Whenever Mariah Carey performs ‘Without You’ post 2000 it always presents quite the conundrum.
Before MC took the stage at ‘Top of the Mountain’ in Austria, she tweeted “Singing at this altitude is almost like giving birth to twins…”, which prompted suspicion that the diva would rely on pre-recorded vocal tracks to carry her.
Find out if such was the case with ‘Without You’ after the jump and sound-off below.
UPDATED: ‘Hero’ and ‘Emotions’ added.
Judging from this video, it’s safe to deduct that Carey sang the verses live behind her backing singers, but allowed the vocal track to take center stage during the song’s bellowing choruses and sustained belts. It begs the question: does Carey lip sync out of convenience or necessity?
As a professional singer touted by many as ‘The Voice’, one would assume Carey should always sing live no matter the condition of her voice. However, as an insecure perfectionist, it’s understandable why the ‘Vision of Love’ belter would opt to mime rather than deliver. It alleviates the strain on her voice, gives a pitch-perfect vocal, and maintains the allusion she’s still ‘got it’–but is diminishing the integrity of her legacy as the industry’s top vocalist worth the price of admission?
**UPDATED**
‘Emotions’
‘Hero’
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I thought Whitney was “the voice”? Well according to Oprah she was!
Mariah just doesn’t have it anymore (vocally).
Most of it had to be LIE, because she forgot the words and changed the lines sometimes 😉
Most of it had to be LIVE, because she forgot the words and changed the lines sometimes 😉
is she pregnant again?
OH @TGJ >>>>>>> PLEASE!!!!!!!
“DAME MARIAH CAREY” IS AN R&B VOCAL PIONEER WHO HAS HAD ONE OF THE MOST SUSTAINED CAREERS IN THE HISTORY OF MUSIC!!!
IT’S INEVITABLE THAT, OVER TIME, SHE ISN’T ALWAYS GOING TO SING LIVE!!! MOST ARTISTS OF THE 80’S – 90’S ERA ALWAYS DO. IT’S ABOUT PRESERVATION & I WOULD RATHER HER LIP-SYNC THAN SING LIVE ALL TIME, AND IT WOULD BE MUCH MORE DIFFCULT THAN MARIAH BECAUSE OF HER VOCAL TIMBRE – HER CHEST VOICE IS SO HIGH AND FULL THAT IT WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLT FOR HER TO CONSTANTLY BELT, HER VOICE WOULD HAVE DIED “YEARS AGO”.
CELINE DION FOLLOWS THE SAME TACTICS…….
EVEN PATTI LABELLE, A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO, SAID THAT SHE HARDLY SINGS LIVE ANYMORE AS SHE STILL WANTS TO HAVE HER VOICE WHEN SHE’S 90 YEARS OLD!!!
Anyone who has listened to Mariah’s most recent Christmas Special, MCIIY, knows that she can still sing, and I mean truly hit those notes. AND I not even talking about what was televised, as they were perfected even more for the sake of t.v. I’m talking about the pure un-dubded tracks available on YouTube. I am not a delusional fan either, as I know that MC with lip here and there, she has even been caught out a few times, but that’s not to say she can no longer sing…
Come on, she CAN SING! And you’re bashing her from a video where u can hardly hear a thing! Has any of u tried to sing on top of a mountain?Love u Mimi
Yee she can sing but who is she known by as THE VOICE? The 8/5 OCTAVE songbird, yes sure. But don’t give away Whitney’s title so easily.
I think she can sing, but the problem is not that. Look at her performance, the venue and everything. I am not a hater , but look. Celine still sings in arenas and Las Vegas and Madonna in stadiums and arenas with high priced tickets.
This is the problem, not if she is singing live or not. I LOVE MARIAH by the way!!!
Meh, she doesn’t give a f***. She’s just there to get her coins and leave.
