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  1. #1
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    Mariah Who-Cares-y?



    The pop diva has talent in droves, but a lacklustre stage show and a puzzling wardrobe made for a forgettable, rather than world-class, performance

    Bangkok Post
    November 4, 2014
    Writer: Onsiri Pravattiyagul

    As one of the most memorable and praised pop vocalists of her time, there's no denying that Mariah Carey's vocal prowess is second to none, with her ability to go beyond the seventh octave and her signature whistle register. When at the top of her game, Carey's sense of pitch and acrobatic whispery vocals are revered, and have given pop music a new sense of entitlement.

    Then there's Carey's public persona, which over her long career has been a target for smirks and ridicule due to her eccentricity, personal tastes and wardrobe choices — and that's not to mention that should-be-forever-forgotten flick Glitter.

    The songstress' showcase in Bangkok on Thursday showed Carey as her tour name best describes it: the elusive (slightly off-the-wall) chanteuse.

    For almost two hours, we were treated to high musicality through the Grammy-winner's singing and amazing band. The experience was, however, marred by a lack of direction and finesse, which possibly stemmed from Carey's desire to have everything done her way and on her schedule. Carey's vocal prowess might not be as perfect as it once was, but when someone with such rare, God-given ability slips down a notch, it's hardly a problem. Cracks and unfortunate shakes were present, but it was pretty much near perfect — and a lot more than you could ever ask for from today's so-called divas.

    The most perplexing moments were Carey's long wardrobe change breaks — the longest I've ever witnessed in my years as an ardent live show attendee.

    It might seem rather trivial of me to nitpick on such a matter, but a good show should be executed with a balance proportion in terms of timing and show rhythms to arrive at a perfectly crafted showcase.

    Carey took the stage in a supposedly sexy, skin-tight Santa outfit and vinyl knee-length boots (which she wore for the entire night) to accompany her opening number, All I Want For Christmas Is You. The unforgiving costume confusingly stuck around for four more songs, which included Touch My Body and Emotions, featuring that famous whistle register. My All pleased the old-school crowd no end. A lengthy medley section, which Carey dubbed "fan favourites", incorporated Heartbreaker, Beautiful, Breakdown, I Know What You Want, It's Like That, Crybaby, The Roof, Obsessed and Don't Forget About Us.

    This was where it got quite confusing, because the accompanying visuals were essentially cut-and-pasted music videos for each song. It became distracting for me — I sat rather far from the stage — to focus on the real Carey onstage or moving images of Carey on-screen.

    This continued through out the night, and proved to be rather unnecessary. Timeless hits such as Hero, Always Be My Baby, We Belong Together and Honey saw Carey delving deep into the soulful side for which she is renowned.

    There was a definite buzz over Carey's change of appearance, and the constant showing of past music videos was a harsh reminder, almost like a cruel joke. Then again, people age, gain weight and sometimes go a bit crazy with Botox and plastic surgery. To me, her physical alterations were not big issues. At 45, Carey still looks beautiful. The problems lay with her unflattering wardrobe choices and those darn vinyl boots that didn't go with anything.

    I can only guess that when you're Mariah Carey, you pretty much wear whatever you want, without considering your body type.

    The stage looked rather like a municipal New Year party with golden drapes everywhere. The half-hearted props and scattered lighting did not help elevate Carey's show to a world-class level.

    If it hadn't been for Carey's natural and unique talents, the showcase would have been a total bust. Most of the elements didn't work as they were supposed to, but thanks to her musicality and fabulous band, the music saved the night.

    Mariah who-cares-y? | Bangkok Post: lifestyle

  2. #2
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    The Diva Knocks 'Em Dead

    Mariah Carey was in supreme form for a long night of hits, even if the VIPs up front left early

    The Nation
    November 4, 2014
    By Manta Klangboonkrong

    Christmas literally came early last Thursday for Thai fans of Mariah Carey when the "songbird supreme" graced the stage at Impact Arena for the second time.

    If the "Elusive Chanteuse Show" tour was going to feel like deja vu from her 2007 show, though, the fans weren't going to mind. Many were there early to beat the inevitable heavy traffic, and most were Thai, Carey drawing far fewer expats than foreign acts usually do.

    The Thais made up for anyone's absence, arriving armed with neon signs reading "I love Mariah", "I [heart] Mimi" and "Your music is the soundtrack of my life". Also on hand was a large contingent of cross-dressers dolled up in ball gowns, long gloves and fancy headpieces in tribute to the diva's usual look.

    Videos posted online of Carey struggling with her voice at the preceding concerts in Tokyo, Seoul and Manila had somewhat disheartened the Thai fans, but they came undeterred and determined to enjoy the show. Carey was going to receive their undying support no matter how badly she sang. At it turned out, they needn't have worried at all.

    After requiring an extra hour to herd the crowd into the arena, the show began at 9pm with Carey emerging in a Santa Claus costume - with miniskirt, of course. "Hello, Bangkok!" she yelled to overwhelming cheers. "Tomorrow is Halloween, but I'm not going to be onstage tomorrow night, so happy Halloween - and Merry Christmas!"

    She then belted out "All I Want for Christmas is You", followed by the hits "Touch My Body", "Shake It Off" and "Emotions", all of which had the fans exhaling in relief because she hit the high notes beautifully. "Emotions" ended at her signature piercing register.

    Carey continued on with old favourites and tracks from her latest album, "Me. I Am Mariah ... The Elusive Chanteuse". There was "Crybaby", "Fly Like a Bird" and "My All", on the last of which she barely made the high notes, but she managed to finish the song in style.

    Carey had a packed stage with the band, three backup singers and dancers. The production wasn't elaborate, but enough to add aesthetic quality to the show. The gigantic screen showed visual effects and clips from her music videos, which did a great job of grabbing the attention and easing transitions between songs that spanned the genres from pop and R&B to hip-hop and soul.

