‘Silly’ singer Deniece Williams has been accused of being just that from diehard Mariah Carey fans, affectionately called #Lambs, after she criticized the Pop icon’s current vocal state.
Taking to our friends at TrueExclusives recently, the GRAMMY-winner was quizzed on her favorite songstress of yesterday and today – lending compliments to the likes of Ariana Grande, Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin, and more.
When asked about Carey, however, Williams did express love for her fellow multi-octave diva but then launched a critique of the 50-year-old’s vocal decline over the years. Needless to say, her assessment was not warmly welcomed by #Lambs.
See the video that got them hot-and-bothered inside:
Start at :09 mark:
Williams on Carey:
“She is an incredible artist, beautiful, [and] I loved her music but I’m upset she has not taken care of her voice – her gift and instrument. I would hope that she would take more care of her instrument, her voice.”
Later in the interview, the 69-year-old detailed how she’s maintained her soaring vocals over an award-winning career that’s spanned nearly 5 decades.
Despite the advice, some took her comments as a diss toward Carey and launched an attack in the ‘Vision of Love’ singer’s defense.
First, old tweets showing Deniece praising Mariah were dug up.
Despite other targeted slams, Williams – as of time reported – has not responded to the hoopla.
She’s speaking from a fellow musician/artist standpoint…stans are so toxic
True, but I genuinely think that Mariah sings better than her, even now…for REAL lol
https://tenor.com/view/whitney-houston-mariah-carey-clapping-gif-11348996
Mariah always sang better than her but I agree with Deniece she did not took care of her voice like she should. Heavily drinking it’s one of the things she shouldn’t have done.
I don’t understand why are her fans so mad, it’s obvious her voice isn’t at its peak but now it’s too late. She just have to work with what she has now.
Yes they are very toxic.
Well she didn’t lie about Mariah not taken care of her voice. Before there was a following called lambs, I was there in the beginning and her voice is not Up to par
For those who don’t know Denice can sing just as high of not higher than Mariah so I think she knows what she is talking about, however did she have to say that ? No ! And it might not be true because lately Mariah has been slaying the vocals live.
I agree! She didn’t have to say it. She may have a point and it may not have been malicious but at this point was it done is done. Mariah’s voice has gotten better lately but the damage she did by oversinging all those years will probably never be 100% repaired. All she can do is work with what she has left and she has gotten better at doing that lately. Deniece’s statement served no purpose but to be overly critical and if you can’t call out every singer (especially when specifically asked about someone like Whitney) who failed to take care of their voice or stay close to their vocal peak, then why publicly criticize just one?
First of you can’t sing like mariah carey sings and take of your voice, but she was wrong when she said “she hasn’t kept up up with her voice” because that’s not true, Mariah has talked about her technique, her voice, warming up, and how she keeps up with her voice on multiple occasions, however, I do think their are factors that fall into place when you talk about her nodules, drinking, and people over working her voice. But I think Deniece williams can’t really compare herself to Mariah considering Mariah is bigger than her, has to tour more than her, and her voice is worked way more than hers so, to say that she hasn’t kept up with her voice isn’t wise considering she doesn’t know what she has endured with her voice. Actually if she goes to a good enough vocal teacher and doctor who knows what they’re doing she could work on the flexibility,tonality, and her learning new ways to adapt and add to her already wonderful technique to strengthen her voice. She also needs to just take a year and half of from touring, drinking, and music to focus more on her voice and build her confidence back up. I understand that Deniece Williams was trying to be real but at the same time she didn’t have to say anything other than what the man asked about because like I said before she DOESN’T KNOW MARIAH CAREY VOICE so she didn’t have thd right to say anything but to end on a positive note she has been singing really well for the past year and she has been gradually getting her confidence back like the year 1997 for when she performs on stage. I think that might be because caution came out about 2 years ago and it was her best critically acclaimed album and her best comerciall successful album since 2010 so that might be the reason why.
Wait, the picture she has on her twitter and the picture ya’ll have at the top of the page looks very different from the woman in the video 🤣 👀
https://tenor.com/view/mariah-kiss-mariah-carey-gif-4722200
Maybe because she’s been singing since before your daddy skeeted you out. People change.
