Erm, awkward! I don't know if I even want to get into Mariah Carey's Good Morning America mini-concert. But here goes:
From the moment she stepped onto the stage, you could see that all wasn't well with the usually pristine Carey- I mean, come on, when was the last time you saw her hair looking greasy?? Surviving a wardrobe malfunction, things really went downhill before new single #Beautiful, when Mariah inadvertently swore live on television. The choice of word was an ominous sign of things to come from the impending Miguel duet.
Fans will know moments like these aren't unusual for the singer and actually aren't much of an issue when she's in concert, with her fans and not being recorded. However, the Mariah that gets in front of a camera is a different beast and wants everything to be as perfect as possible- hence the triple pre-taping of her American Idol performance.
I'm not going to lie, I actually loved watching this looser persona up on the GMA stage. But since it's so out of character for her televised recordings, I have to wonder: what happened? I'd like to say she was on the hooch, but considering it was so early in the morning (and I don't want to be sued for libel), I think it was more likely due to a lack of sleep. Admittedly it was funny to watch, but I'm praying this isn't the start of another Glitter-style meltdown.
As for the vocals, I'd say she was actually slaying. Always Be My Baby and We Belong Together weren't perfect, but those imperfections are what showed us this was all live and that she can still sing without playback! Especially impressive was what went on during We Belong Together. I'd always been of the opinion that, other than her BET performance of the song, all other renditions were somewhat lipped as the song jumped an octave. But this performance shut me up with how easily she handled it live and in an early morning/ outdoor setting.
Yep, #Beautiful was a mess. No getting over that. Mariah, you need to stop the whisper-register and stick to your full voice. It only adds to the opinion that your voice is damaged when you're singing in that often-ghostly and frail sounding timbre. The other performances show this is certainly not the case.
In conclusion: get that publicity, baby! Just don't make this a habit!
Always Be My Baby:
We Belong Together:
#Beautiful:
lol. ... YIKES. Miguel was worse. He wasn't sure what key he wanted to be singing in. The shoes were off and Mariah had just given up by that point.
ReplyDeleteThere's some rasp in her voice I haven't heard before. Gives it a little character.
ReplyDeleteLook, Mariah, don't ever apologize because your performance isn't perfect. Nobody is. I'd rather listen to somebody who is human rather than someone who is a diva. I've never been a big fan of hers but I've always known her as a 1%er in the biz. Still is in my book.
These kinds of live performances are the hardest, don't you agree? Its not like a concert where they're in total control of the situation. They get squeezed into these tight windows of time and if something's not right, too bad. You're on anyway. Sometimes they don't even get a sound check. Outdoors is always a challenge for numerous reasons and you have a recipe for disaster. That's why people lip sync em.
ReplyDeleteWe are such a critical society. In this business, they are graded on how bad their worst note is, not how good their best note is and that's a shame because we miss out on the good stuff sometimes. I'd rather see a bad performance than a lip sync any day.
I'm sorry, but you act like one performance- a morning performance- is enough proof that her whistle is gone, despite plenty of amazing live whistles this past year?
ReplyDeleteI want you to know, sir, that singing in the morning is TREMENDOUSLY difficult. Even Leona Lewis- who is in her prime- has had trouble with morning performances (see off-key version of Lovebird).
Lastly, unless Mariah consistently produces bad whistles from now on, I will chalk these ones up to her BEING HUMAN and NOT SOUNDING PERFECT ALL THE TIME.
Haha yeah that was a mess, but at least she could joke about it.
ReplyDelete"I'd rather see a bad performance than a lip sync any day." Totally!
ReplyDeleteMariah did good with her classic hits, but a bitch knows to be on point with Always Be My Baby. I will not forgive her if she fucks that song up live. Beautiful on the other hand was a mess! The end of the performance was cringe-worthy for both her and Miguel. Either way, I'm glad she performed the whole set live!
ReplyDeleteI think the reason why people tend to exaggerate a not so great performance by Mariah is because she perpetuates this ideal of perfection herself with the use of lipped notes heavy backing tracks and dubbed performances.
ReplyDeleteBut as I said in the post, her voice is far from over. I also think her whistle register is fine. She's commented in an interview that some days she can sing in it, some days she cant. So this must have been a "can't" day.
Lol that wardrobe malfunction did create a....bonding moment. Least...looked to me like Mariah gave that presenter the once over right at the end there. ;-)
ReplyDeleteBeautiful was a disappointing mess but the othe two songs were okay and Mariah did indeed seem to have fun inspite of things not going perfectly.
A MESS!!!! I could not look a way, I wanted to stop watching after the 1st video but like a moth to a flame I couldn't deny myself the pleasure of watching this train-wreck. Like us she truly is human and in the words of a true legend "everybody makes mistakes, everybody has those days"
ReplyDeleteThat's barely the point of why I wrote that. That sentence was just an afterthought after I wrote what I wanted to say. Live performances are HARD. Especially these ones.
