I feel Both of these Ladies are pretty friggin' awesome in vocal department, but at the height of their careers [when they both were in their prime], who's music do you feel was better? I know Whitney's cracked out now, but that's not the point of this thread....

In terms of vocal ability, prime Whitney Houston was better than prime Mariah Carey. Both excellent but Whitney was just something else at her peak. But I'd also like to argue that she's a wasted talent of sorts. Her discography should be twice as big as it is. Carey surpassed her in quantity a long time ago.

Quality trumps quantity, however, and Whitney Houston is Whitney Houston so...that's who I'm going with.

Both are great but I think I love Whitney more.

musicjunky318 said:

In terms of vocal ability, prime Whitney Houston was better than prime Mariah Carey.

What 'vocal ability' are you basing that on? Mariah Carey's range far surpasses Whitney's. Or did you mean something else?

Whitney, by a mile...

Mariah. She is alot more personal musically than Whitey in her prime. Mariah sung / written songs about her depression, about her anger, about her actual relationships, about poverty.

Whitney while did have some of those themes in her music, it was never personal with her because she never had a hand in her prime in writing the tunes she sung. She was just the vocals on the track.

Plus Mariah experimented alot more than Whitney has in her music.

I'll take Mariah anyday. I've never been a big Whitney fan. I always felt she was a tad overrated. She HAD a great voice, but I just never really cared for her.

As for Mariah, I've loved her from day 1.

Whitney.Yeah,she messed up her career but during her heyday,she was incredible.

OMG! This thread sounds like trouble BIG TIME!!!! Although I adored both ladies in their prime, I have to say Mariah is the one who has truly touched my very soul on a number of ocassions (early in her career) so I'll have to go with Mimi. She is like my second all-time favorite female vocalist (right behind Chaka).

Unholyalliance said:

musicjunky318 said:

In terms of vocal ability, prime Whitney Houston was better than prime Mariah Carey.

What 'vocal ability' are you basing that on? Mariah Carey's range far surpasses Whitney's. Or did you mean something else?

Overall ability. Not specifically range.

musicjunky318 said:

Unholyalliance said:

What 'vocal ability' are you basing that on? Mariah Carey's range far surpasses Whitney's. Or did you mean something else?

Overall ability. Not specifically range.

I'm a tad confused. To me, Mariah is a better singer, technically. Do you mean in phrasing? If you think about it, they are similar in a lot of ways.

daPrettyman said:

musicjunky318 said:

Overall ability. Not specifically range.

I'm a tad confused. To me, Mariah is a better singer, technically. Do you mean in phrasing? If you think about it, they are similar in a lot of ways.

VERY which is why I dont get this comparision. They BOTH were technically good singers in their prime. It all balls down to preference.

mjscarousal said:

daPrettyman said:

I'm a tad confused. To me, Mariah is a better singer, technically. Do you mean in phrasing? If you think about it, they are similar in a lot of ways.

VERY which is why I dont get this comparision. They BOTH were technically good singers in their prime. It all balls down to preference.

It is established that they both can sing already. I asked who had the better music...

I think this video says it all...they were both in their prime here.

[Edited 6/17/11 7:29am]

Boy, talk about battle of the worst! Shitney Houston by a mile because without her, there would be no Mariah Scarey.

While Whitney came from a musical family and was mentored by the BEST(Aretha), I've always found her to be too distant, too proper and sometimes even too robotic. She convinced herself that she was a diva and she played this role to the core.

Mariah - as much as she likes to play the diva role too - seemed more committed and emotionally invested in her music than Nippy. The older I grow, the more I find that Mariah's music stemmed from a personal space, whereas in Nippy's case, it seemed like they said "Ok, get your scrawny ass inside the booth and sing, and when you're done, OUT!". Her voice is shot to hell too, but unlike Nippy, Mimi didn't have much problem conveying emotion in her music.

paisleypark4 said:

Mariah. She is alot more personal musically than Whitey in her prime. Mariah sung / written songs about her depression, about her anger, about her actual relationships, about poverty.

Whitney while did have some of those themes in her music, it was never personal with her because she never had a hand in her prime in writing the tunes she sung. She was just the vocals on the track.

Plus Mariah experimented alot more than Whitney has in her music.

Get outta my head I just posted my reply before I read your post. Did we ever meet?

Neither. Both have disappointed me with their overall musical output. I admit I was more of a fan of Whitney but now I wonder why besides some good songs back in the '80s and '90s.

