Customer Reviews

Emotions

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is the Mariah Carey i like to listen too. Her songs make sense and have great emotions. I must say that her first 3 albums including the Christmas one are the best albums of her carrer. The rest fall short. i don't like the new Mariah. I think her last two albums were that great specially M=MC2. If you want to listen to good Mariah music you have to go back to where it all started.

Released just months after promotion for her eponymous debut ceased, Emotions rode the wave of Mariah's extraordinary early '90s successes. While its predecessor was a bigger hit, this album has been certified quadruple platinum and spawned a classic number-one with its title track. That song opens the record on a high note, literally and figuratively, with its light disco/soul blend benefiting from Mariah's repeated high-pitched riffs. The classics don't stop there. "Can't Let Go" is a jazzy, sensual number featuring some of Mariah's and collaborator Walter Afanasieff's best songwriting; her vocal delivery is as emotive as it is technically powerful. "Make it Happen" follows, mixing gospel-style vocals and lyrics with a heavy dance beat courtesy of the C+C Music Factory. Of the lesser-known tracks, "If it's Over" and "The Wind" stand out. The former, co-written by Carole King and Mariah, is an organic soul ballad with fitting horn accompaniment. "The Wind," written over a piece by Russell Freeman, is a full blown jazz track with strong lyrics and an elegant, understated vocal performance from Mariah. That said, this album is not perfect. Many of the up-tempo numbers don't hold up well after 1991, while some of the grandiose ballads run together. Mariah had yet to fully develop into a songwriter; several plagiarism lawsuits were filed. It's true "Emotions" sounds a lot like soul classics "Got to be Real" and "Best of My Love," and "Can't Let Go" is remarkably similar to Keith Sweat's "Make it Last." You won't find stronger singing on any other Mariah Carey album, but some of tracks suffocate under gimmicky vocal gymnastics. Ultimately, Emotions is a worthy follow-up that set the standard for many of Mariah's future releases. 3.5 Stars.

This is one of my fav Mariah albums. Released in 1991 right behind her very successful self titled debut record. Of course everyone's fav song EMOTIONS is always fun! Some of the very best on this CD are AND YOU DONT REMEMBER, MAKE IT HAPPEN, IF ITS OVER, & SO BLESSED, but my absolute Favorite is CANT LET GO. I think everyone would agree this song is just timeless and great all around. It is to me one of the top 3 or 4 Mariah ballads! No one should be without Mariah Carey's 2nd album, EMOTIONS !

This is Mariah at her best. She sings jazz in THE WIND, amazing ballads CAN'T LET GO, TILL THE END OF TIME & AND YOU DON'T REMEMBER.
Awesome dance tracks: SO COLD / MAKE IT HAPPEN.
A+

A perfectionist always, Mariah really delivered on Emotions. However, this album did not yield quite as many sales as her debut album, released only a year before. Frankly, I don't know why.

1991 was a good year for Mariah career-wise, at least. She won a couple of Grammys, including Best New Artist, had 4 consecutive #1 hits from her debut under her belt, and had completed her second album already. Yet to be household-name superstar-level famous, back when she was only 21, she was still out to prove herself as a singer and songwriter. Still shy in interviews, still sporting her early trademark curly hair and a youthful promise for the future, she had burst onto the music scene just a little over a year earlier, stunning many with her shockingly enormous voice projected from such a tiny body. Performances like "America the Beautiful" at the NBA finals in 1990, which preceded the onset of her debut album, set the stage for a new diva to take over the music scene, and rightfully so. The girl has a vocal range that no other mainstream pop artist has been able to match before or since.

Back to 1991, though. Emotions is a much better album than her debut, when looked at as a whole. It is a very cohesive collection of songs, which all seem to go together nicely (with the exception of the very last track, "The Wind"). It has some vocally demanding ballads, punctuated at just the right intervals with even more challenging vocally demanding up-tempo numbers. And yes, she freely uses her trademark whistle-register on this album, but the song structures seem more crafted to fit these notes than on her debut, where she would come out of nowhere with a whistle which didn't seem to fit the song. Here, she whistles, but the songs seem more crafted to fit these high notes, "Emotions" being the pinnacle example of this sort of structure. Additionally, this album is a little less over-produced with synthesizers than her debut album (being one year further away from the '80s helps with this). The best songs on the album are:

"Can't Let Go" (I don't know why this only reached #2 -- really, was Color Me Badd or whatever held it from the top spot that much better of a song?)

"To Be Around You" (Definitely one of my favorite uptempo Mariah numbers of all times. It sounds exactly what I remember 1991 should sound like, but in a good way. Not in a way that makes me want to forget that I can remember the early 90s)

"You're So Cold" (Good uptempo number, but what I really like about it is her showing off the lowest register of her voice in the very beginning without any background but a piano.)

"If It's Over" (I like this as a soulful ballad, but also I simply love the fact that, at only 21 years old, Mariah was writing songs with the legendary singer-songwriter Carole King. What do most people have to say for our accomplishments at 21 years old?)

