It’s time! and now that Spotify Wrapped came out to the surprise of no one, Mariah Carey was my top artist. This is the third time in a row, but she has always been in my Top 5 since I started using Spotify. I was in her top 0.02% of listeners, and she may be the Queen of Christmas, but she rules all the seasons in my house. I first became a fan in 2016 after I came across the “It’s Like That” music video on YouTube. I was obsessed with the song, the production, the plot of that music video, and the second part, “We Belong Together.” It hooked me in, and I have been a fan since.

Mariah Carey has sixteen music albums, and of them all, The Emancipation of Mimi is my favourite. It contains the songs that made me fall in love with Mariah. With every year that has gone by, I become obsessed with a different song from that album. She hadn’t released new music since 2018, so I was excited when she announced that she would release new music this year. The new album is called Here for It All; yes, it did make it into my top five albums of the year. Since there is enough distance, I feel it would be fun to go and review the songs and give my thoughts. (I am not a music student, so I can’t comment on the genre influences, on the intricacies of melodies, unless it’s obvious) Music is not my strength.

Mi

I like this song; it has a fun vibe. Mariah sings about being a DIVA and how she likes nice things and doesn’t care about things that have nothing to do with her. We love an unbothered queen. It’s a strong opening and is fun and light.

Play this song (feat. Anderson Pak)

This song has a softer tone than the first one. Mariah tells an ex-lover that she knows he feels sad after the break-up and that she has changed, if they want to try again, but she doubts it. Mairah, although private, also uses her personal life to write songs; some examples, revealed through her memoir, include “The Roof” and “My All,” which are about Derek Jeter. She did break up with her longtime boyfriend, Brian Tamaka, last year, so this song could be about that. But yeah, I will definitely “play this song by myself.”

Type Dangerous

This has a hip-hop vibe; on the surface, it’s about Mairah being a diva, and how she is looking for that dangerous type of love because she is not afraid of love. She also revisits some of her past relationships and explores the issues that led to their breakdown. Very, very subtle though. I like it.

Sugar Sweet (feat. Shenseea & Kehlani)

I think this is my favourite song on the album. It’s pretty catchy, and I feel the collaboration works well; everyone complements each other. It’s basically about keeping a relationship light and breezy, and the song feels that way as well.

In Your Feelings

This is a ballad, I think. It is another break-up song, probably about Tamaka. We have Mariah referencing a break-up; some references mention that he couldn’t handle her success, and she needed to let him go. She is sad but didn’t reveal it to him; instead, she focused on how she only had time to take a picture, as if he is just a fan.

Nothing is Impossible

This song is a ballad, like the song “Hero,” in that Mariah sings about overcoming adversity in her life with her inner strength. I like it. I can see it joining Hero when I need inspiration to tackle difficult things that I feel I can’t do, like a deadlift with proper form.

Confetti & Champagne

As a fan of Confetti by Little Mix, I had already decided I would like this song from the name alone. This is also a break-up song, in that Mariah is saying that even without her ex, her life is still a celebration, as there are always confetti and champagne. Who are we to argue with that?

I Won’t Allow It

This song is a diss track against an ex who used her for fame, and she says she won’t allow that. She asks the question “what is he going to do when he goes broke?” I am unsure if it is about Brian Tamaka because he didn’t really gain fame from her (like Brian who?) Whereas Nick Cannon, she does mention her billionaire ex, James Packer, whom she dated after Nick. But anyway, what this song really reminds me of is Year 13 camp.

What happened at camp, was that a primary school with 5-7 years olds was also staying there at the same time. On the first day there, the camp accidentally booked both of our schools for the pool at the same time. We weren’t ready for the pool, so our teachers left us to sort that out. Me and a couple of the other Year 13 students were chatting when a teacher from the other school came over and spent 10 minutes yelling at us about how he would not let us get into the pool with his children. He kept repeating, “I won’t allow it.” We were too stunned to speak because, first, we were standing there in our civilian clothes; it wasn’t as if we had any authority over this pool situation, and why would we want to share the pool with kids? They’re a petri dish of germs. As the mature teenagers we were, we made fun of the rant, and by the next day, we had turned “I won’t allow it” into a meme. Which we quoted religiously all throughout Year 13 camp. So, the song reminds me of that moment.

My Love

The song has a gospel infusion and is about how only my love does it good. Romantic, but it’s not as deep or as specific as the other songs. She sounds terrific, though.

Jesus, I Do (feat. The Clark Sisters)

Mairah is deeply religious, and many of her songs have a gospel influence, as seen in this one. It is an upbeat song about how Jesus helps her when she is feeling down. I like her faith in God, and I imagine this song could be popular to sing in a Church choir; obviously, I wouldn’t know.

Here For It All

Mairah said this is her favourite ballad to record, and her vocals are good on this song. She is telling someone that she is here for it all, the good, the bad and everything in between. It is a strong song, and I can see why the album was named after it.

Final Thoughts

I like the album, and having listened to it many times, it hasn’t affected the way I feel. I feel like it goes through a lot of the different stages in what is happening in Mariah’s life, her grief, her break-up, the new career milestones, like last year she was nominated for the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame. That sort of thing. I like the album; it is an easy listen and features a mixture of upbeat, fun songs, and slow ones. I feel that some of the songs blend into each other, which means I can’t differentiate them easily. I didn’t listen to many albums this year, so this is among my favourites. But I don’t think it will be my favourite Mariah Carey album, nor would it be in the top 5. She doesn’t really cover anything she hasn’t done before, and to be honest, what does she have left to prove? Certainly, nothing to me. Now that I’ve written this, I can put it aside and listen to her Christmas album on loop. Because I am obsessed as always.