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SHOW 52The Orange County Register POP MUSIC Friday, Sept 12, 1997f» r - h . . ». * lt;* •: ■ :- - ; «* r •• .\ . r •»1.' t*SOUNDCHECK► RBMariah CareyButterfly, Columbia7A✓✓✓✓o one could have guessed that what was lurking inside Mariah Carey’s cocoon would transform itself into something like this.What little has mattered of Carey’s music up to this point should now be put away for posterity. Her sixth album, “Butterfly” (in stores Tuesday), is a new beginning, an astonishing achievement that pronounces the 27-year-old singer-songwriter free from the ties that bound her to husband/Svengali/Sony Music chief Tommy Mottola while heralding the arrival (finally) of an RB talent to be reckoned with.At last she understands her gifts. There’s that incredible voice, once wasted on so many dreadfully sappy ballads, now expertly controlled, and fired off full-blown only when tunneling to the center of your heart. There’s an uncanny sense of intricate interplay between foreground and •background, before so awkward and buried, now effortlessly dexterous. There’s that sharp ear for production values, both thematic and individual, now played out with some semblance of overall order and restraint.“Butterfly” is serious music, and demands to be treated as such. Despite one slight misstep (more on that in a moment), it is a deeply personal and perfectlysomber, autobiographical album about a crumbling romance.conjoined cyclical reflection on acrumbling romance and the wise woman who emerges from its ruin.Leading off with the effervescent “Honey” and the melancholy title track, it quickly shifts to flashback, as we travelthrough highly cinematic moments of love’s first bloom (“The Roof,” “Fourth of July”), forward to dependency (“Baby-doll”), through to loss and regret (“Close My Eyes”) and resolution (a moving remake of Prince’s “The Beautiful Ones,”recast, with exceptional help from Dru Hill, from please-baby-baby-please plea to saddened dialogue between lovers).Heady, heavy stuff, indeed, and the Mariah of old would have flattened it with histrionic emotion and needless vocal gymnastics. Here, even the most giddy of moments are laced with a foreboding somberness that keeps the work of a piece — which is absolutely acceptable (indeed, almost necessary) when an artist is being so autobiographical for the first time. It’s not as naked and direct as, say, Marvin Gaye’s “Here, My Dear,” but it’s stirring all the same.Carey’s recent separation from Mottola surely has the most to do with her newfound maturity. Special guests such as Puff Daddy, Missy Elliott and members of Bone Thugs-N-Harmony obviously urged the singer to enter the sensual world, but given that Carey wrote or co-wrote the entire album, as well as co-pro-duced (with longtime partner Walter Afanasieff) nearly every self-examining track, the deliberate turn her craft has taken should properly be seen as her vision.There’s only one problem with “Butterfly,” and it’s not that much of it evokes Janet Jackson’s coming-out, 1994’s “janet.” (Granted, Carey is still following in her colleague’s footsteps rather than cementing her own, but Janet-like whispers aside, this is still an assured effort that finds Carey breaking her own mold by comprehending the new.)No, the flaw here is “Whenever You Call,” a one-dimensionalthrowback to Carey’s prior approach that sounds completely out of place. Though its sentiment fits into her overall love-play, its execution smacks of being a ready-made ringer tacked on in case fans didn’t take to the new approach.That’s a shame, for it mars an otherwise flawless album. “Butterfly” is one of the finest works in adult contemporary RB in the past five years, easily taking its place alonside “janet.,” Toni Braxton’s “Secrets” and Tony Rich’s “Words.” “Well I guess I’m trying to be nonchalant about it/And I’m going to extremes to prove I’m fine without you,” Carey half-sings, half-speed-raps (a la Bone Thugs) to her former flame in “Breakdown.” Such extremes — both facing up to the hurt and anguish as well as learning to trust her instincts — serve Mariah Carey very well.You might enjoy if you like: Janet Jackson's janet., Toni Braxton, Dru Hill, Tony RichBy BEN WENER/The Register✓✓✓✓✓✓✓✓✓✓✓✓mm;iusiC'to:buyii« :v;V- •- - N, •. *.v -'•.'S'*.y yy
Newspaper Details
Santa Ana Orange County Register
Santa Ana, California, US
Fri, Sep 12, 1997
Page 63
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CA 21 Nov 2022
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