Reclaiming my time 😂 Take care boo boo 🤣 💋
Well Deniece is truly one of the best and if anyone can judge vocals she surely is in a position to do so. However, I think she should have given Mariah a chance to explain before publicly accusing her of not taking care of her vocals. Mariah from the very beginning started and has been expected to continue performing with the high whistle that Minnie Riperton also used. While Deniece has a huge range, she does not and is not expected to go quite as high so it may have been a bit easier for her to save and take care of her voice without disappointing her audience. I suspect that those high-pitch, almost glass-breaking whistles that Mariah uses contributed to the current state of her voice. I also think it was unfair for Deneice to put Mariah on blast while completely ignoring the fact that Whitney not only failed to take care of but practically threw on the ground and stomped all over her gift before her death, while Aretha managed to take care of hers until the end. Just my two cents.
Neither Whitney nor Aretha had the same voice in the end, but what would be the purpose in Deniece pointing that out? She speaks differently about Mariah because Mariah is still here and has the opportunity to do something with her voice. She’s speaking out of frustration because she knows Mariah’s potential.
Usually a singer voice gets stronger over time. We know the mishap with Whitney, but Aretha was just a voice of older age and still a vocal not to be played with.
Oh wow, I just posted something similar to what you said about Whitney’s voice and how she said back in Nov 2010 on Oprah that she didn’t care if she had the most powerful voice and that she was ruining it, all she cared about was smoking.
Word. I keeping hearing she knows my uncle who played music for Nobelist people.
Okay, she did Let’s Hear It For The Boy, great song…she’s no Mariah tho! Nope! Not at all 😂
https://tenor.com/view/mariah-carey-gif-11564407
Umm listen to silly she will sang circles around Mariah
This is so fun lol 🍿 Okay, I’m about to Spotify Silly and then I’ll be back…you listen to Vision Of Slay 😂 I’m looking for clarity, enunciation, scale (lol), delivery and if I believe what she’s singing….of course Mimi writes her own ish 👀
Dc, were you kidding? Is this some kind of a joke? 😂 She has my mother’s voice 🤣 Mariah is SOMETHING ELSE…good song, but no no no hunnie lol
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KA-aTO7uWE
You betta SANG Mariah and twerk CIRCLES ⭕️ around Miss Williams 😂 💯
FANCY BISH go listen to “Free” by Deniece Williams ENJOY
Okay, Free is CLASSIC, sweet and done just right…but you know Mariah can control every part of the song 💯 Come on now! 😂
FANCY BISH -just confirmed what Neicy said… the old Mariah was great, but that Mariah is no longer there. Her voice is not at the level anymore. Deniece Williams voice is just as strong or stronger
That’s cause Deniece wasn’t GIVING when was young lmaoooooooooo 🤳🏽 Dafuq? She was holding back 🤣 🤣 🤣
*when she was young* 😂 Stronger my black ass 🤣
Free, Silly and Black Butterfly really show what Neicy can do. She is definitely one of the best.
Mariah has been sounding better live lately but let’s not act like Denise doesn’t have a point. Just glad Mariah now seems to be back to a good vocal place
She wasn’t malicious in her statement at all. No lies were told. Mariah is very inconsistent vocally. I haven’t heard her sound good in a long time. She relies on backtrack and prerecording too much. Her voice lost its beautiful quality a long time ago. She strains a lot now.
The point would be that she would’ve been telling the truth. The interviewer asked her about all of them and if you’re going to call out one for not taking care of her voice, in my opinion it’s only fair, complete, and honest to also call out other who didn’t do so. “Not the same” is one thing (as in Aretha’s case and even Deneice’s) but Whitney’s voice was completely destroyed and it was all her doing by abusing it. She could barely talk and definitely couldn’t sing at all by the end. Caring about Mariah is not an excuse for calling only her out. If she just wanted to help, she could have personally reached out to Mariah. But instead she publicly called her out and ignored the fact that other singer(s) she was asked about had similar issues. I think she just wanted to respect Whitney’s memory but she could have given Mariah the same respect.
