As reported earlier on today, Mariah Carey performed at the season 3 premiere of popular MTV show ‘The Hills’ yesterday night. Check out her renditions of ‘Touch My Body’ and ‘We Belong Together’ below:
I’ve got a love/hate thing going on with Mariah this go-round. ‘Touch My Body’ has grown on me considerably, but these performances are not cutting it. Whether comparing them to ‘Old Mariah’ or the standard of any good performance, her showing last night still falls short. Though ‘We Belong Together’ was better, the years of wear and tear are made overly evident when Mariah tries to reach for them notes she sadly cannot hit (live) anymore.
The following may sound controversial, but IMO 2008 Mariah Carey seems little more than a studio singer (the best of the bunch, of course). Some may be quick to think ‘WTF’ as she obviously is leaps and bounds more talented than artists labelled as such. Yet, the simple fact that she can’t do her own songs justice live any more, IMO makes her a studio singer. Even the oh-so-critiqued performances to support her last LP weren’t as cringe worthy as her most recent. What makes the whole episode worse is that she seems to put more effort into her look/image than how she sounds. I guess much of this won’t be of much relevance, as Mimi is cruising toward her 18th #1 single with ‘Touch my Body.
Your thoughts?