The idiot who wrote this particular blog obviously a non-singer. CLEARLY the altitude retrains the vocal cords for ANYBODY….especially singers who has to constantly sings 14 songs that require vocal exercises that 99.9% of the artist today on radio can NOT deliver. Not to mention, it is still freezing in Austria, Europe in April.
Thus, Mariah tweeted her comment after she did the sound check before the show started to ensure us that this particular performance won’t be her best. Mariah JUST did a concert last month in N.Y. (inside venue) and her voice SOARED. So please stop making your bias comments and misleading these readers IDIOT.
i thought she sounded great. however i wish shed stop singing emotions. if that key got any lower it’d be monotone
very silly and misleading headline as she is obviously not miming, not nice and seems as though she’s about pop more of dem babies!
Give her a break.
Singing in a freezing cold climate, and on top of a mountain is NOT easy on the voice. Had this been Celine, she would have done the same thing.
Had this been any where else, I would have called her out on it. But she deserves a break here.
Im a Mariah fan (pre- Honey era) …. and I think she can still sing, but I hadn’t heard Mariah sing good live in a long time.
I didn’t buy that Christmas special… but it’s her voice, live or not. And I’d rather watch a good lip-synced performance than a bad live one
@BEY FAN
Can you move the camera down a lil lower…
TIMMI
May 1, 2012 at 9:17 am
@BEY FAN
Can you move the camera down a lil lower…
______________________________________________
lmfaooo
Much respect to Mimi for doing all she can do under the circumstances.
Well to be serious I have been to her concerts and was disappointed too many times. she is talented but I am over her.
Anyone who has experienced her live will know what I am talkig about. If not well no need to praise her live vocals. no need whatsoever.
I seriously didn’t think mariah could sound any worst, but she did. I can’t with her. not hating I love her but just speaking the truth as usual. she cannot hit any of her notes again and I am sure we will see more of that b******* as the year goes by.
whoever said patti labelle said she doesn’t sing live please send me the link. please
i know
May 1, 2012 at 8:23 am
The idiot who wrote this particular blog obviously a non-singer. CLEARLY the altitude retrains the vocal cords for ANYBODY….especially singers who has to constantly sings 14 songs that require vocal exercises that 99.9% of the artist today on radio can NOT deliver. Not to mention, it is still freezing in Austria, Europe in April.
Thus, Mariah tweeted her comment after she did the sound check before the show started to ensure us that this particular performance won’t be her best. Mariah JUST did a concert last month in N.Y. (inside venue) and her voice SOARED. So please stop making your bias comments and misleading these readers IDIOT.
AMEN!
If anyone here or out there think that 99,99% of the singers ( Celine, Madonna, Beyonce, Rihanna…) are NOT LYPPING some parts of there performances they are IDIOTS. Just look Celine’s TV special (after Taking chances album) .
I don’t have a problem with Mariah not being able to hit those 8 Octave notes anymore…the problem is her TERRIBLE stage presence and the fact that she sounds so out of breath and she’s not doing anything but standing there and prancing around the stage…and TALK SINGING. It’s like she can’t really hold a note anymore. IDK…wish her the best.
Not to mention the lip-synched parts are sooo badly interwoven…could the track at least be at the same frequency level as the mic???? It’s sooooo obvious…
And clearly those Jenny ads were photoshopped and airbrushed to the HIGH HEAVENS…she’s lost weight but not nearly as much as it appears in the ads.
