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January 16, 2008 First Review: Mariah’s ‘That Chick’ & Janet’s ‘Discipline’
Words can’t express how excited I am about the new Mariah Carey album that will be entitled That Chick! My mind is racing with all the possibilities of what that title will mean in regards to the sound of the album which is set to be released in April! But anyway, DefJam had a listening session in London on Wednesday, where they played the majority of Mariah Carey and Janet Jackson’s new albums.
Here’s what Discopop had to say, even though the writer obviously wasn’t the biggest Mimi fan the review was still positive which says a lot.
So, Def Jam were showing off the two female jewels in their crown today with playbacks of the new Janet Jackson and Mariah Carey albums.
“Label Boss Antonio “LA” Reid seemed very excited about both of them, although that is his job, and mentioned plans for six singles from Mariah’s That Chick, which hits the stores in April.
Their old diva (in terms of contract, not age, of course) is Mariah, who is riding high after the 7xPlatinum-selling Emancipation Of Mimi.
We got to hear 10 tracks from the follow-up, That Chick, which I have to say sounded more polished and commercial than Janet’s effort.
One track in particular is set to make big bucks, and that’s Bye Bye – a torch song for people “who lost they grandmothers”. I guarantee that Simon Cowell will be sick of hearing badly-realised auditions of it by the end of the year.
Lyrics were never Carey’s strong point, mind you, so her paean to loss is summed up with not-very-insightful Hallmark platitudes like “I’d give the world to see your face” and “Life goes on”. Profound, eh?
Still, at least it’s better than when she desperately attempts to prove how bang up to date she is. In Touch My Body, she purrs to her lover: “If there’s a camera up in here then I best not catch this flick on youtube (youtube)”. Not exactly the sexiest boudoir come-on you’ve ever heard, is it?
But there are plenty of good tunes to counter the awesomely bad lyrics. Migrate, about a night out with Mariah while she wears jeans (”yeah, they fit”, she informs us) is sure to be a candidate for heavy MTV rotation, although I hope to god they excise T-Pain’s hopelessly strained vocals. Lovin’ You Long Time, meanwhile, is a strutting uptempo number very much in the style of It’s Like That.
So, what have we learnt from this listening “event”? Well, I wasn’t overwhelmed by the music – despite (or perhaps because of) the fact it was played so ear-splittingly loud that it felt like I was being punched repeatedly in the ears by a cyberman. Both artists have turned in a tuneful, competent set of R&B songs, but I’m not sure that any of them have the charisma or vitality to compete with the Rihannas and Beyonces of this world.
Both albums: 6/10 (scores may go up or down after further listens at levels tolerable to the human ear).
To read what they had to say about Janet Jackson’s Discipline CLICK HERE!
