Mariah Carey gave her first EVER live performance of new single Triumphant (Get Em) at the opening of the NFL Kickoff and delivered anything BUT the performance that was needed to revive the song's efforts on the charts.
Anyone who likes Mariah Carey for her whistle register will love this, and consider this performance a success; but anyone who loves Mariah for her strong belting, her (usually) uncanny pitch control, her gorgeous tone, and her overall Godliness when it comes to "the voice" will be EXTREMELY disappointed.
She may have been sick (her speaking voice at the end seems to show this), she may have been nervous, but that's not going to be an excuse for those she's going to judging on American Idol- where one performance can make or break them- so I'm not going to peddle them out for her.
I think it's time Mariah Carey re-evaluated her live range and started tailoring her recorded songs to that if she wants any hope of singing them live. There's no shame in doing so, everyone's voice changes as they age, and it's a strategy that's already worked successfully for her during her concert in Morocco [watch here] earlier this year.
Either that or I need to start lowering my standards of what I expect from a Mariah Carey vocal-- and that will be a sad day.
