I'm always trying to understand what happened to her voice since 1997. Of course her style of music changed and that had its influence, but I noticed her voice singing live has gotten a lot worst recently, unless she's just out of touch or something.

2010

She managed to actually pull of Always Be my Baby recently, but she has a hard time with the ballads she's done years ago.

[Edited 8/31/10 20:07pm]

Well Mariah has been having vocal problems since 96' ish. But in recent years it's just gotten worse. But she did a show in Brazil recently where she actually sounded great..better than she has in years! Maybe not back to 'old Mariah' but a HUGE improvement.

http://thatgrapejuice.net...ks-brazil/

[Edited 8/31/10 20:58pm]

smoking, drinking, and dick....

not necessarily in that order....

I played one song from the Brazil concert, she sang good.

BklynBabe said:

smoking, drinking, and dick....

not necessarily in that order....

I just HAVE to asked this question, Bklyn...Where does one put the dick, to make your voice sound that bad..lol.

Could one part of the perception be due to so much low-quality camphone material being available on youtube? I don't doubt that many singers also lose their touch when they age, but most of the footage we had from the past decades was professionally recorded and edited. I don't think these comparisons are always fair. The voice doesn't really sit in the mix on the amateur recordings, which certainly doesn't help matters.

shorttrini said:

BklynBabe said:

smoking, drinking, and dick....

not necessarily in that order....

I just HAVE to asked this question, Bklyn...Where does one put the dick, to make your voice sound that bad..lol.

BklynBabe said:

smoking, drinking, and dick....

not necessarily in that order....

Mariah's a smoker?

She started hanging with shit hoppers and sucked a rough trade's contaminated dick.

novabrkr said:

Could one part of the perception be due to so much low-quality camphone material being available on youtube? I don't doubt that many singers also lose their touch when they age, but most of the footage we had from the past decades was professionally recorded and edited. I don't think these comparisons are always fair. The voice doesn't really sit in the mix on the amateur recordings, which certainly doesn't help matters.

Thank you for saying this. It applies to all singers. One is more likely to see the "LOL Fail" performances recorded by an amateur on the web than anything else.

vainandy said:

She started hanging with shit hoppers and sucked a rough trade's contaminated dick.

I would imagine that some good dick would actually be good for your voice. It would help open up, um, blockages and help massage and strength that whole array of throat muscles, but really your larynx is just a little bit of cartilage. Can't just be letting any old dick beat it up in there - especially if you're a singer.

Mariah is 40 years old and made her name with lots of melisma and dog-whistle runs 20 years ago. Maybe she just needed a break that day but wouldn't she, like, rehearse or something before performing for folks who've paid for tickets? I'd rather receive a refund for a cancelled performance than to have to sit through someone who can't give their best.

vainandy said:

She started hanging with shit hoppers and sucked a rough trade's contaminated dick.

uPtoWnNY said:

BklynBabe said:

smoking, drinking, and dick....

not necessarily in that order....

Mariah's a smoker?

Not to sound naive, but how does drinking affect one's vocal cords? Do you think she's been throwing up?

She sounded great when I heard her live in 2006. But when you see early 90s clips, her performances seem a lot more effortless (yet flawless).

I say she's overworked and I think she does a disfavor to her voice talking before shows. That's why she sounds hoarse.

Timmy84 said:

I say she's overworked and I think she does a disfavor to her voice talking before shows. That's why she sounds hoarse.

Another reason for things sounding "off" or "bad" is that she doesnt adjust her voice to the changes that have occured, she hasnt dropped the register of her singing or adjusted these songs, she still tries to sing a song like it was 1992 and that nothing changed for her vocally. Its very very rare that someone doesnt lose something in their voice over time, you lose power, things develop, etc.. But you have to adjust, look at Elton John, he used to have a high note that would make Mariah go "what??" and now he sings in a lower register, now must of this was due to a throat surgery, but also how bad would he sound trying to hit those 1975 notes 35 years later?? SO i dont think its any one thing for her, some can still pretty much hit notes, but many cant, they just adjust their songs to make it sound good, i mean Prince cant still hit certain notes, and many others cant, but they kknow how to work the songs, Mariah needs to fix that.

it got real shitty.

I LOVE Mariah, but she doesn't sing from her diaphragm anymore. I'm not sure why that is. Plus she's had an improper technique for years. Tons of air passes over her vocal chords when she sings in that cooing/whispering voice she does. I think that is what ruined her voice. And where the fuck did her vibrato go?? It disappeared sometime after 2001.

The theories here are funny, but no..

When you over use your vocal cords, you develop nodules. Supposedly, it strains your vocals over time. In the last few years, she said she had to learn to sing through them as they developed. That probably explains why her voice isn't has strong or powerful, but she can still put on a good performance.

"I have nodules on my vocal cords. My mother says I've had them since I was a kid. That's why I have the high register and the belting register and I can still be husky. The only thing that really affects my voice is sleep. Sometimes if I'm exhausted I can't hit the really high notes."^[188] "My doctors showed me my vocal chords and why I can hit those high notes. It's a certain part of the chord that not many people use—the very top. My natural voice is low. I have a raspy voice. I'm really more of an alto. But my airy voice can be high if I'm rested. [...] When I was little, I'd talk in this really high whisper, and my mom would be like, "You're being ridiculous." I thought if I can talk like that I can sing like that. So I started [she goes higher and higher and higher] just messing around with it. I'd practice and practice, and she'd be like, "You're gonna hurt yourself." I'd tell her, It doesn’t hurt/ If I were to try and belt two octaves lower than that, that would be a strain."

http://web.archive.org/we...ndex.shtml

http://en.wikipedia.org/w...old_nodule

[Edited 9/1/10 17:59pm]

she's getting older and has been drinking too much wine.