Mariah Carey
The Emancipation Of Mimi
Release Date: Apr 12, 2005
Genre(s): Pop, R&B
Record label: Island
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Album Review: The Emancipation Of Mimi by Mariah Carey
Very Good, Based on 2 Critics
Based on rating 4/5
Jenny-from-the-block Lopez made a big mistake when she tried to convince the world that there was a plantain-frying homegirl under the Versace jerkins. The disbelief and scorn it provoked has clung to her ever since. Undeterred, "Mimi" Carey is renouncing her own highfalutin' past and reverting to her childhood nickname (though the album sleeve reveals that designer vixenwear is exempt from emancipation).
Based on rating 6/10
The titular "Mimi" of The Emancipation of Mimi is, by all accounts, an alter ego of Mariah, a persona that captures Carey's true feelings and emotions. In case you didn't know what "emancipation" means, Mariah helpfully provides a dictionary definition of the word in the opening pages of the liner notes for her eighth proper album: it means "to free from restraint, control, oppression, or the power of another" or "to free from any controlling influence" or "to free somebody from restrictions or conventions. " So, on The Emancipation of Mimi, Mariah frees herself from the constraints of being herself, revealing herself to be -- well, somebody that looks startlingly like Beyoncé, if the cover art is any indication.