Harlepolis said:

While Whitney came from a musical family and was mentored by the BEST(Aretha), I've always found her to be too distant, too proper and sometimes even too robotic. She convinced herself that she was a diva and she played this role to the core.

Mariah - as much as she likes to play the diva role too - seemed more committed and emotionally invested in her music than Nippy. The older I grow, the more I find that Mariah's music stemmed from a personal space, whereas in Nippy's case, it seemed like they said "Ok, get your scrawny ass inside the booth and sing, and when you're done, OUT!". Her voice is shot to hell too, but unlike Nippy, Mimi didn't have much problem conveying emotion in her music.

U hit the nail on the head when it comes to both.

vainandy said:

At least Mariah broke out the uptempo jams, and has worked with Jimmy Jam / Terry Lewis, and Rick James...gotta hand that to her being the only mainstream female star to do a funky 80's record with Rick. She consistantly refers to the 80's in much of her music too from dance remixes to the rap remixes.

Nobody is in Whitney's class, not even Mariah who is an incredible artist and vocalist

funksterr said:

Nobody is in Whitney's class, not even Mariah who is an incredible artist and vocalist

proof?

Ive notice that alot of people are bringing other things in the W vs. M arguement that is irrelevant. Regardless if Whitney never wrote a song in her life unlike Carey and all these other I'm sure facts they both have great VOCALS. I never buy into the Diva image bit because to be honest The ONLY Divas that reign Supreme is Aretha and Tina.

robertlove said:

I think this video says it all...they were both in their prime here.

What it might be saying is that "what goes around comes around." I would love to see them hit the stage together today.

If the youtube narrative has even a grain of truth to it Whitney is behaving like a miserable wretch. She has no generosity of spirit and lacks compassion. Not really something to celebrate imho.

Yeah I know:

http://www.youtube.com/wa...P9a2Dyfawg

Signed,

Not a Mariah fan either

Tittypants said:

I feel Both of these Ladies are pretty friggin' awesome in vocal department, but at the height of their careers [when they both were in their prime], who's music do you feel was better? I know Whitney's cracked out now, but that's not the point of this thread....

In her prime, no one could fuck with Whitney. No one. Mariah was and still is a special talent but on her best day she isn't better than Whitney on Whitney's best day.

mjscarousal said:

Ive notice that alot of people are bringing other things in the W vs. M arguement that is irrelevant. Regardless if Whitney never wrote a song in her life unlike Carey and all these other I'm sure facts they both have great VOCALS. I never buy into the Diva image bit because to be honest The ONLY Divas that reign Supreme is Aretha and Tina.

Yeah pretty much.

mjscarousal said:

Ive notice that alot of people are bringing other things in the W vs. M arguement that is irrelevant. Regardless if Whitney never wrote a song in her life unlike Carey and all these other I'm sure facts they both have great VOCALS. I never buy into the Diva image bit because to be honest The ONLY Divas that reign Supreme is Aretha and Tina.

This isn't about irrelevance. I'm asking about who had the better MUSIC!

allsmutaside said:

robertlove said:

I think this video says it all...they were both in their prime here.

What it might be saying is that "what goes around comes around." I would love to see them hit the stage together today.

If the youtube narrative has even a grain of truth to it Whitney is behaving like a miserable wretch. She has no generosity of spirit and lacks compassion. Not really something to celebrate imho.

Yeah I know:

http://www.youtube.com/wa...P9a2Dyfawg

Signed,

Not a Mariah fan either

yeah duh! Of course whitney's voice is gone...i was talking about them in their prime.

^ Actually both of them can't even sing their way out of Knottsberry Farm now.

Tittypants said:

mjscarousal said:

Ive notice that alot of people are bringing other things in the W vs. M arguement that is irrelevant. Regardless if Whitney never wrote a song in her life unlike Carey and all these other I'm sure facts they both have great VOCALS. I never buy into the Diva image bit because to be honest The ONLY Divas that reign Supreme is Aretha and Tina.

This isn't about irrelevance. I'm asking about who had the better MUSIC!

I actually think that was mjscarousal's point.

I initially wanted to say "Aretha" in terms of the music. To me, Whitney and Mariah's "oversanging" voices overshadowed their music.

Mariah had better musical chops than Whitney though ("Vision of Love" is like epic). But then she had to do what Whitney was doing (and later Celine) and that was basically sanging on top of the music so much that all that remain was the singing and nothing else.

paisleypark4 said:

funksterr said:

Nobody is in Whitney's class, not even Mariah who is an incredible artist and vocalist

proof?

The Bodyguard soundtrack. Mariah has nothing in her catalog on that level.