When I first bought the CD, honestly, I wasn't expecting to like most of the songs besides the lead single, Emotions, simply because I hadn't heard of most of them. As a pretty big Mariah fan, I should have known better -- the true gems of her albums are almost never released as singles. However, it has evolved into a CD which I can listen to without skipping over any songs (except "The Wind", but since it is the last track, that isn't too much of a hassle). I tend to listen to CDs only when driving, so "The Wind" with its breathy, slow vocals that I can't understand very well and its jazzy, almost beatless, background, coupled with its minor key tonality, doesn't lend itself to driving if I am constantly needing to read the lyrics to understand her. However, even though I don't enjoy it, I do commend Mariah for taking the artistic stretch and including it on the album.

I highly recommend this album for anyone who feels any sort of nostalgia for the '90s, anyone who likes Mariah Carey's song catalogue or anyone who needs a good purely pop CD that you don't have to think too deeply about while you're enduring the stress of navigating your crazy daily commute.

Boy, talk about a good album! Mariah did her thing on this cd. I was shocked to find out that this album didn't reach #1 on the Billboard charts when it first came out. And I also don't understand why some people talk negative about this album, thinking that it was a somewhat remake of her first cd. Well, I own 7 Mariah Carey cds, and this one right here is my FAVORITE one, just shy of her self-titled cd. Every song on this cd to me is given four to five stars. It is that serious. The reason why i luv this cd is because it has the great upbeat songs (produced by the C&C Factory dudes) and those unbelievable ballads (all produced by Walter Afanasieff). And speaking of production. I love the fact that she only used these two production teams specifically for this album, one for the fast tunes, and the other for the slow songs (artist nowaday just pick anybody and just throw songs on cds without care). The song "Can't Let Go" is my all-time favorite song from not only this cd, but of Mariah Carey, period. Trust me, this is a good cd. Ignore everyone who thinks it's bad, because it's not. Oh, more thing. If you liked this cd, you'll just love her first one. Just a little info for ya.

I really want to review mariah's latest cd but it's not out yet, cannot wait to hear it, so to past time i will review Emotions. This is another one of my Mariah faves, for memories and nostalgia. This is when Mariah was doing "adult contempory" music when she was young and now that she's mature she's doing for younger-based music. It is irony but the fact is Mariah is still banging out gr8 music regardless. I own all of her works, other than the greatest hits stuff, no need! But this album is near perfect, deep lyrics and mood music, no real skip-overs. I luv luv "Til the End of Time, Can't Let Go, So Blessed, pretty much all of it. A gr8 memory cd, jus a shout out and a Memoirs promotion all in one! Mariah ur tha best, luv u.

The recent fans of Mariah Carey should definitely check out her sophomore effort, the focused and flawlessly produced "Emotions" that came along in 1991. Commercially it did not match up to the eponymous debut with its four number-one songs, but it was not as scattered -- rather constructed with firm conviction and going for the best in Mariah. Already emphasizing Carey's trademark ballads, mostly produced by the inimitable Walter Afanasieff (notable highlight is "Can't Let Go"), it had its fair share of old school disco crossed with modern dancefloor in four tracks helmed by Clivilles and Cole (Sadly, David Cole later died of AIDS). Of these, "Emotions" and "Make It Happen" made it high to the charts, but "To Be Around You" was maybe the greatest fun ever had by Mariah on record. The great Carole King ("Tapestry") exactly filled Mariah's needs with the co-written "If It's Over". Although commercially more successful, "Music Box" of 1993 only repeated the formula coined by "Emotions". Often showcasing the high notes she was also famed for, Mariah Carey nevertheless has much more here to show. This album offers some of the top vocal performances ever recorded ("Emotions" is probably the most difficult number one song ever sung) and is not to grow old soon.

This is an old, not too old, album (CD) that I needed in my collection. I like this CD of Ms. Carey. I am not a huge fan of her music, however, this one, I do like and I think it is her best. I very much admire her for being a songwriter, producer and a superb singer.

"EMOTIONS" HAD BEEN IN MY CD LIBRARY FOR MANY YEARS; HOWEVER, AFTER SORTING THROUGH MY CD'S AFTER MY LAST MOVE - I FOUND THE "EMOTIONS" CASE WITHOUT THE CD! THIS IS ONE OF MARIAH'S (IF NOT THE MOST) INSPIRING CD'S. SHE HAS A VARIETY OF SONGS ON THIS CD THAT JUST SEEM TO FLOW TOGETHER. "EMOTIONS" IS LEFT IN MY VEHICLE, BECAUSE IT IS ONE OF THE BEST CD'S FOR RELAXING, SOOTHING, AND JUST CHILLIN OUT WHILE DRIVING FOR SEVERAL HOURS. AM SO GLAD TO HAVE IT BACK IN MY LIBRARY OF CD'S.