As the likes of Miguel and Jhene Aiko continue to push the genre to brave and bold new heights, Mariah Carey has declared that she will never leave R&B…doing so during a recent conversation with ‘95.5WPLJ.’
Explaining her reasons for this as she detailed her thoughts on Electronic Dance Music (EDM), the “Make it Happen” maestra also explained why so many of the hits she spawned in the 90s came armed with Dance remixes, and why her new material may be on course to doing the same.
Her words below…
Carey’s latest studio album hits stores on May 6th 2014.
R&B needs to make a Huge Comeback and I personally think it is coming this summer….. I’m a Music Lova but I lova how R&B makes me feel personally… it help me get thru tough moments in life… I’m in desperate need for that kind of R&B music to come back… the kinda where it tells a story and gives you a special message in it… they can keep the poppin bottles, in the stripclub, I got money R&B at home… The world is over it and it is time for LOVE, LIFE AND REALITY to get back in play with R&B…. Hopefully someone will deliever and save this genre of music cause even on itunes there aren’t any R&B music and mostly the ones they are typing to push on there are mostly hip hop or pop but not just plain and simple R&B…. R&B is dying just like Female HIP HOP….
Please Mimi…..sit down. Retire and pop out more babies.
😆
Sam, please something else. Many of Lambs have switched team to become BeyHive.
Billboard’s Chief Editor named Bill Werde killed R&B and by promoting Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and Miley….so the music changed.
That’s why he was fired.
this blogs Loves Mariah! Sam dreams of mariah because he wakes up in the morning to blog about her…anyways i love R&b 90’s r&b and slow jams were the bomb like boyz 2 men,SWV,TLC,BLACKSTREET,Aaliah,R.Kelly,Usher,Ginuwine,
Faith Evans,En Vogue and so on they deliver so many hits of the 1990’s of the other more mainstream (Mariah,Janet,Whitney) the 90’s was a great era for R&B but i dont see it coming back as strong as it was in the 90;s i see it make a return but not as a big as it was in the 90’s such a great decade for good music the 80’s and the 90’s is were legends and good music were made that actually had meaning to it.
I commend her anx the few other R&B artists (Bey,Janelle, Miguel etc) who stuck to R&B during a time where dance tracks OVERSATURATED the mainstream because everyone wanted a quick EDM hit. Would it have been cool to hear what they could’ve done? Sure..but I tip my hat to those who fought for R&B however R&B does need to evolve and that’s why artists who present such great r&b music are so important
I love how artists like Beyonce and Mariah Carey do not jump on the bandwagon and do still put out R&B records. Also those dance remixes Mariah Carey used to do back in the day are soo great and cool!
I love how artists like Beyonce and Mariah Carey still put out R&B records! And those dance remixes she used to do back in the day were sooo amazing !
same interview….cut up 20 times cause thatgrapejuice needs views so diesperately…..
clearly rihanna is on vacation
@Lets Be Real you are exactly right man this morning i was on itunes trying to find some music to add on my iphone and in the R&B section there wasn’t anything that please me… I’ve preview all the songs and some wasn’t even worth more than 15 sec… it is sad that people want to follow the trend to have a hit…. More of the Females in the game are putting out great quality R&B songs but get the back burner cause they aren’t appealing to the mainstream generation… It is sad cause R&B give you soul, gospel, hurt and pain, love and happiness and hope….. @2girls hopefully someone would put out that great hit and not a line dance song nor a club hit but a true R&B song….
R&B started to die out in the late 1990’s when the whole t*** pop era took over (Britney,Christina,Nsync)yea many of the mainstream continue having success R&B was popular but not much any more t*** pop took over (1998-2001) and the once again the music change to hip hop and you saw artist like Britney and Christina changing their style to fit into the whole hip hop era some of the artist of t*** pop era didng survive (mandy and jessica) but it happens all the time music is constantly changing Madonna change her style when R&B was at its peak back 95 with bedtime stories but yea music i dont see R&B becoming massively popular again
R&B is dated, Pop is dated, Dance is dated, time for Indie music to take over, more alternative please!!!
