http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20818390,00.html 全文關鍵字：That Voice Me. I Am Mariah...The Elusive Chanteuse Reviewed by Melissa Maerz on May 20, 2014 1.當專輯封面看起來像那種畫在休旅車上面的愛神(大家可以去google看看)，標題又是 Me又是I的，實在很難認真看待The Elusive Chanteuse這個副標。 2.雖五年未發片，卻處處可見咪咪：上電視賣香水、聊小孩(產房播Fantasy)，以及AI不 愉快的評審經驗。 3.聽到專輯開場曲"Cry."使人振奮，瑪咪咪搭配鋼琴的演出，我們終於再度專注於她的 音樂。 Let's start with that subtitle: The Elusive Chanteuse? It's hard to take it seriously when the first two words in Mariah Carey's new album title are Me and I, and she's standing right there on the cover in a crocheted swimsuit like a vision of Aphrodite that somebody airbrushed on the side of a van. And although the singer hasn't released a proper studio full-length since 2009's Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel, she's been everywhere: claiming she needed ''a fragrant moment'' with her perfume on HSN; telling 20/20 that she gave birth to her now 3-year-old twins while blasting her own song, "Fantasy," in the delivery room; having a hold-my-hoops showdown with Nicki Minaj on American Idol. (Her time as a judge on Idol, she told Billboard, "was not festive.") So it's genuinely exciting that she opens her new album with "Cry," an emotional Mariah-at-the-piano ballad that could make people start to care about the music again. 新專輯大量展現咪咪最棒的資產：That Voice！ "You Don't Know What to Do"讓人想起Dreamgirls裡面"biang-biang叫(台語)"的 Jennifer Holliday，而"Dedicated"則是對嘻哈黃金時期的致敬。 Working with longtime collaborator Jermaine Dupri, Carey front-loads the track list with midtempo R&B and soulful torch songs that spotlight her best asset: That Voice. She comes on strong with Jennifer Holliday-in-Dreamgirls bravado on "You Don't Know What to Do." ("You'd better SING IT, girl!" yelps guest Wale appreciatively.) And she's whistle-toning all over the end of "Dedicated," a fun, Wu-Tang-sampling tribute to hip-hop's golden age, featuring Nas. 1.「復古懷舊」是專輯另一個主題，包括詞曲。Stevie Wonder更在"Make It Look Good" 大秀口琴solo，傳奇再現。 2.還是有太多感傷情歌，其中包括以豎琴伴奏的"Supernatural"。 3.在唱詩班和已故牧師James Cleveland的強力感染之下，你真的很難不被福音大作 "Heavenly"打動；這首歌是近年來最能讓我們回到”Vision of Love”的歌曲。 Nostalgia is a big theme here, both lyrically (she's looking through old photo books on "Faded") and musically, with arrangements that borrow from Inner Life's disco rave-up "I'm Caught Up (In a One Night Love Affair)" and the O'Jays' Philly-soul classic "Let Me Make Love to You." Stevie Wonder even whips out a harmonica solo for "Make It Look Good" that could've been unearthed from the crates. There are still way too many slow, generic love songs and too much schmaltz, like the harp-strumming "Supernatural" (featuring the giggles and babblings of "DemBabies, a.k.a. Ms. Monroe and Moroccan Scott Cannon, a.k.a. Roc N' Roe," according to the album credits). But it's easy to get nostalgic yourself during the gospel epic "Heavenly (No Ways Tired/Can't Give Up Now)," backed by a full choir and samples of the late Rev. James Cleveland, with Mariah trilling like crazy. This might not be the "Vision of Love" Mariah, but she sounds more like that girl than she has in a while. 你可以聽到這個聲音所經歷過的風風雨雨， 雖然專輯裡有些高音聽起來像科技產物。(不太會翻，sorry) 然而在電音和Auto-Tune的包夾之下，還有誰能像她這樣繼續飆高音？ 雖然有新咪咪Ariana Grand，但我們依然需要舊咪咪。 而且這次瑪咪咪要告訴你：she's not going！ That Voice has been through a lot, and you can hear it. There are times on The Elusive Chanteuse when she's trying to power through a note where it sounds like digital technology might be holding her up by the straps of that crocheted swimsuit. But who else has survived EDM and Auto-Tune and still climbs her way up the octaves like this? Ariana Grande may have been christened the "new Mariah," but we still need the old one. And she is telling you that she's not going. B --

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