It’s finally here!
After ample teasing and titillation, Mariah Carey unwrapped her new single ‘The Art Of Letting Go’ moments ago.
Preceded by a whirlwind of hype, the Rodney ‘Darkchild’ Jerkins track is being launched as a “first of its kind’ – after being premiered instantly to all 15 million of Carey’s fans on Facebook.
Speaking about the track, the 43-year-old gushed:
“This is such a personal record to me. I wrote the lyrics so that anyone and everyone could relate to them and hopefully release anything that they need to let go of that’s holding them back or bringing them down. Thank you for sharing this experience with me!”
So does the song, which is the title track from Mimi’s 14th studio album, deliver? Find ou after the jump…
Vocally, the song boasts a performance that potently reminds why Mariah is one of the best to ever rock a mic. While, from a production standpoint, the cut’s sparse, throwback aura, is certainly the most rewarding road for Mimi to be treading down at this point of her career. It boasts an air of… qualitative.
Sadly, that’s where the “good” starts and stops. Both lyrically and melodically, the song is a muddled mess. Yes, it’s inspirational and yes, it’s uplifting. However, surely there’s a means to tie these concepts together in such a way to identify a clear hook. Something, anything, to render the song -at the very least- memorable.
It’s all a bit worrying, isn’t it. It’s as if Mariah is making music solely for her own enjoyment. That may sound like an endearing concept (especially for an artist that has achieved all there is to achieve commercially), yet from a business standpoint…it’s a no-no.
For, which ever way it’s diced or sliced, Mimi is in desperate need of a radio hit — something ‘Letting Go’ simply is not.
In an odd way, it’s as if Mariah has done a 180° and gone from releasing cringe-worthy fast-food hits such ‘Touch My Body’ to rolling out material like this that sounds like it should be played at a wake. Strange, as predecessor ‘#Beautiful’ was a great meeting in the middle of where she wants to be and what her career needs. This, unfortunately, is not.
And to think it’s the album’s title track. Sigh.