Hummer: Mariah Carey's "Obsessed"

Mariah Carey’s already said to hell with the girl-next-door rep. Her Toys ‘R’ Us mentality, though, continued to cling to rainbows and butterflies and any thing a Brownie might get giddy over in the years following her pop-turned-urban morph. But on the lead publicity-baiting single, “Obsessed” -- from her new album Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel due out in August – she’s all woman, (not-so-)subtly putting the smack-down on a certain someone who’s taken digs at our Mimi. Oh, gosh, who might that be? Maybe Eminem? Or could it be Eminem? This isn’t the first time she’s emancipated her inner biatch – read below for our fave MC rants:

“Obsessed,” Memories of an Imperfect Angel
Mariah’s fed the eff up. After Em dogged her in his name-calling “Bagpipes from Baghdad,” she leaves the belting to the sneering words, thrashing the razzing rapper with put-downs. She’s done it before – on the coy “Clown” from 2003’s Charmbracelet (see below) -- but now she’s really had it: “You’re a mom-and-pop, I’m a corporation,” she coos over the thunderous, ultra-urban track, co-written and co-produced by Tricky Stewart and The-Dream. The single, which Chers her underused five-octave voice, also makes a mockery of her prey’s drug fixations and horny-for-her hormones: “Why you so obsessed with me? Lying that you’re sexing me?” See, Nick Cannon, Mariah doesn’t need your balls. She’s got her own.

“Did I Do That?,” Rainbow
Calling someone insecure. Ridiculing someone’s sucky comm-skills. Blasting someone’s lame groupies. Yep, she did do that. All of that -- and more: She laughed at you (sucks for you). This WTF-was-I-thinking? cut from 1999’s very gay disc (note title: Rainbow) claims that for Mariah to have trusted this scum-bag, she must’ve lost her mind. A couple years later, she did -- for real.

“Clown,” Charmbracelet
Mariah knows something about Eminem that you don’t. Or so round one of Em vs. Mariah goes, with a post-hospitalized, post-ice-cream-truck-pushing MC dishing about the rapper’s ego (which is big, she says -- at least bigger than Mariah’s rack), a secret she’s keeping and claiming, “You’re no superhero.” Plus, you know the usually-soft songbird’s pissed when she’s dropping the “f” bomb. It’s like Miley Cyrus calling someone a butthead.

“You’re So Cold,” Emotions
Even goody two-shoes Mariah wouldn’t take BS. Before she went as urban as you can without donning Fubu clothing, the then-balladeer took digs at a two-faced, game-playing boyfriend. Elusive lines about being a no-good man or a “devil in disguise” don’t burn like a I’m-bigger-than-you metaphorical insult, but even then Mariah had some seething venom buried beneath the innocence.

“Side Effects,” E=MC2
For her hubby’s sake, the Mariah-and-Nick union better last. Or he better not mess her up like Tommy Mottola of her ’90s “fairytale” marriage that didn’t end so happily-ever-after. But one of last year’s E=MC2’s highlights was a tell-all about Tommy, dishing about living in “a private hell,” the violence, the repressed tears and how she was “sleeping with the enemy.” Nick, take note. Be nice.

– CHRIS AZZOPARDI

Previously > Fast & Furious with 9 to 5's Stephanie J. Block

Comments

[_mariah_lamb_]

nice article... esp the addtl song infos...

[manu]

Eminem I'm obsessed with Mariah too!!!

[jonashasauniqueside]

loved it! MC ROCKS!!!

[mariahlover]

haha eminem is such a loser. i love mariah carey! she can actually SING! (:

[kara]

Go MC! you're amazing! she is soo much better at dissing than eminem. and her songs where she disses him are actually bought. get a life loser, and learn how to sing. (that was to eminem if you didn't figure that out)

[Ken]

this is quite a nice article, one of the best i've read in this "Obsessed" era. Very good research, too. Congrats. Thanks! :)

[Sheena]

Obsessed is a huge disappointment.

One of Carey's worst song in this decade. Repetitive lyric and flat melody plus auto-tune thus, make this songs rather dull and flat. I'll pass.

2 out of 5 stars.

[Susan]

I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.

Susan

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