Céline's Singing Rival

[Nikosn17]

Mariah Carey's career lasted the same as the 90s decade.

 

Excuse me?!! Mariah's "The Emancipation of Mimi" is one of her most succesful albums ever. And her #1 hit "We belong together" one of the biggest hits in the history of Billboard.

 

Furthermore: Mariah is breaking records right this minute with her new single "Touch my body".

 

Mariah's had more #1 hits than any other female artist in history!

 

I agree with that. How can somebody say Mariah's career is dead after such a succesful album with a song that has been 14 weeks at #1 (Only Mariah's & Boys 2 Men Song ''One Sweet Day'' stayed more weeks than ''We Belong Together'' ... 16. + it looks like her new album will do pretty well too. ''Touch My Body'' is already #14 on billboard hot 100 and the single isn't even released yet... This is only with airplay. It's on Itunes March 24. We don't talk about who has lost her voice... cause it's obvious. We talk about who is succesful.

Edited March 22, 2008 at 08:05 AM by Nikosn17

[Prince Whiskers]

I think one of the reasons (major or minor? you decide) Mariah made the jump to RNB was that she knew she couldn't compete with Celine by singing similar power pop ballads.

[corr_azy]

I think one of the reasons (major or minor? you decide) Mariah made the jump to RNB was that she knew she couldn't compete with Celine by singing similar power pop ballads.

 

That is absolutely untrue. Mariah made the jump to RnB after Daydream, which sold over 20 million copies worldwide. That isn't enough to compete with Celine? I don't think so. And she was never known for power pop ballads in the first place. She has always been inclined more towards soul music.

[Black Kitten]

i agree with manuel. rnb music doesn't require more vocal performance since it is more on the beats. and even before celine's real breakthrough (TCOML sold more than 20M), mimi is well known for all her ballads and vocal acrobats. as her voice diminished through time, it is a pretty smart decision to step to rnb and focus more on its beats and people will not expect her to hit the big notes.

 

don't get me wrong i do love mimi, but let's just face it, she can't and will not hit the notes she used to deliver effortlessly. just watch divas '98 (oh that's almost a decade now!) and look who outsang who. success wise, celine and mimi are on the same level, but vocals wise, mimi can't compete with her now. mimi needs to rest her voice now. i am still mimi's fan, but c'mon, we all know who's voice is better now.

Edited March 22, 2008 at 01:43 PM by dhena

[Ray]

I love Mariah AND Céline.

 

But I have to say: Mariah was huge all over the world BEFORE Céline. When Mariah released the RnB influenced single Dreamlover way back in 1993, Céline had still to proof how big she would become. In 1995 Mariah started to work with rappers (Fantasy) and this was the year Céline had her first big hit in Europe (Think Twice).

 

About the voices: Mariah can still deliver. Just listen to "Mine Again" on her Emacipation of Mimi album. And after reading the reviews of her new album, I'm sure she won't dissappoint. She can also still hold the long notes during concerts (dvd: Adventures of Mimi). Her voice may not be as powerful as Céline's voice, BUT Mariah is the one who can sing the highest note. I've never heard Céline hit the high notes, that Mariah can still easily hit.

 

I love both, but if you're realistic, it's obvious Mariah is still very popular and can still sing!

[Black Kitten]

about the dvd? omg where is the voice that i once adored? where is the voice that used to sound perfectly during live performances? where is the voice of the Fantasy: Live in Madison Square Garden concert? i am a huge fan of hers, i have all her albums and videos, but her latest dvd is as horrible as whitney's live performance of On My Own. i can't even watch it in a high volume because of the possible embarrassment that the woman can't sing live anymore and people may dis mimi for singing with that soooo hoarse voice. about Mine Again, c'mon, she definitely can't perform it LIVE. Hero is a very simple song, but she is putting so much effort reaching the high notes, and do you think Mine Again will be simple for her? i guess not.

 

since the beginning, there are only 3 female artists in my life that i will always look up to. celine dion, mariah carey & janet jackson. but let's just deal with it. mariah can't sing live the way she used to. however, the whistle is as perfect as ever. janet's voice is as whispery as ever. and celine's voice is still unsinkable as ever.

[tonybower]

Not being much of a Mariah fan, I always feel biased when I speak negatively about her. I wouldn't even know where to look in order to compare her performances...

 

But the childish kid in me can't help but feel glad to hear a Mariah-fan say that Celine is better vocally. Silly, I know... Sorry Mariah.