Yes good for her. I agree with her. And I also respect Beyoncé with this album. She could’ve easily got some red one, Dr Luke produced tracks and thrown them together for this new era. R&B is not easy to sell anymore.
So many people sell out these days… Its not cute.
R&B needs to evolve. All of Mariah’s music is starting to sound the same. Miguel and Jhene’s music is not typical R&B
LOL THAT SHYT FLOPONCE DOES IS NOT R&B LOL
@Lol – why isn’t it?
@ Let’s Be Real
but at least those r’n’b acts are doing something fresh. they are sticking to r’n’b, but are experimenting with it…while mariah simply recycles the same song for the 15th time…
I really loved #beautiful, it was something new by her. I want a fresh spring/summer song and album from mariah…not some boring s*** like “you’re mine”
Mariah stuck in the 90s…. 🙁
You have to give Mariah credit for her loyalty to the genre. She’s one of the few singers (along with Bey, Brandy & Monica – to name a few) that stuck with R&B when people wanted it to fade. I think that’s very commendable (especially at this time), so many popular artists are currently jumping from trend to trend.
Shoutout Ci for never selling out she always gives R&B dance Janet too
R&B is making a comeback. There was a period of 3-4 years when a pop/r&b record couldn’t make it anywhere near the top of the charts. Justin Timberlake was instrumental in this when he threw pop radio a curveball with Suit & Tie a year ago.
MC ! Can’t wait for her new alum !
Damn,Usher sold out the most..he was held in very high regards in the RnB world only to jump ship when the genre needed him..RnB WILL NEVER DIE
Beyoncé R&B? Looooool BYE! S***&B maybe!
I think R&B is fine now, it’s coming back cause EDM is dead and everything is going back urban (Dark Horse, Royal, Drunk In Love, Pour It Up, Talk Dirty To Me). BUT music is more free now and genres are more mixed. I think when people say they want R&B back, they think of 90’s. But early 90’s R&B and late 90’s R&B were night and day. Even early 2000’s R&B was more of urban pop compared to the late 90’s.
What killed R&B was being too close to Hip Hop, crunk blew up, than crunk and B came in. Snap came out a few years later and than Snap and B came. I called it back then, if people are saying that Hip Hop is dead, than R&B is next cause it’s too close to it.
I didn’t have a problem with Usher doing EDM (Rihanna and CB are different cause they’re careers has always been a mixture of multi genres.)But when pop stars got ahold to it, they killed it. Pop(fine I’ll say it) White people really knows how to take something that’s hip and run it to the ground (Bling bling, twerk etc.) And that’s why EDM is so boring now.
I look at EDM as the disco of our time, some that had music before it will move on (Usher, Rihanna) and those who started out in it will die with it (Gaga).
Fun fact, in 2006, every song that was in the top 10 of BB was R&B and Hip Hop songs, and mainly in the 2000’s R&B always charted high. Also don’t look to charts, cause in the 90’s most of the best R&B didn’t chart high.
I’m not a fan of Mariah’s, but I’ll at least give her credit for that. Those R&B artists who saw their music snubbed after 2009, and their records chart low (if at all), but didn’t stray to the trendy for a quick bandwagon hit get my respect. Those who did (Usher, Neyo) don’t. Ultimately I think the universe is going to reward those who were for being patient, diligent and true to themselves. The sellout’s and bandwagoners who proved themselves to fickle will go down with the tide.
Im really enjoying the flawless Candice Glover, her album Music Speaks is an R&B gem in my eyes…
The truth is that R&B — even at its peak — has always had a tougher commercial road than pop. Pop stars, in general, have always sold more and been more accessible; that’s nothing new or recent.
The Police sold more than Kool and the Gang.
Michael Bolton sold more than Luther Vandross.
Madonna sold more than Janet Jackson.
Paula Abdul sold more than Jody Watley.
New Kids on the Block sold more than New Edition.