It’s funny the media on focused on Whitney’s p*** poor performances but when her voice was well rested she could still sing like she did in the late 90’s early 00’s. Example Malaysia 2008 and Moscow 2009. I’m sure if Whitney was still alive dense would have called out as well. Its only constructive Criticism. It’s terrible that these great singers Aretha, Whitney, Mariah and etc didn’t take care of their voices.
I don’t understand why her fans are so upset? Denise is not lying. Mariah’s voice is just not what it use to be. It constructive criticism. Same with Aretha and Whitney, they damaged their voice as well but it’s no point of Denise talking about their vocal decline as they are no longer here. Mariah is still here and has a chance to improve her vocals.
No Lies Detected!
ALL lies, she sitting on that couch with all her plaques hunnie 🤣 Mariah must have a MUSEUM GALLERY of MULTI PLATINUM that she can do a light JOG thru 🏃🏽♀️ And Mariah is still young, still cute lol 🤳🏽
I would just think as singers you don’t down another singer and WOMAN! Yes the interviewer asked about these ladies but PR 101 she could’ve dodged those type of questions. If her voice declines she wouldn’t want her contemporaries to critique her.
Lol at her talking about Mariah’s voice when she sounds worse than Whitney did when she recorded her last album.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ANOMYytijw LOL
Lawd have mercy! 😂The struggle was REAL! I better not ever hear her talking mess about Mariah’s voice again 🤣
She ain’t hitting a damn one of those notes on the chorus, she letting the crowd do the work 🤣 She LIED 😂
https://tenor.com/view/over-it-viola-davis-girl-bye-gif-9072347
Now I will ALWAYS be a Mariah fan!! That’s my girl no matter what!!!! However Deniece told no falsities here. And I DO NOT believe she was malicious! That was her honest answer and since we all know Mariah’s voice has declined we can’t be mad that she admitted it. She just said what everyone is to afraid to say. When you hear legends like Patti Labelle and Aretha who in ages wayyyyy older still have/had their powerhouse vocals it does echo the sentiment that Deniece pointed out. And she is MORE THAN QUALIFIED to say what she said too. Just because Mariah has all these sells DOES NOT exclude her from critique especially by someone who sings just as well. Facts are facts and the truth is while I love Mariah her voice IS NOT what it use to be by any means. Yesssss she is getting better and performances as of late are very commendable it still is very clear that singing is either painful (or it comes across that way even when her notes sounds good) OR that it’s a struggle to hit those notes! So if you’re mad at 70 year old Deniece for telling the truth please get over yourselves! And for the people that have an issue with her not saying the same for Whitney…….Whitney is deceased so there is no need to say that now. Mariah still has a chance to keep working to get them better and better with time. To say that about someone deceased it would be malicious!
Bull$h:t – Whitney’s voice was gone long before she died. It’s a fact. Hitler is deceased, should we not talk the truth about him because of that? Facts are facts.
The fact that you can put Whitney and Hitler in the same conversation frightens me actually!!! 😂😬😳 #Yikes A WHOLE DICTATOR AND MASS MURDERER!!!! Who cares about respecting him!!! Chile please have a 💺. However to refute your claim; I have not said Deniece or anyone for that matter cannot express their opinion on Whitney’s vocals. It’s your right! Of course we all know what happened to her! However what I did say was for a woman of Deniece’s stature (in the music industry) it would not have made sense for her to critique Whitney because it would have come across as disrespectful coming from her. It’s about respecting a DECEASED ICON’S legendary status!! Let’s be clear though I love Mariah she DOES NOT compare to Whitney and I respectfully say that! So let’s not compare them like they are on the same level (which seems like what you are doing). No one WILL EVER COMPARE TO WHITNEY!! But a basic non vocalist like you (unlike myself 🎙🎤 ) wouldn’t understand that! I’m still confused on the Hitler part! 😂😂😂
Pure jealousy and no class. People should forgive her talking crap about one of the greatest singers ever as she’s an old lady. Let her talk crap, she has nothing else to offer.