ReplyDeleteI just appreciate them trying. I actually enjoyed most of the performance (first song). Her interacting with the crowd, and some big belts.
did... did you just call Miley Cyrus a true legend?
ReplyDeleteStop right there.
Yes, I just seized the moment because these conversations keep running the scenario of it being either/or. Felt this was a good moment to point out....it is not.
ReplyDeleteI did not mean to imply this wasn't a good performance. I think the first two songs were good.
''Beautiful'', I think we can all agree on, was bad.
LOL kidding
ReplyDeleteIt was far from 'beautiful'...
ReplyDeleteI feel like hardcore stans are either delusional or overly critical. I found those performances good. She sounded great and looked good and that's the important.
ReplyDeleteThat 'We Belong Together'...HOLY SHIT. I've never heard her do better on that. 'ABMB' was phenomenal as usual. Then...erm...something happened? I don't know - I watched the full version of '#Beautiful', and I gotta say, something went wacky with Mariah's whistles at the end. Too much whispering in the verses, and you could audibly hear her TRYING to sing in the whistle register, which is something I've not heard before. But, she has said that there are days where it just doesn't work, and that song goes up to C#7, so I guess that this was one of those (unfortunate) days.
ReplyDeleteThere was a video of them doing a reherseal of #Beautiful and Miguel was ON KEY and Mariah didnt sound as bad as she did during the actual live broadcast. Im wondering what the heck happened because this was sort of a mess. You all know I love my mimi but I cringe when she tries to be funny on live Tv when her fans arent the only base watching and most people take that as her being stuck up. What people seem to misunderstand about the way she uses her whistle register is that it is NOT really good technique for the most part. There are technically two sets of vocal folds and Im a firm believer that she uses the thinner weaker ones for whistle due to her vocal fold issues. A lot of Metal singers use this technique to make the hollow "screaming" sound but the cords can also be used for whistle. Well anyways when one uses this technique BOTH voices can go on at the same time. I believe Ariana Made a video about that? Though hers came in one at a time, Mariahs had moments before when shed try to whistle or chest a note and the other voice would come in too. Though she could just have been lip syncing I swear I heard a whistly tone while she was sort of ahem*...weazing.
ReplyDeleteBitch please, this woman still has got game! Always Be My Baby & We Belong Together was pretty good to me. Obviously not as good as her prime years, but it's still definitely better than those pop-clowns in the industry today. As for #Beautiful, Miguel was a bigger mess. I think Mariah was fine. She didn't simply shoot notes all over like Miguel and sing incredibly off-key. Stage fright maybe? Mariah was [at least] consistent and I LOVED the whistle notes here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rTv3TKD2Bo (taped by a pretty good quality phone[cam?] live, imo)
ReplyDeleteAlso, I just randomly noticed that one of P!nk's song from The Truth About Love sounds like We Belong Together. The track's called True Love featuring Lily Allen.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rTv3TKD2Bo
ReplyDeleteExcuse me? That is SO MUCH different compared to what I found of a live taping by a phone or cam. I'll let everyone decide which is real?
Funny I was listening to this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-emBE3y-XQ when I hopped on here.
ReplyDeletethis is just embarrassing http://gawker.com/good-morning-america-replaced-mariah-careys-vocals-for-509743688
ReplyDeleteIn regards to the last bit, it was because she was lip syncing :P
ReplyDeleteEek. I watched until Beautiful, felt so bad for her that I had to turn it off before the hot mess got hotter...
ReplyDeletehaha what's with GMA wardrobe malfunctions , her arch nemesis nicki had the same thing happen.
ReplyDeleteI don't really care about #Beautiful performance. The song is not good initially anyway. I'm glad to see she sang Always Be My Baby live though. However, I'm not so sure whether or not WBT is totally live. Some notes and belts are quite questionable to me.
ReplyDeleteI TOTALLY caught that!
ReplyDeleteLol we seem to be the only two.
ReplyDeleteLol I always feel late to the party these days (sorry - I blame my obsessing over completing this college course). I have to say I was absolutely gobsmacked at how brilliant she sounded (bar #beautiful). But then being one of the most devout lambs out there I would say that. The quality of her voice is just stunning in those first two performances, but heck I just bloody love the woman, I totally get her quirky sense of humour! I just wish others would appreciate her more for that too than being so quick to slam her with the negative diva tag! She is just a bloody legend, end of story!!!!
ReplyDeletePs. DD, once I complete the last of my college work this week I will work on the Ellie Goulding profile update, I haven't forgotten about it! Also hope all you DD regulars are doing good, miss your chat! :) xx
I have this video in my Mariah youtube playlist, her voice here is absolutely incredible. She really demonstrates the power, range and more importantly the natural beauty of her voice! Truly an epic performance. Also having listened to the new videos here the quality of her voice doesn't really seem to have diminished as much as some would like to claim, perhaps only the upper registers! But brilliant stuff! :)
ReplyDeleteMissed you plenty, Stu, and we are happy to hear you wrapping up something so important and challenging. We look forward to seeing you around soon!
