I think that now she is in great shape. Her christmas apparences were fantastic!!!
I hope her new album show more of her voice. i liked Memoirs but it was too soft for me.

Thank you Trent for giving a musical education, history lesson, aural pleasure, and legend. She open the doors for so many hip-hop artists.

I like this. It’s a very intriguing post.

I could tell by the videos that 99-08 were her problem years. In 2001, her voice was alright and it seemed like she was getting better but by 2005, she went downhill again. And that Touch My Body performance was just awful. But from what I could hear in the 2010 clip, her voice is getting so much better. I cannot wait to hear how she sounds now.

Her voice is still better than ALL artists. The only competition she has at present on a vocal level is Celine Dion.

Touch My Body does not translate live because of the song it had nothing to do with the vocal performance.

Giiirrrrl stop trying to make Mariah relevant. She has been sounding like shit since 1997. Whitney did drugs but still sounds way better. What’s Mariah’s excuse?

I love the write up but I must say it felt like you rushed to wrap it up towards the end.

I love the video footage you used but was a little disappointed you didn’t use 1996 at the Tokyo Dome “One Sweet Day”, her vocal performance during that concert is definitely one of sheer brilliance. But maybe my choice would have been to predictable.

I will definitely agree that most recently I have been very impressed with Carey’s vocal performances (in a different way then 1990 and 1996) she definitely has more control over her instrument nowadays, when she hit the scene in 1990 she was overflowing with talent and at times it seem she struggled to contain the power of her voice but she had amazing vocal development from 1990 to 1996. People also point out 97-01 as an era of vocal down fall for Carey which I agree, but I also loved the vocals and music she produced during this era. 2001 – 04 saw a different side of Carey vocally, specifically with the Charmbracelet album like ‘Sublet Invitation’, Brining on the Heartbreak’, ‘The One’ and so on.

Say what you want, but Mariah’s LIVE performances (save a few) ALWAYS left something to be desired. From her earliest recordings up to the present, you can hear OBVIOUS flaws in her vocals technique that led to her current vocal status. I’ve YET to hear a live vocal performance that has left me absolutely speechless. She is a GREAT studio singer, no doubt, but LIVE she rarely delivers. We know Whitney ruined her voice with drugs. Got it. Whitney had technique, power, TONE, control, and a delivery that was just UNSURPASSED. If you ask me, she and Mariah had opposite problems. Mariah’s catalogue is amazing, but her performances were often subpar. Whitney’s catalogue is “so so”, but her performances where almost ALWAYS an EXPERIENCE!

@TheMan4U Oh boohoo, spare me your flip side BS, nothing in Mariah’s catalogue will ever flatter you in any way shape or form. You hate her so much as if she beat the shit out of you. So yeah, every negative critique coming from you is expected. Cuz you’re just that: a full blown Mariah HATER. Uhhuh…

i prefer her new voice, her old one was too ‘perfect’ if that makes sense. she has that extra grit to it now which makes it more interesting, especially live. vision of love ’05 over 90’s basically

bull bull bull! Mariah loves alcohol and her excessive drinking was a direct contributor to her vocal decline in the late 90s. had nothing to do with age. Mariah is great in the studio and you can clearly hear her patching stuff together on MC2U.

Live, she indulges in trickery that if you strip away the backing tracks, the over dubs her continued vocal decline would be clear. She is the master of tricks which is why i don’t respect her as a live performer. lipping, lipping, backtracks and overdubs. there are so many clips on youtube on her doing this. trent just mad cuz grape juice showed mariah faking on touch my body and can trent go a day w/o mentioning whitney. It’s pathetic now

@DRB your comment is perfect

And at the end of the day, with an unrested voice and 2.5 octaves, Mariah still sounds better than every other female artist out there today. Whitney stans, sit the eff DOWN! Mariah built herself up to be with hard work and talent (writing, producing, performing).

Trent, I must say this article did seem rushed. You can’t sum up Mariah’s career in a few paragraphs. It’s a little degrading. Her voice started declining after what year?? Did you not see her live Grammy performance in 2006? Did we miss her live Christmas concert in 2010? That performance of My Saving Grace at the AMA’s in 2003? When she rests her voice Mariah is like no other. And I’m mostly directing this comment at some people commenting saying she’s a “studio” artist. CHILD PLEASE! You can’t judge a year or a few years by a bad performance here and there.

Loved your last line though. Mariah did set the bar at perfection. There will never be another. Everyone always tries to bring her down. If MJ were still alive they’d be trying to bring him down as well. Let’s all just take a step back and respect the human treasures still amongst us.

