By Eleanor Nagle
Mariah Carey has had an interesting career, to say the least, filled with brilliance, success, failure, strange TV appearances and mental breakdowns. But the only thing that shows in E=MC2 is the brilliance.
Carey pulled herself back on top with her interesting, fun and enjoyable new album. It has everything a listener needs: upbeat dance songs, love ballads, great breakup songs and sexy tracks that make you blush.
“Touch My Body,” the first single to come out of the album is the sexiest of the songs and one of many good dance tracks. While it is not the best song on the album, it is certainly up there.
If you download the CD off iTunes you also get the “Touch my Body” video for free. The video is surprisingly funny and makes fun of itself in an incredibly humorous sort of way that makes you wonder if it’s a joke. It features a nerdy computer guy and Carey dancing around and having pillow fights.
There are a few ballads on the CD, but the best of them by far is “Bye Bye.” It has much the same feel as former hits from past CDs, such as “Hero” and “One Sweet Day.” On the track, Carey sings about the loss of someone close to her without specifying who, which makes the song easy for anyone suffering from a loss to relate to.
Many of the songs on the album have the scorned lover feel, especially “Side Effects,” which appears to be a very thinly veiled attack on her ex-husband. The song plays out in the angry bitter way whereas other songs such as “Thanx 4 Nothing,” “For the Record” and “I Wish You Well” concentrate on the sadder parts of break-ups.
If you feel like dancing, “I’ll Be Loving You Long Time” and “O.O.C,” “Touch My Body” and a few others provide upbeat, fun songs that really get you moving.
A variety of artists, including Damian Marley, Young Jeezy, Da Brat and T-Pain are featured with Carey on various track and all enhance the songs, making them even better. Young Jeezy is probably the best with his contribution to “Side Effects.”
Overall, E=MC2 is a very good, if not great, album that is well worth its price, especially if you illegally download it, as I suspect many of you will. Carey gives at least one song to go with pretty much any mood or emotion you could have making it a versatile CD and perfect for any good old fashioned pop lover.