Oh please, in fact there was a bigger percentage of the song sung live here than in these past few years, and on those live parts she sounded really good. I´m sure the new album will bring us some great vocals like her last Xmas album did
There is no one, absolutely NO ONE out there today, who does Mariah, Whitney, Celine type of songs and vocals, there is just NOBODY nowadays that can do it like they did (without sounding gross, off pitch or growling). And you still try to talk s*** about these legands when they are still singing live some parts after so many years? Celine doesn´t either and she for damm sure has still a voice. Just deal with the fact, there is nobody. Beyonce could only dream of having these legands type of voice and vocals and catalogue, and still she DOES lipsync sometimes. Adele… she is so great and always sings live. Wait till she is 30. Those type of special voices that touche people cos of how special they are, are so fragile at the same time, Adele has already suffered so much the last year with her voice and she has not done a decent tour or something. Just wait, she will be able to maintain it only if she choses to release an album after 3-4 years (she seems smart and she is planning to do that). These other legands didn´t take those breaks and still have voices. So sit down, cos ain´t nobody f****** with them. You wish your favs could be like them, do what they have done and have theit status
@blamont
They weren´t. She has gained weigh again. You could see her slimmer than this in that red dress few months ago or in that interview in which she talked about Whitney
And you are worried about her weigh because?…
Everyone who reads my comments knows that I’m a lamb, but I will also speak the truth.
That being said, I am NOT buying this “high altitude” argument. I’ve watched all the performances (that have been uploaded so far) and truth be told, Trey Lorenz gave a stellar vocal performance (as always) so the altitude can not be THAT impacting on the vocals.
As lambs, we would be the first to argue that it should not be expected for Mariah to sound the same as she did in the 90s. So let’s now not feel the need to justify Mariah’s performances with irrelevant excuses.
Mariah’s voice has changed, period. If people don’t like it, they don’t have to listen. However, it is ridiculous to say Mariah cannot sing. The only reason someone could ever make such a comment is because she set the bar so high for herself. In actual fact, Mariah could still sing circles around the other females in the industry. Mariah’s range, melisma and ability to create melodies is unparalleled.
Ya’ll stop hatin’ Mariah still got it.
Y’all are delusional. I’ve seen this woman almost every time she has come to Toronto, and never has she lip sync’d. So haters go and hate! You make her famous. And for those who call her the Voice, that belongs to Whitney. Mariah is just Mariah and that is what her fans love.
@timmi
That´s what we are basically saying hun
Sam stop misleading people. You can clearly hear when she was singing live, and when she was she sounded great. She mixed the backing track with her singing. She was still singing live. Since you wanna be technical your dumb a** better break down the singing fr all of these other non singers as well. She sounded great at the end of the song. This song was not completely lipped. Mariah also needs to wear more comfortable clothes. It restricts her movement.
Also, speaking of diminishing anything, shut your mouth. You stay grasping for straws. So because she played a backing track to one of her songs, all that is necessary? What a creep.
Honorific nicknames in popular music are given by fans to the artist, you can call Mariah “The Voice” when that nickname belongs to Whitney, it’s like call Lady Gaga “The Queen of Pop” and Madonna “Mother Monster” just no, no, no, as for her singing, she is Mariah you know Mariah, she and Celine are the last real vocalist in Music so stop with this s***, her voice is unique you can’t deny that, you can say whatever you want about her as a person (i don’t think she is a bad person, she just have a Diva attitude) but when it comes to Vocal abilities she eat everybody in the business.
@onyx
Perfect comment 🙂
She can be the Songbird Supreme and some other names people give her
@JohnVidal (RIPWhitney-true great)
aww! Thank you.
stop saying about the vocals. we don’t care. The show is a disaster. she goes to small venues or tragic festivals with small stages like a local singer would do. I love her and i don’t care if she sings right but i care with the fact that she can’t tour seriously anymore. Look at Madonna, she doesn’t have a voice but she is still on top, i don’t like her but it’s the truth . She gives 50.000 seat venues after so many years without having a voice. Mariah has a voice but she doesn’t have a career
I don’t care about her voice. I think it’s good.!!! I care with the fact that she doesn’t have a career. Look at madonna, i don’t like her and she doesn’t have a voice but after 30 years she is still giving 50.000 seat venues in a well organised tour not at a stage like that
Small venues?????????????????????????????????
It’s the freakin’ Ischgl in Austria ( most people don’t even heard before) and there were 20.000 people.
Next she is performing in Marocco with the same amount of fans or more, expected.
