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It's still very much a Mariah album--and a very slick and stylish one--with all the sweetness and swagger that entails.
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Even the fun disco of 'I’m That Chick' is too little, too late for E=MC²--an album that proves just how easy it is for a well-funded virtuoso and the world’s best hitmakers to create a steaming pile of shit.
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E=MC2 is Carey's most-fun album, and her best.
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She is on fine vocal form throughout E=MC2, whether belting out massive ballads ('Thanx 4 Nothin') or layering her voice into a swooning bank of a hundred Mariahs ('I'll Be Lovin' U Long Time').
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The production is glossed to within an inch of its life, the mood is cheerfully upbeat--or 'festive' as Carey might put it herself--and the entire confection rings out with bold, sassy, brutally executed intent.
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Like so much of "Emancipation" and E=MC2, which is a virtual replica of its predecessor in almost every way, 'Touch My Body' is all about sound, rhythm, and texture and not so much about song, something that helps sustain Mariah Carey's run at the top the charts, but something that also pushes melodic hooks, and in the process singing, into the background.
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Nearly every song confines Carey to four-note verses, offering little room for her glorious range, and the six ballads are drenched in yearbook-quote lyrics that never quite work themselves into the froth of "The Emancipation of Mimi."
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There is some insubstantial filler here, but more often than not, E = MC2 hits the mark.
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The result is a largely enjoyable mix of flirtatious club jams, midtempo love songs, and emotional ballads anchored by hip hop beats that hansomely showcase the singer's powerful vocal range. [18 Apr 2008, p.63]
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Carey's made a pop album with equal parts levity and gravity.
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As sequels go, E=MC2 is better than most, boasting a higher, and more consistent, quotient of slinky, dance-floor charm and stronger ballads than "Mimi."
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That leaves the expected collection of highly buffed beats, a dozen producers deep, which occasionally generates material that ranks with Mariah's best.
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It is in the same vein [as "The Emancipation of Mimi"], but much less good.
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It’s all pretty cohesive, yet the album relies too heavily on its slick production and lyrical arrangements.
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At the end of the day, however, E=MC2 is nothing more than a shallow imitation of its predecessor, the unexciting kid cousin of an arena-sized R&B watermark.
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E=MC2 is a little better--the songwriting is more consistent, the feel a bit more natural--but it too lacks a ruling temperament or artistic vision.
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Nov 19, 2018It's skillful and winsome enough that the other hits it spins off will stay pleasant, if not revelatory.
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New Musical Express (NME)A strident, self-assured album.
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UncutAdhering to commercially fixated standards of production line R&B, E=MC2 charms soon melt away. [Aug 2008, p.87]
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 194 out of 382
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Mixed: 90 out of 382
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Negative: 98 out of 382
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Feb 18, 2021
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Nov 4, 2022
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Nov 10, 2015