[scorp82]

I just watched some live performances on YouTube from Mariah's tour on DVD, The Emancipation of Mimi. Let me just say I was very surprised. I do not know if Mariah is just taking it easy and lowering her key significantly, but she definitely does not sound like the Mariah we know from the 1990s. Just by listening Mariah sing a few verses, it is easy to tell that Mariah simply does not sound the same. I watched Mariah's performances of We Belong Together and One Sweet Day. She sounds very poor vocally in We Belong Together. Boyz II Men were actually on stage with Mariah singing One Sweet Day and at the beginning of the song Mariah did not sound as vocally good as she used to. But toward the end of the song she sang some high notes that more or less made up for the less than stellar vocals at the beginning of the song. I'll Be There with Trey Lorenz was not as good as it was in the 1990s. She also sang Vision of Love and Fly Like A Bird, but she actually managed to sing quite well. At least Vision of Love made up for all the songs that were vocally poor.

 

And I also watched a performance of Hero. By far, that had to be the worst performance vocally by Mariah on that tour. Comparing that version of the song as performed in the 1990s, there is a lot that leaves to be desired. Mariah can certainly do better than that.

 

... ... ...

 

 

about the dvd? omg where is the voice that i once adored? where is the voice that used to sound perfectly during live performances? where is the voice of the Fantasy: Live in Madison Square Garden concert? i am a huge fan of hers, i have all her albums and videos, but her latest dvd is as horrible as whitney's live performance of On My Own. i can't even watch it in a high volume because of the possible embarrassment that the woman can't sing live anymore and people may dis mimi for singing with that soooo hoarse voice. about Mine Again, c'mon, she definitely can't perform it LIVE. Hero is a very simple song, but she is putting so much effort reaching the high notes, and do you think Mine Again will be simple for her? i guess not.

 

since the beginning, there are only 3 female artists in my life that i will always look up to. celine dion, mariah carey & janet jackson. but let's just deal with it. mariah can't sing live the way she used to. however, the whistle is as perfect as ever. janet's voice is as whispery as ever. and celine's voice is still unsinkable as ever.

 

 

Dhena, let me just say I agree with you. Though I cannot say I am a big fan of Mariah's, I have followed her work through her years and I have a few of her albums. But I must say I miss the "old" Mariah... I miss the 1990s Mariah and her ballads.

 

I do not own the Adventures of Mimi Concert DVD, but as you can refer to my previous post, I watched some parts of it on YouTube.

 

For the most part, I was indeed disappointed. Mariah is really lacking vocally. Like I have already said, We Belong Together sounded bland. I was really surprised when she sang Hero... For some reason, on that song, she demonstrated her vocal abilities are starting to greatly suffer. The song did not sound the same way as when she performed it in the 1990s.

 

However, when she sang Fly Like a Bird and Vision of Love, she appeared to redeem herself. She can still hit the whistle register notes effortlessly. I must say that Vision of Love sounded great and it definitely made up for the other poor vocal performances.

 

Nonetheless, I cannot say that I will buy her new album.

[trangceline_89]

Surely no one,

MC is a "studio" singer, felt disappointed with MC new dvd.

[bfhb]

with every mariah release i am always hopeful that she may return to her glory days....sadly she tends to disappoint more than delight ...i loved we belong together ...that was a return to form and i think the album deffo sold off that single i foolishly bought it....but as a whole the album does not rate aginst her earlier stuff.....

touch my body...catchy groove....but the lyrics and video god they are awful.....when did she become such a bimbo that warbles??

and i was a huge mariah fan.(i have 134 of her songs on i-tunes).her earlier songs had some integrity................or am i just getting old???

is this what celine needs to do to get some hits...answer the door in her bra and knickers????

mariahs self respect right next to taking chances sales

get her back in the studio we need better songs

[Prince Whiskers]

Sorry bfhb but Mariah will never recapture her vocal glory of old. I just found out from a local Mimi fan that she has nodules in her vocal chords. She only has two options: work with what she has now and undergo a risky surgery. Good thing that Celine is paranoid about her voice, having a doctor check it after every concert.

 

Anyway, I think it's more fitting to compare Celine to Whitney rather than to Mimi. Their chartbusting ballads were structured in the same way and their main man was........David Foster!

[bfhb]

nodules the poor mare !!! i heard leona has to get her tonsills out also ...thank god celine looks after her voice...i remember when mariah gave me chills just listenin to her voice

songs like vanishing, so blessed, all i ever wanted, cant let go.....now what i cant let go of is that she was such a good song writer ...ok the voice is changed but the new songs are so airhead dumb dumb...and the whole in love with herself bimboness act is

here is another diva not mentioned before ...

ms donna summer ....she is 60 this year and has a new cd coming out soon and boy can she still sing!!!!and its a career that has been going since the 70's....!!! she is the 8th most successful female recording artist according to billboard!!!

from gospel to pop, hard dance to country n western...this lady can do it all !!!

Edited March 27, 2008 at 05:34 PM by bfhb

[scorp82]

Sorry bfhb but Mariah will never recapture her vocal glory of old. I just found out from a local Mimi fan that she has nodules in her vocal chords. She only has two options: work with what she has now and undergo a risky surgery. Good thing that Celine is paranoid about her voice, having a doctor check it after every concert.