She performed in Brazil (50.000) and Singapore (100.000).
She doesn’t need to tour because is getting paid almost the same amount of money for one set. Madonna has to make a m***** of herself for two hours of non-singing to get the same.
Europe, Africa, America, Asia… she performed in every part of the world for the last two years ( as well her whole career). If she doesn’t have a one, then why people call her to sing?
What kind of “singer” lip syncs a BALLAD? That’s some Janet Jackson-type s*** there. Save the excuses. You know, I know, and Mariah knows that her voice is gone. Mariah is just a shell of who she was 20 years ago, as far as singing goes. And truth be told, she lip syncs all the time. Just go to YouTube and look up “Mariah Carey Lipsync fail” and see her embarrassingly getting caught.
@candid
Like any other singer. Try again. Not to mention Mariah has the most special voice of them all, which makes her instrument very fragile. She is not taht average voice I´m sure you stan for (maybe Beyonce?)
@hello
Madonna is a controversial, innovative, big tours artist since day one; Mariah a superb vocalist, songwriter, music maker non stop, not a tour force. They are so different. Madonna has still the tours while we could say Mariah is the only one among the last real divas who can still make a huge hit in the USA (#1 single for weeks and all that) if she creates the adecuate material. This is another example of the difference between Mariah and Madonna, each one keeps being better at their thing, Mariah creating hits and great music and Madonna doing epic tours. She has not the confidence to do that and it´s fine, she has other things the other divas have not
@HBF82
What are you saying ????
I told you i am not a Madonna fan but mariah goes to festivals not solo performances . Her productions are s***
I am in the economic part of the music business and mariah for this performance took home 250.000 usd maximum . Madonna is taking 1.500.000 per show during her 80-90 date concert tours.
Make a research first and then talk.
Mimi’s last tour was in theatres not even arenas
I love Mariah and I respect her. But this is the reality.
Mariah can still have huge hits in the U.S.? LMAO! Please. Get out of damn near a decade ago with that mess. We all remember that stillborn Memoirs album…. No #1 hits there. The only hit she had from it was “Obsessed” and that wouldn’t have happened if Eminem didn’t add gas to it with “The Warning”. The album flopped. That’s why she’s been laying low having babies at 40 and s***…it’s to give her an excuse to not put out new music because not only is she aging but her whole market has dried up commercially and she’s been trying to wait out Gaga, Katy & Co.
Mariah fans kill me trying to act like the b**** sails to #1 like it’s still 1995. That’s been a while ago now boo!
Not bad, not good, it’s okay she can do better.
& yall please follow me now: http://www.twitter.com/shynlownoam
What kind of crack are you people smoking? Mariah Carey does not now nor has she ever had an “8 octave” vocal range. That’s piano level and is not even humanly possibly. At best she had 5 (and that’s being generous) a very long time ago. These days she’s probably deteriorated down to 2.5/3. Her voice is shot. She’s lost her clarity, is always horse and repetitiously mumbles to avoid the notes she struggles with. And no, not everyone loses their voice with age. Celine Dion still has hers and can belt with as much force and precision as she could during her commercial peak. So does Rachelle Ferrell. So does Steve Perry. So did Luther before his stroke. Mariah and her fanatical fans are always making an excuse for why she lips or sounds like s*** live. Just tell the truth; you didn’t take care of your voice and now it’s gone. That’s why she now has to resort to miming ballads. Everyone mimes uptempos, under the questionable guise of opting to ‘dance’ rather than sing, but doing that with a ballad is a serious professional no-no and makes her look like a hack.
Mariah has always been a terrible live performer. Every time she takes the stage, it’s like watching an episode of Star Search. You couldn’t pay me to see her in concert. A bigger waste of money than a pyramid scheme.