THE Deniece Williams is an R&B legend. Just ask Mariah. Oh and btw Mariah is no spring chicken her f****** self. She’s eligible for AARP. Divas like Deniece Williams and Minnie Riperton (R.I.P.) walked so Mariah Payola Carey could run. The legends of old had no filter. They spoke their minds. and still do today. Deal with it and put some respect on Miss Williams MF name.
Ain’t nothing wrong with Mariahs voice except weed and liquor!
Where is the lie tho? Mariah voice has declined. Not saying she doesn’t deserve credit but just because u like someone it doesn’t mean u shouldn’t tell the truth
Facts are facts. Mariah sounds like trash now. Y’all can make all the excuses in the MF world but nothing’s going to change that.
If she sounds like trash then Whitney must have sounded like a S*** TRASH 100XL. LOL
Notice she didn’t criticize any of the other singers mentioned, maybe Niecy realized she’d better stay sweet…. I think it was cuz Mariah was the first one on the list….. Anyways love Denise always, she just needs to update herself on Mariah cuz MC can most definitely blow. Just check out yesterday’s awesome GMA performance!!!!
Everyone’s voice changes with time. If this lady thinks hers hasn’t then she’s obviously become tone deaf in her very advanced age. Mariah at 50, in 2020, still sounds good and much better than more than half of these “singers” today that populate the Hot 100. If you really wanna see a decline in a singer’s voice go search videos of Whitney Houston serving up crackhead realness at her performances in the years before she OD’d after freebasing that crack! Did she have that same energy back then?! People were scared to even bring the subject up.
I Don’t Think Neicy Was Dissing Mariah, It Was Just An Assessment And Some Advice On How To Keep The Vocals Tight But As You Know, People Always Wanna Turn Things Into BS, So Now Neicy Don’t Let The Public Trip You Up, You Already Know What’s What And To Mariah, Don’t Take It Personal, You Just Keep On Singing, Ok?
That was no diss respect she has been around to no what it takes for sustainability n0w if she was going to diss or hate she would not have gave out that advice and just let her blow her whole vocals out so I respect and admire her for sharing information she’d learn for free everyone so into their feeling sit back read absorb the information because it’s a lot of older haters that don’t want to see The Young Ones come upend just keep that information to themselves
Mariah is NOT ICON… AGAIN MARIAH IS NOT ICON
THE MEDIA GAVE THAT TITLE TO WHITNEY HOUSTON you can’t ever change that.. WHITNEY WAS CALLED ICON FIRST
Mariah will never be able to sing like Whitney the voice Houston…
Mariah will never be successful in movies like the Icon Whitney either
Why drag the coke snorting crackhead with no ability to sing into this? She is dead and has nothing to do with Mariah. Have some respect!
So…we’re just gonna act like the woman is lying????
She lied about her own voice because it is clearly in decline and has suffered damage from years of singing as well. So yeah, she lied and was misleading and didn’t have the nerve to be fully forthcoming.
True doe
She praised Whitney (rest her soul), but Whitney even admitted that she didn’t take care of her voice and she didn’t care that she had the most powerful voice in the world all she cared about was smoking and getting high. She said that on Oprah back in 2010. She admitted to ruining and not taking care of her voice and Mariah has never said anyting negatively about trying to ruin her voice or not taking care of it, she (Mariah) did however say some years ago like maybe around 2010 or 2011 when someone said something negative about her voice and her not having ballads anymore she said she just wanted to make fun of music.
Ok…she gave a very technical explanation. No shade. No lies.
I don’t know why people are mad with Denise William’s comment she was asked her opinion and she gave it damn. She was right I totally agree with her.
Who named Mariah Carey fans #lambs? I have never heard of that.
Device Williams is an icon one who we true Artists respect. The Lambs need to relax, stay fans don’t try to be experts in an industry you know nothing about!! I’m sure Mariah understands what Ms Williams was saying and takes it in stride and admiration. These kids don’t understand constructive criticism, they think they know everything. Calm down..have a seat!!