Mariah sounds more powerful now, before her voice was powerful but light. Now the sound of it sounds fuller. Some people are just haters and thats that. In the “Butterfly Era”, her voice was/is still great she just needed rest. This is a woman who sung live yrs straight at a time, hitting the highest register she could. No other female artists was doing that. Mariah has laid down tons of moving performances. She is the greatest technical female singer bar none. Furthermore, most concert performances are dubbed but she was definitely singing live in alot of those performances. No offense but some people always just wanna accuse her of lipping because of Whitney’s vocal state. If she does a great job haters will say the same thing. No matter what she is the greatest female singer overall. The things she has done/do with her voice are astonishing. Also, does anybody else see this is a cop out on Trent’s behald because he feels sour about the Beyonce post. It seems like you wrote this to show that you are unbiased. It came off as very desperate. You’ve mentioned alot of this before.

And who the heck is even mentioning the word hasbeen by her name? Did you do this for hits? Cause i don’t get it.

Lol shut your whinning azz up, this is directly….

You are just simply the BEST Trent. I really enjoyed this read. As a huge lamb and lover of music, I could agree that over the years, a person’s voice does change, mature and overall lose some of its stronger points/highlights. I just love thelavalizard.com. Thnks for this..

@theman4u Whitney lip-synced many times though. She lipped on the I Look To You tour and even in the 1980s and 1990s. She doesn’t do it as much as Mariah and Celine but she definitely does it.

@theman4u I totally agree Trent acts like there were no great singers before Mariah…boy please all those female you listed have been around before Mariah and bet she cant see any of those vets. Sure Whitney sounds bad now but Mariah in my opinion is not too far behind, she just has more of the resources to cover her flaws

Unless Mariah doesn’t give a 100% live performance any time soon I’m not cosigning that her voice has improved.
She sang nicely at Christmas in Washington but I’m still not sure whether all the high notes were sung live or not.

I’m really tired of her lip-syncing and backtrack shit. I didn’t want to comment on this post because it truly bothers me the fact that she hasn’t been honest on her singing. All singers mime every now and then & she can do it every time she feels to but for a woman who has been a vocalist, an AMAZING vocalist repeating the same trick over and over is beyond unacceptable.

I love her, I own every single album, I just want her to be able to accept what she’s capable & not capable to do. She has to realize that she isn’t perfect and that wonderful voice she had when first came out isn’t there anymore. I’m not saying she can’t sing anymore (c’mon, she still slays your faves) I’m just saying that she needs to embrace this “new” voice.

You better be confident girl, make great music and sing live. You can be a diva as much as you want, just leave the nonsense behind when you’re singing.
I’m done.

The Madonna and Whitney fans are the main ones that hate Mariah so much. Why? Because Mimi zoomed right past their favs in the first 10 years of her career. And as a singer/songwriter, she emerged as the best selling female artist of all time right next to MJ. Mimi’s got it all, talent, look, confidence, self assurance, #1 hits, god given gift: her voice and now a good husband and dem babies. When they first took notice that Mimi out ranked all of them, what do you get from that?!? Jealousy and Hatred ofcourse.

Mariah is the BEST, hands down, and she ain’t done with music until she says otherwise. Yep yep yep, now hate on that haterz lolz!

But speaking of Chaka she’s great and all but anybody could just scream, that isn’t singing.

^^^ Exactly, especially when your favorite artists are having an extremely difficult time getting a #1 album, or even going platinum with tons of hits, then over top of that they lack what matters most. Raw Talent.

With all the achievements in her career, it´s absurd and uneducated to refer Mariah as a has been. She has set so many records in the music industry comercially wise (a lot of them yet to be beaten), not to mention there`s no other pop artist around with a 5 octave vocal range. Of course, I can see why people compare MC with other divas both from the past and present, but again most of them only have to take care of their beltings (and to be fair some of them, can only scream,growl, or belt with more head voice with nasal tone as they can`t hit a belt higher than C5 properly) as they can´t whistle, hit a note in the 2nd octave, whisper and switch all those registers like Mariah. Vocally wise, Mariah is in her own league. Even now, after more than 20 years of career, she`s still able to record songs so difficult than nobody else can sing and that`s saying a lot. You just can`t expect a God gifted talent like Mariah`s voice to be intact forever. Decline happens to every artist, model and athlete around. It`s the life law: you are born, develop to a certain point (peak) and then decline up to your death. While is true Mariah`s voice is not what it was back in the 90`s, it`s also a fact that her vocal register has remained intact and has even expanded since her debut in 1990. She still can hit notes in the 2nd and 7th octave. If she feels the need to lip in order to prevent her voice from more damage, then she can do it, she has nothing left to prove.

