When she’s not drunk as hell or in some kind of weird trance, Mariah Carey has an amazing voice. Or should I say “had”? Mariah has started her new tour, The Elusive Chanteuse Tour (I’m not joking, it’s really called that) and her first show was in Toyko, Japan. Just know that Mariah has so many Japanese fans. Like, they worship her. They adore her. They will buy anything Mariah is selling. So if the Japanese fans are throwing shade at Mariah, that means there are big problems. What problems? Mostly with her voice, it seems.
Mariah Carey gave her all — but for some fans, her all wasn’t enough. As seen in numerous YouTube videos circulating online, the “#Beautiful” singer struggled to reach some of her usual high notes during the launch of her Elusive Chanteuse Show tour in Tokyo, Japan, on Saturday, Oct. 4.
The songstress appears to have had trouble with the vocals for hits including “Hero” and “Vision of Love.” At one point during the latter, she opted to speak-sing the lyrics after failing to hit her mark; other videos show her struggling with the microphone stand during “We Belong Together.” Fans panned her performance online, posting videos with titles like “Vision of love?” and “Mariah Carey Vocal Malfunction.” Others shared their critique in the comments section of the clips, writing, “This is beyond disappointing,” and “This is like watching a bird with a broken wing trying to fly.”
Another fan said it was natural for her voice to have changed since she first sang “Vision of Love” in 1990. “It’s OK. She’s human…You’re human, you’re not supernatural,” user ilyas aksabaev wrote. “I’ve seen other videos of this tour and they are great. One small part does not mean she did bad. She did great overall.”
I’m including one of the videos below. My take? It’s not that Mariah cannot hit the high notes or sing her heart out – it’s that she’s not really trying to hit the notes. I blame the bad performance on laziness more than inability to sing. I also think that this tour might just be a shameless money-grab because… well, it’s not like the album did well. It’s not like people were clamoring for a new Mimi tour. It’s just the die-hard fans supporting her now and it seems like they might be turning on her.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
I wonder if the drinking affects her voice, anyways vocal chords are muscles you need to take care of them because over time they will get old or tired.
yeah, it’s the booze. I get the feeling that she always loved her drink, but when her marriage started to go and Cannon left, it got worse.
that being said…
…Mariah, honey…when you have legs like that, mini skirts are not your friend. Knee or tea, Mimi…
I am sure her heavy drinking has effected her voice more then aging.Their are a lot of people that are older then her and still can sing.I think the one picture with the glass in her hand say’s it all.
The drinking, and I wonder if she’s has the discipline to maintain her voice anymore – aren’t you supposed to continually work to keep your voice supple?
Mariah lost her voice a LONG time ago, like early 2000s…it has just gotten worse and worse with each year.
Why? I don’t know, I guess if you don’t practice you lose it, and then if you smoke or whatever that obviously doesn’t help. And if you have bad singing techniques like Adele (?).
Yeah, there has been other video evidence of this issue. Wasn’t she on some morning show doing a duet recently, and her voice was shredded? It’s sad, because she did have a great voice, even thought I wasn’t always a fan of her songs.
When you get older and constantly belt, churn out albums, and tour the way she has it is bound to take it’s toll.
She always looks uncomfortable to me. Like she is in some sort of pain. Whether it’s a still shot or in video.
I know I’ll sound very bitchy, but I think it’s the spandex: girl needs to breath to sing.
hmmm, I wouldn’t be surprised if she was in chronic pain like Clooney. That would explain a lot actually.
I dunno, it could just be fatigue or poor vocal management. Hope she ddint screw anything up .
I think it’s just years and years of not looking after her voice to be honest.
Yes, voices change over time but it does appear in that short clip that she can’t physically reach that note anymore and knows it. The arrangement should be changed to suit it though, not whatever that was..
Fatigue from what? She should branch out into skincare if she can’t sell records or concerts anymore… I honestly don’t know how they look upclose, but she and J Lo seem to have beautiful skin.
Putting out her own booze line and money grab concerts both indicate she has a financial issue going on. It wouldn’t surprise me – she hasn’t had a hit album in a LONG time and my guess is she lives pretty extravagantly (plus she’s facing an expensive divorce). I just want to tell her to buy a dress that fits and make some music people want to hear.
This sucks for her, but I’m not too upset. I can’t deal with Mariah’s personality, so it’s not like I was ever going to pay to see her in concert. I just listen to ’90s/’00s and reminisce.
To me she was drunk.
Something nice: at least she was singing live.
I’m not a fan, but I feel bad for her. First the injury to her wrist and then a troubled marriage. Now it could be that her voice is failing her. That’s really rough. For someone who makes a living off of her voice, that’s just plain scary. It must suck to be her right now.
She needs to put down the alcohol.
And this is the similar to what Whitney was going through many years before she died. If you are a singer, drugs, alcohol and smoking WILL affect your throat and your vocal chords. I’m surprised that she doesn’t take better care of herself – I’m pretty sure she has a lot of money at this point in time (depending on how well she manages it), but her voice is her thing.
If you can’t keep on making a living using your gift b/c you squandered it, what in the hell are you going to do when it’s gone?
I thought to Whitney too, her last performances were embarassing.
When someone has already shown that they can sing and have built a reputation on it, I’m more willing to overlook a few bad performances, vocal flaws, or even the occasional lipsyncing. It’s when the talentless ones and almost talentless ones try to make careers off of not singing live, or make a career off of lousy live vocal performances for years and years and only succeed because their songs are catchy- that’s when I get a little judgy.
I once read somewhere that a singer’s voice is usually at it’s peak when they’re in their 20’s and early 30’s, but then starts to slowly deteriorate. Lifestyle and practice are also factors too.
If I were one of the better singers and people nitpicked about something, I would probably say something totally arrogant and bitchy like “Can you sing better?” “How many octaves do you have?” or maybe even “show me your grammys” and leave it at that.
I’ve heard that too that after 35 your voice starts to lose it’s elasticity. But she should still be able to belt reasonable well, better than this video evidence if she were taking care of her voice. I often feel though that a lot of “divas” with great voices often sound terrible when they are older because they sing like their voice is still 25 and it just comes off as oversinging imo.
Oh Mariah…..
I hope people asked for a refund. It’s not right that she gets people to pay a lot of money for a crap performance. If she can’t do it, then cancel it and refund the money. Otherwise people aren’t getting their money’s worth and she looks greedy & unprofessional.
I can’t help but feel bad for her.She’s having a really tough time with everything.A break up of a marriage is tough.Put in in the spotlight and it a thousand times harder.
Speaking as a voice teacher, you can’t booze it up for decades and expect to sing the same way now as you did at the start. There are plenty of opera singers that kept their high notes most of their lives. The difference? Proper technique, dedicated practice, and hydration that wasn’t just from champagne.
Agreed! And alcohol dehydrates, BIG-time. Also, my voice is stronger than it’s ever been, and I’ve been singing professionally my entire adult life. I’m about to turn 48 soon. It’s a matter of taking care of your body, mostly. Plus practice. Sleep helps, too; alcohol definitely harms your sleep (yes, it makes you fall asleep faster, but then a couple of hours later, it wakes you). I think for Mariah, she has always just been so damn good, effortlessly, that she never got into the habit of working at it. Kinda like when a young chick never works out and manages to stay skinny… and then gets older, and OH SHT, how did my ass get 3x wider? Same with Mariah’s voice. She never had to try, and never got into the habit, and now she’s screwed. Hopefully not permanently, but I guess that remains to be seen.
THIS is how it’s done! And ONJ is 65 here! http://youtu.be/wE7RwnMGehg?t=2m59s