Wilson Phillips sold more than En Vogue.
Celine Dion sold more than Mary J. Blige.
BSB/Nsync sold more than Jagged Edge.
On average, Pop (White) music has always outsold black music (except for maybe during 2002-2007) comparatively, simply because society is biased and white people outnumber black people…what’s been happening over the last five years has just been a more extreme manifestation of what’s really always been the case. And even in the middle 00s, it wasn’t R&B that was dominating. It was Hip Hop. Commercial R&B started dying in 2002, as Hip Hop officially overtook it. Then by 2009, pop had officially come back and eradicated what little life it had left.
The problem though is that the industry overall has never been chillier to black artists and music than it has this decade. Now it’s not solely a case of white music buyers just gravitating toward their own. Now it’s a case of the industry not even allowing black artists to be displayed in a competitive way.
Now there appears to be a change in the air because what’s been hot over the past five years has now become overplayed and stale, and the industry is looking for the next wave to get behind — which has cracked the door open for black music to present itself for consideration again.
Too much of anything for too long creates a backlash. Black music got too big in the early/mid 2000s, which created a harrowing backlash. White/Pop music got too big in the late 00s/early 10s, which I think is going to create a massive backlash for it. The fall of Lady Gaga basically marks it, since she was really the first big star of the post 2007 tide and became the industry standard.
The industry needs to go back to being the way it was in the mid 80s to the mid 90s. It wasn’t completely balanced, but it was much more “level” than its been over the past 10-12 years.
@Mark11 I agree with you about some people want the 90’s R&B back… but I also think want more ballads and personal R&B tracks, track that make them feel really good, ones that open their eyes in dramafilled situations, one that inspired people… I know I do… I’m kinda tired of all these dudes in R&B singing about the same thing…. and if not that mostly all of them sound like Chris Brown or the next…. I remember when I can tell the difference from a Usher song from a Tevin Campbell song or 112 song from a BOY2MEN song.. but now everyone almost sound the same… theres is no uniqueness to the genre anymore…. The Females has been trying to bring it back to fit into modern day but they get swept under the rug… I also don’t have a problem Usher nor Ne-yo doing EDM but when they whole album is EDM that is when I have a problem see the difference with Chris Brown v.s. them is that Chris always have R&B cuts on his album to balance out the viewers that is why he is more accepted of it then Usher and NE-yo
This old dinosaur needs to sit her saggy ass in an old folks home or something; when is she going to get it?
This has been needs to understand that no one is here for her pre-historic dated old music. She can keep her carbon dated stale garbage. Thank god her payola has dried up.
@Mark111
Rihanna fuses a lot of her music. In Rated R,she fused rock music with hip hop, just like she fuses ragga dancehall with urban.
She does something different that others fail to do, which is why she has lasted this long.
Plus yes, she is multi genre.
Don’t make excuses for Chris and Rihanna doing pop music. They’re sellouts too. How do you go from “Hate That I Love You” and “Excuse Me Miss” to “Where Have You Been” and “Yeah x3”. It’s just that they were newer and younger so when they changed lanes it wasn’t quite as jarring and noticeable as it was with someone like Usher who had had a longer track record of strictly R&B music. Still a sell-out is a sell-out.
If you didn’t know, music moves in cycles.
Disco was hot at one time but then it died a painful death, RnB was cool at some point but if everyone owns a Blackberry, it doesn’t become that cool anymore. What killed RnB is an over saturation of it.
At some point, Gangsta rap was huge, 50 cent, Tupac, Xzibit, Dr Dre, Ice Cube were selling; where are they now? The worst thing you can have in music is market saturation. If the market is saturated, it gets boring quick.
EDM died so fast because there was an over saturation of it; labels are following trends instead of creating them.
Artists like Rihanna who get bored quick and set trends will outlast followers.
RnB can only make a comeback if it sounds different from what it has always sounded like in the 90s. I’m sure at some point, Jazz artists thought their music will make a comeback too; just like RIM thought the BlackBerry will make a comeback.
