Personnel include: Mariah Carey (vocals); Trey Lorenz (vocals); Nelly, Snoop Dogg, Twista (rap vocals); Chops Horns (horns); James Wright (keyboards); Randy Jackson (bass instrument); Charles Drayton (drums); Fatman Scoop, Jermaine Dupri, Johnta Austin (background vocals).
Recording information: Right Track Studios, New York, New York; South Side Studios, Atlanta, GA; Honeywest, New York, NY.
With the lofty title THE EMANCIPATION OF MIMI, it's clear that Mariah Carey wants listeners to know she's releasing an important record. Here she aims to reveal an aspect of herself that has previously been held back by career missteps and tabloid-worthy drama. It's refreshing, then, that 2005's EMANCIPATION returns the focus to Carey's remarkable voice, as the singer makes her most focused record in over a decade.
Carey opens the album by exhibiting some of the most sincerely soulful vocals of her career on the one-two punch of the up-tempo "It's Like That" and the beautiful ballad "We Belong Together." Her able voice expertly complements both the hazy hip-hop of Snoop Dogg on "Say Somethin'" and the acrobatics of Twista on the dream-like "One and Only." In her early years, Carey would have adorned the latter track with vocal tricks to show off her five-octave voice, but she has wisely learned to rein in her frills. In fact, restraint is the key word on THE EMANCIPATION OF MIMI, a straightforward and satisfying pop-R&B collection.
What the critics say...
Entertainment Weekly (No. 815, p.76) - "[E]very song on EMANCIPATION showcases Carey's undeniable vocal strengths..." - Grade: B
Vibe (pp.139-140) - 4 discs out of 5 - "Mariah gets back to her winning formula on MIMI. Her yin and yang method, with its schizophrenic mix of the '80s and 21st-cetnury hip hop, works wonders for EMANCIPATION."