@CZARM
I love Celine as much as I love Mariah and let me tell you Celine does lipsync as much as Mariah and yes her voices is not what it used to be either, not at all, if you can´t see the difference between 90´s Celine´s voice and 00´s you are deaf
But it is normal and they are not to blame, they gave their best non stop. Some other singers didn´t work with it as much as these legends did at all. Patti Label for example… does she ever sing more than once per year since… i don´t know the last 40 years? Whitney, Mariah, Celine are on that highest level of work and pressure only with madonna and few more (for that long time). You can´t tell me not only one 80´s 90´s global megastar who still has it better than Mariah, Celine, Madonna. And no, Patti Label is not a global megastar, aka “working for decades non stop”
I love me some Mariah but since the Butterfly era she has been struggling to sing her own damn songs live. Except when she did Vision of Love on 106 & Park during the EOM era. She did the damn thing on that but no matter what she can still sing better than these newcomers on her worst vocal day.
Mariah performed at Gotham Hall in NYC in March and sounded amazing and was killing songs like “I’ll Be There” and “Always Be My Baby” like it was the 90s. Mariah’s voice is very temperamental and she’s performing at a high altitude outdoors in a really cold climate. I’m surprised she agreed to the gig but you can hear her voice is strained but there are still some good moments during this concert. I do think she lipsynchs out of convenience and to alleviate the strain on her voice because she’s not the type of singer who can go out and do concert day after day. Unfortunately stuff like this does diminish her reputation but just watch the videos of her performing in March, she was amazing.
And whoever said she’s performing at a small venue/fair is dead wrong. Ischgl Concert On Top Of The Mountain is a big festival in Europe. They’ve had Elton John, Kylie Minogue, The Killers, Tina Turner, and other huge artist play the show. It’s literally at the top of the mountain and you have to get there via ski lift so no big fancy set or anything. It’s obvious from other videos that she’s still a great singer, the conditions didn’t lead to great performances but most of the show was live.
Im sorry…”Hero” sounded like a bad cover. She doesnt even sound like MC. *shrugs*
Oh Mariah, stop covering your face with your hair when you sing. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize you’re lip syncing when you do that.
Honestly, I think Mariah just needs to stop giving in to the pressure of some of her fans. She’s not 24 anymore. Her vocal hey-day has passed, but she still has a decent voice if she sticks to her lower and mid register.Listen to Languishing from Memoirs. But it’s okay, she can always fall back on her songwriting. That’s what sets her apart from all of her peers–the songwriting. Oh, and another thing, these collabos with rappers have got to stop. The genre is changing, and it’s all dance-oriented now. It’s time to change it up a bit, babydoll. XD
Known as the voice by who? LMAO.
I love Mimi but she is clearly not “the Voice”. The only woman who ever had the voice was Whitney Elizabeth Houston and when she died, she left the world with it.
Stop snatching the title from Whitney!
How is it lipped? She even messed up some of the words LMAO
Yes Mariah carey you and whitney are the voices of generations. I love you and Ms. Whtine,y thank you for the positive messages you given us through you songs. I know at this point its not about he money are proving anything to anyone!! Keep doing you MIMI and God will continue to bless you as he has been doing! God given talent. People are going to hate because that’s what they do more and more now a days. No will remain the same because change is the only consistant thing in this world. So sad alot of you don’t know that, but you will experience it for youselves in time, if you live to see it!
Mariah? Whitney? The Voice? Hell-to-the-nooooooo! I’m sorry, you guys. That’s not the case. THE Voice (the voice of all voices) is Aretha Franklin. Hands down! There’s no question about that. Mariah would agree, and had she been with us still, Whitney (RIP) would also. 🙂
@Danny Sorry but Whitney was THE VOICE. Aretha is a Legend and the Queen of Soul and can SANG but Whitney had the Beautiful tone and clearity that Aretha lacked AS WELL AS A POWERFUL CHEST VOICE. She had the perfect combination of a voice that translated from gospel to R&B to pop to (if she wanted) classical. The same can’t be said for Aretha. That’s why Whitney was known as simply The Voice and not pegged to one genre like Aretha.