup | Afternoon tea at The Langham Hotel, complete with pink fairy cakes, butterfly and Mariah Carey stencils on the windows and walls
The Hype | 2/5
Butterflies flew on the wall, waiter’s served afternoon tea with champagne and pink fairy cakes and had we not been in The Langham Hotel’s oh- so-plush Artisan Bar it would be easy to imagine how a Mariah Carey slumber party would look like. Over the top and decadent in equal measures, it proved an apt setting for the unveiling of 6 new tracks from Mariah’s, Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel.
Unfortunately the cupcakes were the highlight of the afternoon
.
Sickeningly overproduced RnB masked any venerability the album title unsubtely suggests. MC’s vocals continues to prove a bitter disapointment managing to be dull, deep and distant all at the same time. Candy Bling complete with its looping chorus of “back in day when we was in love, but we ain’t in love anymore” was almost undecipherable until her ad-libs at the very end, while on H.A.T.E U, her trademark high notes sounded more like a chareless whisper.
If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery then Standing O draws its inspiration from a middle aged Sengalese rapper/singer then a VH1 Diva but thankfully it’s not all bad. On the last track, a surprise cover of The Foreigners smultzy ballad, I Want To Know What Love Is, MC redeems herself and you can almost see Simon Cowell kicking himself for not having the hindsight to get Leona Lewis to cover it. While we we’re told that Mariah’s still recording more songs the only original track worth keeping from the playback would be Impossible which was head and shoulders above the rest even with the same autotune effect as 90’s bands like Jodeci and Blackstreet. In a difficult week that saw Eminem, Ether her on The Warning, Mariah willingness to rush out a new record within a year of her last LP, seems as questionable as the performance of her new single Obsessed on hubby Nick Cannon’s show.
So with tracks as digitally modified as her recent album covers, we would advice MC spend some more (much needed) time in the studio.
Tracklisting:
Candy Bling | Written by Mariah Carey, Carlos Mckinney and Terius ‘The Dream’ Nash
Obsessed | Written by Mariah Carey, C. ‘Tricky’ Stewart and Terius ‘The Dream’ Nash
H.A.T.E. U | Written by Mariah Carey, C. ‘Tricky’ Stewart and Terius ‘The Dream’ Nash
Standing O | Written by Mariah Carey, C. ‘Tricky’ Stewart and Terius ‘The Dream’ Nash
Impossible | Written by Mariah Carey, C. ‘Tricky’ Stewart and Terius ‘The Dream’ Nash
I Want To Know What Love Is |Written by Mick Jones
All tracks produced by C. ‘Tricky’ Stewart and Terius ‘The Dream’ Nash for Radio Killa Records
Candy Bling sounds so ghetto! 
I can't stand this
Mariah giving me a headache.....