What about SOS, Disturbia, Please don’t stop the music?
Rihanna started with an island theme with Pon De replay and never left, she just fused it more (break it off (AGLM), Rude Boy, What’s my name… Etc).
@Music Stan ( I came I conquer and I draged) ( yall know who I stan 4)
That’s cause most use the same writers and producers. I agree, you had Usher, Tevin, Genuwine, Mj, JAnet, Whitney, MC, Toni, Aaliyah, Brandy, Monica, Mya, DC, TLC, MJB and tones of others that sounded nothing alike, but was in the same genre. R&B needs to go more independent or smallers lables. One thing is that there’s fewer lables and all are under 3 mayor ones.
@Lovebird, I was a Rih Rih fan since Music of the Sun, but this song was when I knew 100% that she was something different from the rest.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsPh-OfSnGY
@ADC Lies, Pon De Replay, SOS and Umbrella were pop songs and came before HAte That I Love You. Rihanna has always been pop with multi genre sounds. It’s because she’s black that stores put her in the R&B section.
Chris was more urban than R&B on his first album. His music sounded nothing like his R&B peers at the time (Mario, Omarion, Neyo). On his 2nd album re-release, he brought in EDM with Forever.
Rihanna and Chris were the first to do EDM type music in the main, with Please Don’t Stop The Music in 2007 and Forever in 2008. CB got a lil backlash for Forever for a little bit at the beginning.
Plus switching up is good, MJ and Janet did it alot, the difference is that they SET the trend, not follow.
I agree with the general consensuous that black artists always had it harder. The true core of R&B was at it’s best during the early to mid 90’s. The likes of R. Kelly, Janet, Brandy, En Vogue, Mary J. Blige gave us quality R&B. By the late 90’s, it started to lost ground to teeny boppers and hip-hop. This then brings me to a certain artists career, Usher. Usher debuted in 1994 but his first major hit, the classic You Make Me Wanna was in 1997. This was around the time when R&B started to lost popularity but he alongside Alicia Keys and Beyonce were praised for giving contemporary R&B a voice and giving it success on a mainstream level. We all know about the run he made from 2001 – 2004 where he released Confessions which now ranks as one of the best selling albums ever. No ONE could have convinced me Usher would have made crap like OMG and Scream a decade ago. No one. However, Usher like many artists, is a product first and a person second on a record label and it became increasingly hard for R&B artists to chart so they hopped on the bandwagon. I don’t think people have truly forgiven him for that and I hope he’s aware that he was once hailed as the genre’s leading force and is now considered a joke. I’m a fan but I’ll just keep it real.
The women try and keep it real. They get the true essence of the genre and try and push it forward but no one gives it a chance. I’m almost convinced that sometimes black people don’t want to see other females succeed in the industry if it’s not Rihanna or Beyonce. Last year, of the 52 weeks of Urban Airplay chart, only 8 black artists had songs that hit number one and Ciara was one of them. But did you guys know that? Nope. Instead you guys throw petty ‘shade’ and ridicule her and others when they are representing you. It’s sad.
@DOSSOME The only songs that were EDM on Looking For Myself was:
Can’t Stop Won’t Stop
Scream
Numb
Euphoria
And the title track being pop. The rest were R&B (or a new age R&B). They ones that say it was a pop album are the ones that didn’t buy nor listened to it, they just judge from two singles, ignoring Climax and Lemme See which were urban tracks. (one winning a grammy for Best Male R&B song.)
I commend MiMi for staying in the R&B lane but one of the main reasons it has died out was that it became stale and redundant. Same old songs over and over. Mariah is falling into that category. She needs to do something fresh to get people interested. Beautiful was hit because it was refreshing to hear on pop radio. Unlike other R&B fans, I don’t mind R&B music blending with other elements. Beautiful had pop and adult contemporary appeal and it was a hit. Pure R&B doesn’t sell anymore, R&B acts have to try different sounds in order to appeal to new audiences. Artist of all genres have to do that at some point. I don’t see it as selling out, I see it as trying to keep a contract.