 

Anyway, I think it's more fitting to compare Celine to Whitney rather than to Mimi. Their chartbusting ballads were structured in the same way and their main man was........David Foster!

 

 

Well, I hope Mariah the best! Regardless of the treatment she chooses, I hope everything goes well for her. I believe people with vocal nodules can undergo therapy, but the therapy only helps improve speech so that the nodules do not become worse. The singing voice does not improve with such therapy. So as you said, Mariah can either work with her problem and be careful to not exacerbate the problem, or undergo surgery.

 

This situation reminds me of Julie Andrews. Julie had the same problem with nodules in her vocal cords. She opted for surgery to correct her problem, and her doctors were confident she would have no problem with her singing voice. However, the surgery did irreparable damage and Julie has not been able to sing since.

 

So, if Mariah chooses to undergo surgery, she better be careful!

[Hilda]

nodules the poor mare !!! i heard leona has to get her tonsills out also ...thank god celine looks after her voice...i remember when mariah gave me chills just listenin to her voice

songs like vanishing, so blessed, all i ever wanted, cant let go.....now what i cant let go of is that she was such a good song writer ...ok the voice is changed but the new songs are so airhead dumb dumb...and the whole in love with herself bimboness act is

here is another diva not mentioned before ...

ms donna summer ....she is 60 this year and has a new cd coming out soon and boy can she still sing!!!!and its a career that has been going since the 70's....!!! she is the 8th most successful female recording artist according to billboard!!!

from gospel to pop, hard dance to country n western...this lady can do it all !!!

 

 

omg cant let go! what a song! im always amazed and sickened at Mariahs brilliant song writing! haha im like.....celine could do that! ....come on! I have her 'emotions' album which i absolutely love and also the mimi album - and altho obviously very different i gotta say mimi was a GREAT album in my opinion - i was really surprised by it. her song writing was still as feirce as ever. and like you say shes adapted her voice.

[Your_Su_Phu]

But I have to say: Mariah was huge all over the world BEFORE Céline. When Mariah released the RnB influenced single Dreamlover way back in 1993, Céline had still to proof how big she would become. In 1995 Mariah started to work with rappers (Fantasy) and this was the year Céline had her first big hit in Europe (Think Twice).

 

??

an artist cannot be expected to be at the top for all time. mariah's early career with music box and daydream may have eclipsed celine's earlier releases by far - but celine's releases from 96-2000 in turn eclipsed mimi's releases in that period by far. I would put celine's career peak years at 95-2000 as that was when the color of my love's european success really took off along with her having the best selling french album of all time with d'eux. her popularity was so big in europe that even "pour que tu maimes encore", a french song reached top ten in the UK. and mariah's total career european sales are NOWHERE even close to celine's, though mariah's japanese sales are much higher. actually I would even dare say celine at the height of her popularity was still much more internationally famous than mariah ever was, especially with the help of titanic. regardless of whether or not some may think that's unfair or whatnot because it wasn't a celine solo project, it happened, so deal with it. and the fact that celine has a bilingual career. and that celine has two albums that surpassed 30 million copies

 

Her voice may not be as powerful as Céline's voice, BUT Mariah is the one who can sing the highest note. I've never heard Céline hit the high notes, that Mariah can still easily hit. I love both, but if you're realistic, it's obvious Mariah is still very popular and can still sing!

 

erm, you have got to be talking about whistle notes right?

I'm sorry but I am a mariah fan who owns many of her albums and also I criticize celine all the time, but mariah's recent performances - that snl one was horrid as hell...most of the recent live performances I've seen were horrid. mariah hitting high notes these days=a whole lot of squeakiness. i find some american idol contestants to be better sadly enough

 

and another thing - mariah is such a studio artist, vs celine who has always had huge world tours. take a look at this lamb-compiled chronicle of her world tours:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Mariah_Carey_tours

 

I commend mariah for gradually increasing the number of shows over the years, but by gods by the time of music box her career had already been three years running and she only mustered out 6 shows for that tour. the daydream tour (1995) had 7 shows, and even the butterfly tour (1998) had only 11 shows. wtf? what kind of performer is that

 

I do agree that people who disregard the massive success of "emancipation of mimi" are lame since it was a huge album with huge singles and is much more successful than anything celine has done in awhile.

Edited March 28, 2008 at 02:55 AM by Your_Su_Phu

[scorp82]

nodules the poor mare !!! i heard leona has to get her tonsills out also ...thank god celine looks after her voice...i remember when mariah gave me chills just listenin to her voice

songs like vanishing, so blessed, all i ever wanted, cant let go.....now what i cant let go of is that she was such a good song writer ...ok the voice is changed but the new songs are so airhead dumb dumb...and the whole in love with herself bimboness act is

here is another diva not mentioned before ...

ms donna summer ....she is 60 this year and has a new cd coming out soon and boy can she still sing!!!!and its a career that has been going since the 70's....!!! she is the 8th most successful female recording artist according to billboard!!!

from gospel to pop, hard dance to country n western...this lady can do it all !!!