ReplyDeleteWhy doesn't she just rearrange her songs? I'm not talking just going a half-step lower, I'm talking about redoing them entirely to not only spice them up, but to also make them easy to sing live. What I've always found the most impressive about Mariah's live performances since the Charmbracelet tour is the way she's trained herself to fix a bad note when she knows it's coming or to fix a flat note as soon as it happens. It's like she has pitch correction in her brain. Her best performances have been snippets because they're bare boned, DIFFERENT, and allow for improvisation. If she stopped worrying about her damn dresses and which side of her face is showing, and just got out there with someone playing the guitar or the piano, people's jaws would be on the floor. She wouldn't even have to rehearse much, but I do think she should be warming up more as her voice in 2012-2013 is the most inconsistent we've ever heard from her in an "era" because you can't pinpoint a consistent issue like in other eras, but other than her exquisite comeback show at Gotham Hall, there is always something.
ReplyDeleteMissed you too Mr! I should be finished all of my work tomorrow (here's hoping) so I shall be back full force! Missing everyone's chat for sure!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.goodlightscraps.com/content/miss-you/miss-you-68.gif
Look forward to that! Finally, I'll have more company. And the Three Counters/Tenors will all be reunited. :P
ReplyDeleteIndeed! Failing that you can always e-mail me and I will annoy you via that means hehe :)
ReplyDeleteAwesome. But I wanted to desist from that since you were totally swamped. I did send a friendly Skype message your way to offer my continued support as you wrap up!
ReplyDeleteReally? Gosh I am really sorry I totally missed that! Do'h! My head is clearly up my anus....! How are things with you in general though? How is your work going? :)
ReplyDeleteEntering Month #3 and a lot is happening. I am now at my permanent site and have met a great number of interesting people. I am doing my community observations and fact-finding. There have been some negative experiences which are notable, but thus far, it has been mostly positive.
ReplyDeleteI am intrigued. :-)
ReplyDeleteI have to give a full account one of these days! :-)
ReplyDeleteNow people are saying WBT and ABMB are pre-recorded. Go here http://www.eonline.com/news/423032/mariah-carey-sings-good-morning-america-cleans-up-her-vocals-watch-now The first video is mariah singing beautiful during the east coast broadcast. She struggled a lot then it has the west coast were it appears they dubbed her.
ReplyDeleteOr at least another hint. ;-)
ReplyDeleteYes, here:
ReplyDeletehttp://youtu.be/S4oeHInpa3A?t=23m50s
the vocals were good
ReplyDeletebut i dont think she was lipping - because in beautiful u can clearly hear the cracks and imperfections in her whistle notes
but i love seeing singers like this - raw and just natural
i like it when not everything is so rehearsed and planned and mariah looked like she was having fun
now of course her voice is deteriorating but you can't expect her voice to be perfect forever
Are u DUMB? The woman is outta breath and looking like a mess and you still think she's lipsyncing ? Finda life, ASS!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJj-dy9SDCI
ReplyDeleteKeep up the good work though dude! You are an inspiration, not many people would or could do what you are doing! Respect from myself is augmented some more :)
ReplyDeleteThanks! I really do appreciate the support because it is a challenging assignment but an exciting one as well. :-) And now I have to share all of these pictures and stories. Be sure to check my FB for my photographic coverage!
ReplyDeleteI shall do and have been having a sneaky peek whenever I am on there, I did go through a bit of a facebook fast at one point but my addiction went into relapse recently lol. The photos are brilliant!
ReplyDeleteI wasn't quite bowing down, but I saw it and I recognised it!
ReplyDeleteI do wonder....Ego, perhaps.
ReplyDeleteConcentrate on your work, buddy!! But will be glad to have you back! http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lpdmjp7xrW1qgdxoz.gif
ReplyDeleteI am V glad to be back, also all of my college work is now done (woop) passed my course and got a grade A in the graded unit part of it. So now I can get back to doing what I love doing, posting here and having a life in general hehe! Hope you have been keeping well DD, and behaving ;)
ReplyDeleteThanks so much! Plenty to see and plenty of time to see it!
ReplyDeleteDoesn't she? She did in Australia... lowering the key in Emotions, etc.
ReplyDeleteHonestly I think everything was live. Especially on ABMB on timmmmmeeee (the run ish belt) there was a little rasp. And on WBT her phrasing was different on the octave jump and the last C5 was def live because she didn't hold it that long and you could hear her vibrato
ReplyDeleteThis is why I'm embarrassed to be a Mariah fan these days. Her fans used to be normal and friendly.
ReplyDelete