@Coolness I knew about Ciara hit last year I’m a huge fan of hers and always gave her props on that…. so I totally agree with you alot of people especially blacks don’t want to see black women be successful…. They hate everyone!!! But I’m glad that these women have tough skin in the industry cause they would have subcum to GP and fail!!!!
@Keri I don’t think people do want them to try something new but just don’t forget the R&B crowds…. a lot of R&B artists seem to forget the main core of their fans which are the R&B heads… and they carter to more of the POP Crowd who only accept them if they have a huge pop hit or a high level of mainstream success on them, once it is gone the POP crowd drop them like a bad habit… it is done on here ( just sit back and witness from the stans) for a prime example Michael Jackson and Chris Brown, they both started out in the R&B world have a huge crossover success but once their good boy image was tarnish by scandals the Pop Crowd with along with the General Public drop them like a bad habit… People stop supporting them and that is where the numberous amount of hate came in…. In the R&B world we still supported both of them no matter what cause their personal lives was what it was their personal lives we just wanted the music… The Pop crowd care more about the personal side of the artists, while the R&B crowd care more about the music…. just look at all the underrated talented out there, there are more underrated R&B artists then any other genre… they are the ones that get the most shelved or pushback while the Pop, Rock, and Hip Hop crowd get to see more new faces…. For example jazmine sullivan she is a great singer and writer but she is only great in the R&B world where as in the POP WORLD she wouldn’t be accepted because she is to thick and curvy, or it is hard to promote her cause of her image… Image is everything but I along with R&B heads can careless about her image I can more for her talented…. Why you think Mariah did what she did once she left Tommy…. We love her in the R&B world but in the Pop world they were more worry about her looks…
R&B listeners in 2014 are fickle and have no type of loyalty. Hip Hop listeners will run out to BUY their favs albums, but R&B fans are more likely to download their albums. That’s why R&B artists other than Beyonce aren’t able to sell 500k these days. Don’t get me wrong, ALL genres are struggling due to the digital age and the microwave generation but R&B and rock music probably have it the worst. NO female R&B singers (other than Beyonce and Alicia) have gone gold in the past few years. Alicia’s latest album didn’t even go platinum.
These days all you have to focus on is keeping the fans and stans happy. Who cares what the public thinks or what radio plays. This day and age, people are gonna find the music THEY want to hear. And lately all radio plays is hipster s*** anyway. Macklemore, Lorde, Imagine Dragons, all those DJ songs, and maybe an edgy hip-hop moment. It’s all hipster s*** to me kids shopping at Urban Outfitters type of music.
ACTUALLY @MARK111 Kelly Rowland was the first to do EDM music with “When love takes over” …Please Don’t Stop The Music and Forever were just simply Dance tracks..which Kelly actually did with Work..& i’m not here to start war..Just simply stating facts
Damn it! Sam loves posting about Mariah Carey!! Yay Sam lol It looks like she´s done tons of interviews when in reality it´s just the same one but he gives us one clip per day. Interesting how much you love her hun 🙂
#beautiful was great I agree with most people. i want more of that.
I suddendly remembered Beyonce was doing a collabo with miguel a year ago, wasn´t she? What happened? Is it that he collaborated only as a songwriter in her album? Or maybe she decided to not include their collabo on the album cos Mariah and Janelle already did before her album was out? Asking Beyonce fans.
