About time, Mariah’s finally approaching the release of her new album, though I’m not sure we’ve got a release date yet. A 2013 release it apparently on the cards, but there’s not much of the year left is there?
But here we are with the title track, released as the follow-up to the gorgeous “#beautiful” that we enjoyed over Summer. I’m not sure if this new single represents a return to form, but it certainly seems to represent a return to old-school Mariah.
It’s got that slightly overblown feel of her first few ballad & blues albums. When she nails that sound it’s really something to behold, but I’m not sure I’m quite on board with this one.
I can’t speak as a massive Mariah fan, she’s a great star and she’s certainly got plenty of great songs to her name. My voyage through her back catalogue was a bit of a trial for me, not being very au fait with soul and RnB music.
I just think “The art of letting go” doesn’t particularly make the most of her best asset – her legendary range. It’s certainly been made clear in recent years that her voice may not be capable of the same acrobatics, but while this song has its glimpse, we never get to savour the moment because of all those overlapping lines at the end.
Mariah’s giving the marching orders to an ex-lover, and she’s making no mistake about who’s got the upper hand. The typical Mariah usage of big words leads to a few clumsy verses, and they go on for so long you wonder if there’s a chorus in there at all.
I mean as a statement song it’s clear and strong, but as the launch single for the album? Alarm bells are ringing for me, it’s a shame they couldn’t have launched it with “#beautiful”, I am ready to see “All I want for Christmas is you” outperform this one.
Verbal Diarrhoea 