@Timmi, i answered a question posed by another person about who else has been singing live for years and i actually brought up 3 other names, but i guess none ruffles the feathers of the lambs like the name whitney, smh

LOL @ some of these comments. Some people seem to forget you can’t compare Mariah to other singers because her voice is not like anyone else’s. After all, vocal critics still can’t agree on what category her voice belongs in. Also, I wish people would stop saying 1997 was her “vocal decline” when in fact her voice became much, more beautiful than ever before. The Butterfly era is my favorite era of her voice & that album is her best work. Check out her singing live on SNL, that year =========> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eI2ZoQnrH-w. As for her voice now she sounded really well in 2010 singing “One Child” & ” O Come All Ye Faithful…” for the President. Check them out here =======> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1Q-2tPFyaY & http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHVXHTsQOis&feature=related.
SN: For some of you people if Mariah came to your house and sung to you, you would still say she lipped.

@AJ – I really think your analysis of the situation is off. You stated “Artists should not have to make a “comeback.” If they truly had staying power they would have never left.”

Several of the industry’s most powerful names have had to make comebacks. MJ, Madonna, Sarah Vaughn, Diana Ross, Cher, Tina Turner(people argue her comeback was bigger then anything in her earlier career sales wise), Elton John, Bee Gees, Celine Dion and etc. And lets not for get about Beyonce closet (Internal conflict with the members of DC, heavy allegations of of plagiarism, scandal with Matthew Knowles). I’m not trying to bring Beyonce down but she is just like many of the artist before her, and she at one point may need to make a comeback.

@theman4u

There are no feathers ruffled here. The reason I singled out Whitney from the other three names you mentioned is because truth be told, Whitney has experienced a much greater vocal decline than Mariah and I don’t think your use of her name in your argument holds any validity.

Yes, Whitney has been singing in the spotlight longer than Mariah (only about 5 years or so, so I wouldn’t say “way” longer) and yes Mariah does have more of a tendency to lip-synch than Whitney does. However, Whitney’s performances over the recent years have consisted of her talking her way through the song. I’m sure Mariah is more than capable of doing that too, but instead makes the choice of pre-recording vocals if she feels she may struggle.

Whilst this may seem like trickery in our eyes, I feel it is only for the best. Showing your voice is shot will do no favours for your career. Look at the backlash Whitney received for her latest tour. Whilst I do not condone lip-synching, sometimes it is the best choice to make. Sometimes I even wish Whitney had chose to lip-synch when she was first experiencing vocal difficulties, just so that she could have the opportunity to rest her voice and prevent any serious/permanent damage.

Lolz, well excuse me for my irrelevent posts, I guess I should just leave the debates to these ignorant BIG SHOTS…ciao!

The damage is repairable, but she’d risk losing her “high” register, so she hasn’t had her nodules removed. She’s had them since she was a little girl, and speaks openly about them, but surely they’ve gotten worse over the years. Her voice did sound fantastic when she was pregnant, though, and as much as I can’t stand the “self-induced” vocal decline (as opposed to the age/nodules argument), I do think her not drinking while pregnant had a lot to do with how fantastic she sounded in 2010:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCo0phnydHg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HZl9tQJklQ

Even Touch My Body sounded good (a million times better than in 2008):

last paragraph says it all, that and her Merry Christmas II You album and her live performances of it in front of Obama, Christmas 2010. I frickin love this post i see reciepts (e.g. videos) to back it up, this is journalism!!

Mariah Carey is the best singer I believe since Minnie Ripperton. Honestly I feel it has nothing to do with the whistles or whispers or even the belts. It is the fact that her technique cannot be duplicated or mimmicked. Just listen to how the song Emotions, Dreamlover, Always Be My Baby,& even Oh Santa start. Most of her songs start with some sort of falsetto, head voice, whistle, belt mix. She’s even stated she finds it difficult to do that when practicing. Another thing is that most Fucking Retards don’t realize is that 1 most parts of her songs that are dubbed and played back are harmonized parts, 2 she’s stated that belting everything is boring as hell, 3 she does write her own stuff so she can sing however the hell she feels, & 4 she says she is an alto with a five octave range. Her speaking voice is raspy so singing wise good or not it’s an extension of that. Natural rasp speech natural rasp singing. Also her ability to switch registers quickly with fast or slow vibrato or a mix of the two shows full control and very impressive craftsmanship. Hands down she is the best singer. Whitney to me has great breath control and tone, Beyonce has a good Falsetto yet doesn’t use it, Christina has a very light lower register which she doesn’t access enough, Chaka has had a very breathy Chest register since forever, & some other artists such as Katy Perry aren’t using their talents. Leona Lewis’ voice is too soft for me. Not enough rawness. Nicole from PCD is just another singer with lungs and no idea what to do with them.

hi great job done on mariah can you also profile one on lisa lavie as well that would be awesome thanks

MARIAH on her worst, still sounds A L-O-T better than artists of today e.g katy, rihanna, gaga, minaj, swift, cyrus and the likes. u know? the bitches who are just a product to sell. no quality in them music. therefore, i conclude that MARIAH on her worst days (vocally) can blow any mediocre artist out of the map STILL. the only real competition is Ms. Houston.