@MUSICSTAN (I CAME I CONQUER AND I DRAGGED) (YALL KNOW WHO I STAN 4) I’m sure you did because I know you like Ci (I do too) and many others. I’m black and it’s just sad to see the lack of unity amongst artists partially because of the stans. Back in the 90’s you had MULTIPLE black artists, male and female, slaying and conquering the music world. Whitney, Janet and Mariah were the biggest solo divas. Toni and Mary J. Blige were second to them and then you had young talent like Brandy, Monica, Aaliyah and even groups like En Vogue and TLC. Then there were the men, R. Kelly, Boyz II Men, Ginuwine and then later, Usher. These people did their thing and even though their paths may have crossed at times, there was unity among them and their fans. Black people will be the FIRST to call out other black female R&B/Pop singers like Ciara, Ashanti, Keri Hilson etc to drag the living daylights out of them on social media instead of showing support if you GENUINELY like their music. The mentality is, “I can’t stan for a flop” Then they get up in arms when white artists do the genre and cry culture appropriation. I’m rooting for Miguel because I believe he’s the future of R&B (not Frank Ocean and the Weeknd, too boring for me). Usher has a LOT riding on his 8th album released later this year. It’s make or break at this point for him.
@Mark111 I hate it when people say L4M is a ‘pop’ album when it had multiple genres on it that include new age R&B (Climax, What Happened to U, Dive, Lessons for the Lover) EDM (Euphoria, Numb), dance (Cant’t Stop Won’t Stop) and even soul with a hint of Reggae (Sins of My Father). The reason why that album flopped was because of the singles, lack of decent promo, his custody battle and maybe people were just turned off by him. The album is a solid effort, the best since Confessions but not many people know that.
Im glad that Mariah is staying Loyal to R&B, and I agree with most of the people on here. although I’m young and Born in the 90s, I still enjoy 90’s R&b and I wish that type of music came back. Its sad the way that R&B is struggling nowdays for recognition. You really have to cross over like Beyonce and Rihanna to have hits. It definetely has to do with lack of Promotion, Lack of R&B videos being played and lack of exposure at the award shows. Think about it. 10+ years ago there were more R&B acts at ALL the award shows, there were more R&B videos Being played on TV, Like on BET, and networks like VH1 and MTV were still playing some R&B videos. now its struggling to get noticed.
@Coolness you are exaclty right
There was also more R&B being played on Radio too back then. now There’s lack of Radio exposure.
Missy said it best on her Breakfast Club interview, everyone sounds the same now you almost can’t tell the difference between artist anymore. Back then everyone had their own producers, and writing team. Not only was the music different but everyone’s image was also different. All that changed once the late 00s came and EDM really took over. It also didn’t help that the younger artist of those times that were supposed to be top dogs of this era (Usher, Brandy, Monica, Ashanti, Alicia Keys etc) have all fallen off.
They have not fallen off COMPTONS FINEST; the fans or R&B just do NOT support like the POPCORN music buyers do (it is sad) …. Mariah is 1000% right here tho, regardless of her NOT selling right now, MARIAH SLAYED WITH REAL MUSIC, NOT this bubblegum mediocre CRAP that is breaking Michael, and her records (sad, b/c they were original, with great talent); I AM NOT KNOCKING new stuff, I support fun too, BUT music is just a joke now-
we are in a different time where radio is not the main outlet for music anymore and good for Mariah for staying true to soul music. beyonce took the alternative urban pop trend for this album she hasn’t been r&b in a long time.
Glad we’re all having meaningful discussions without ‘dragging and ‘throwing shade’ I’m 19 and I always found myself connecting with R&B music from the 90’s and back and my favs are the likes of Beyonce, Aaliyah, Usher, Alicia Keys, Maxwell, Toni Braxton, Ciara, Whitney, Janet and Michael, Luther Vandross and the list goes on. Lol, people think I was born in the wrong time. It’s hard to believe in 2004 you had all these R&B artists being supported by mainstream, now it’s like what the hell is going on? To be honest, I can’t get into some of these new age R&B artists. They come across as to into themselves and deeeeply introspective and layered and complex so I can’t get into their music. The only one I like is Miguel. Kaleidoscope Dream is a future classic. Mariah was so right here. Sometimes you gotta just maintain artistic credibility and refrain from following trends.
I couldn’t have said it any better @coolness …your words are GOLDEN… especially on this site
@Johnvidal. Miguel wrote ‘Rocket’ for her.
@yolo
Ok thanks!
How much fatter can she get>? Eeww