The Emancipation of Mimi
Mariah Carey

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You don't expect to hear a streetwise quip like, "Them chickens is ash and I'm lotion," fall from the well-appointed lips of veteran pop star Mariah Carey, but that's exactly what she belts on the danceable lead single, "It's Like That," from The Emancipation of Mimi. As the title of her eighth studio album indicates, Carey -- called Mimi by her close friends -- has unleashed the less P.C. side of her personality. Departing from the ballad-heavy direction of 2002's Charmbracelet, Mimi is closer in sound and mood to 1997's hip-hop- and classic-soul-drenched Butterfly. Although she can't quite reach the pitch-perfect heights she once did, Carey is still a soaring songbird with a signature sound. And to compensate for any weathering of her pristine pipes, she enlists a top-notch team of collaborators. Standouts include the goose bump-inducing, Kanye West–produced "Stay the Night," the Jermaine Dupri–produced doo-wop jam "Shake It Off," and the sparse funk of the Neptunes-helmed and Snoop Dogg–assisted "Say Somethin'." With her next outing, let's hope that the melodrama-prone Carey doesn't disturb the infectious groove she's found here, and that the carefree Mimi is here to stay. Tracy E. Hopkins