Does Mariah Carey Artificilaly Create her Studio Vocals?

Post by: Diva Devotee

The Elusive Chanteuse was a great album, regardless of the bleak sales. But something about some of the tunes on the LP always got my Spidey senses tingling. It was definitely Mariah Carey but the voice had a Splenda quality to it in parts, if ya get what I mean.

Mariah's voice is of course subject to change and has done so with each release- there's an article or video in that. So I reconciled this unease with an adapted technique, namely shedding weight and taking a more nasal attack, to hit the higher notes.


But now, I'm feeling on these pearls, slightly shook. A canny YouTuber [EAI] has played with the pitch of Thirsty, Heavenly and Camouflage to create a vocal that is not only more natural, but that was truer to the Diva's live showings around the time. If this modulation is really what happened in the studio, we gotta ask why- especially considering the tracks also sound fabulous dahling, lowered.

Well, Mariah has told us herself that she has a penchant for higher, trickier belts to up the drama of the music. So maybe instead of not being able to hit the notes rerecording the material to suit a higher key, the engineers modulated the piece to give it that extra pep. Arguably it may also have been a tactic to make the voice more youthful- since it has become darker with time- but I could only see that benefiting the crunk-y Thirsty since ain't no kids gonna be bopping to Camouflage or Heavenly.

Studio magic or not, I wish Mariah would release her material in a lower key from the get go, if only so there's a chance she can perform za material live. It's an approach she appears to be road-testing, but it's been a hit and miss affair: working for her latest release, The Star but not so much for the lacklustre Lil Snowman.

Still, perhaps it says something about her vision as a creative person. I wouldn't tell an artist to use less colours or tools when trying to create the masterpieces they envisage in their noggins. Perhaps its unfair to not afford Maaza the same leeway.

Thoughts?