    The fans were over the moon as Carey continued to treat them with tunes like "Heartbreaker", "Beautiful", "It's Like That", "The Roof", "Obsessed", "Don't Forget about Us", "That Chick", "Honey", "Thirsty" and "Hero".

    The concert showed no signs of wrapping up, but, after "Hero", people in the front rows started leaving, infuriating the rest of the audience not only because it was disrespectful, but also because these were the "VIPs" to whom one of the show's sponsors had given the best seats, worth up to Bt8,000.

    This had been an issue since the tickets went on sale two months ago, when hardcore fans were disappointed that they couldn't get front-row seats because they were "reserved".

    At any rate, the real fans wasted no time commandeering the vacated section up front, and Carey didn't seem to mind at all. She kept the crowd in ecstasy with even bigger hits like "Supernatural", "We Belong Together" and "Always Be My Baby" and finally capped off the proceedings with "Butterfly".

    Throughout the show the chanteuse rocked the stage with her unique charm, charisma and light-hearted humour, proving that being a diva is all about being entertaining. She's artistically prolific and uniquely talented, a legend in her own right and nothing else.

    The diva knocks 'em dead - The Nation

  3. #3
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    This is news? It largely depends on your musical tastes, I'm not a fan. A 45 year old woman on the plus size, celebrity or not, trying to squeeze herself into skimpy gear reliving the good old days. Embarassing.

  4. #4
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    ^
    Trying to serve a variety of interests here. I'm sure the range goes from who-cares-y to outright worship. Regardless, she is a world famous entertainer and her visits to LOS seem to be relatively infrequent since the last time she was here apparently was in 2007. And since it was covered in two of the major English news publications in Thailand, it seemed fitting to post for those who are interested in following her tour.

    Although I have a few of Mariah's albums, she's not high on my priority listening list either.

  5. #5
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    Thumbs up on your news threads but this is horrible.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sumocakewalk
    Although I have a few of Mariah's albums
    Shifter.

  7. #7
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    ^
    I wouldn't actually go out an pay for these albums, as they were obtained through 'clandestine' means.

    Have them on hand for Thai visitors who are thrilled by her vocal talents. Except I did 'obtain' one of the albums once just to get the leggy photo of Mariah before she gained a lot of weight.

    https://teakdoor.com/the-teakdoor-lou...ml#post2788306

  8. #8
    RIP pseudolus's Avatar
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    Harrybarracuda will be wetting his bunched up panties. He loves celebrity tittletattle and stuff about phones. Anything in the 2 articles I did not read about mobile phones and apps?

  9. #9
    Gohills flip-flops wearer
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sumocakewalk
    they were obtained through 'clandestine' means.
    Tightarse shifter.

    Nice legs (on Carey) though.

  10. #10
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    Nice legs? Like two salamis being poured into a sausage skin.

  11. #11
    Gohills flip-flops wearer
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    Quote Originally Posted by fohk
    Like two salamis being poured into a sausage skin.
    I like that sort of thing.

  12. #12
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  13. #13
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    Good old Mariah, why sing one note when 2,000 will do?

    I look forward to her next career in dog-porn.

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by fohk View Post
    Thumbs up on your news threads.
    Largely saturated trivial news without substance.
    Same as it always was....same predictable mainstream sources.
    Last edited by thaimeme; 04-11-2014 at 06:49 PM.

  15. #15
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    I beg to differ. His Thai news threads are very good, this one sucks.

  16. #16
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    ^
    Thanks for your support. Lesson learned about posting show reviews in the news forum. Any future articles of this nature will be posted to the Arts & Entertainment forum.

  17. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by thaimeme View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by fohk View Post
    Thumbs up on your news threads.
    Largely saturated trivial news without substance.
    Same as it always was....same predictable mainstream sources.
    Thaimeme,

    My understanding is that the door is open for those members who have not been banned from the news forum to post any legitimate article they choose, within certain limits. I think you've been around long enough in various guises to know what is allowed and what isn't. So if you've got some news you'd like to share, what's holding you back from starting a news thread?

    I try to avoid obvious infractions of the rules, and the best way to do that seems to be to stick with a relatively limited set of mainstream Thai news sources and occasionally global news services. I am sometimes tempted to use obscure sources that Yahoo or Google seem to dredge up from some dark corner. One example was in today's Google Thai news section and was titled "Does Thailand Secretly Think Its Dictator Is an Idiot?". After reading through the article, which seemed to recycle a fair amount of older information, I opted not to post it because it clearly went out of bounds in more than one sensitive area and would probably have been deleted even from the Members forum. I liked the title a lot though.
    Last edited by Sumocakewalk; 04-11-2014 at 10:16 PM.

  18. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sumocakewalk
    Thaimeme, My understanding is that the door is open for those members who have not been banned from the news forum to post any legitimate article they choose, within certain limits. I think you've been around long enough in various guises to know what is allowed and what isn't. So if you've got some news you'd like to share, what's holding you back from starting a news thread? I try to avoid obvious infractions of the rules, and the best way to do that seems to be to stick with a relatively limited set of mainstream Thai news sources and occasionally global news services. I am sometimes tempted to use obscure sources that Yahoo or Google seem to dredge up from some dark corner. One example was in today's Google Thai news section and was titled "Does Thailand Secretly Think Its Dictator Is an Idiot?". After reading through the article, which seemed to recycle a fair amount of older information, I opted not to post it because it clearly went out of bounds in more than one sensitive area and would probably have been deleted even from the Members forum. I liked the title a lot though.
    Considering that thaimeme is but a glitter covered turd, I believe you have been most magnanimous in your rebuttal. It is a worthy response but far more than his snide comments deserve.

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