 

 

omg cant let go! what a song! im always amazed and sickened at Mariahs brilliant song writing! haha im like.....celine could do that! ....come on! I have her 'emotions' album which i absolutely love and also the mimi album - and altho obviously very different i gotta say mimi was a GREAT album in my opinion - i was really surprised by it. her song writing was still as feirce as ever. and like you say shes adapted her voice.

 

 

Hilda and bfhb, I agree with you... Anyone can say anything about Mariah, but she is one heck of a song writer.

Edited March 28, 2008 at 03:45 AM by scorp82

[Your_Su_Phu]

nodules the poor mare !!! i heard leona has to get her tonsills out also ...thank god celine looks after her voice...i remember when mariah gave me chills just listenin to her voice

songs like vanishing, so blessed, all i ever wanted, cant let go.....now what i cant let go of is that she was such a good song writer ...ok the voice is changed but the new songs are so airhead dumb dumb...and the whole in love with herself bimboness act is

here is another diva not mentioned before ...

ms donna summer ....she is 60 this year and has a new cd coming out soon and boy can she still sing!!!!and its a career that has been going since the 70's....!!! she is the 8th most successful female recording artist according to billboard!!!

from gospel to pop, hard dance to country n western...this lady can do it all !!!

 

 

omg cant let go! what a song! im always amazed and sickened at Mariahs brilliant song writing! haha im like.....celine could do that! ....come on! I have her 'emotions' album which i absolutely love and also the mimi album - and altho obviously very different i gotta say mimi was a GREAT album in my opinion - i was really surprised by it. her song writing was still as feirce as ever. and like you say shes adapted her voice.

 

 

Hilda and bfhb, I agree with you... Anyone can say anything about Mariah, but she is one heck of a song writer.

 

 

she CO-wrote a huge amount of her biggest hits, especially the ones you guys are talking about from her earlier years - with Walter Afanasieff. i love them melodically, but in terms of lyrics they are just as cliche as celine's work.

 

i dont know why but with me i just have love-hate phases with mariah lol. right now im in a not so lovey mood lol

Edited March 28, 2008 at 03:52 AM by Your_Su_Phu

[Bellamy]

she CO-wrote a huge amount of her biggest hits, especially the ones you guys are talking about from her earlier years - with Walter Afanasieff. i love them melodically, but in terms of lyrics they are just as cliche as celine's work.

 

i dont know why but with me i just have love-hate phases with mariah lol. right now im in a not so lovey mood lol

Many reports said Mariah change writes 1 or 2 phrases in a song, and demand credit and loyalty for the whole song.

[Prince Whiskers]

Some say that Mariah has a wider range than Celine because the latter RARELY sings using her head voice. Celine's chest voice is SO strong that she doesn't need to resort to her head voice to hit hign notes unlike Mariah. This is why I hope that someday Celine will come up with a classical or a semi-classical album (like she indicated in "For Keeps") so we'll get to hear the FULL extent of her voice. Believe me, there's SO MUCH MORE we need to discover. To those saying that Celine can't sing as high as Mimi's whistle notes (not enunciated notes, mind you), go back and listen to:

 

1.Real Emotion

2.Refuse To Dance

3.the "neeeeeed" note in "When I Need You"

4.her opera session with Ben Moody during the recordings for TCH

5.her singing of the "La Boheme" sample with Callas on "La Diva"(It's curious that Celine merely sang along with Callas but she SOARED with her. You can't tell them apart as they sing the highest notes together.)

6.Have you ever seen her CNN interview which took place in promotion of TAST back in 1998? She was talking about a phone call she had had and out of the blue, she sang those crazy opera notes. Just.Like.That.

[Ray]

Many reports said Mariah change writes 1 or 2 phrases in a song, and demand credit and loyalty for the whole song.

 

Many reports? Don't know where you read those? Her co-writers say differently in interviews. Mariah usually writes the lyrics by herself and only sometimes with someone else. Because she's is no great musician, she shares the credits of the music, but it's her who comes up with most of the melodies. Walter Afanssief gets more credit on the Mariah songs, then he really deserves. Nile Rodgers once said in an interview about working on Madonna's song "Shoo-bee-doo" that he helped Madonna with the music, but that because it was Madonna who came up with the melody, he couldn't find it in his heart to list himself as co-writer.

 

i love them melodically, but in terms of lyrics they are just as cliche as celine's work.

 

I love lots of lyrics from Céline's work. I also love many lyrics written by Mariah: Vision of love, Make it happen, I am free, Anytime you need a friend, We belong together, Through the rain, Close my eyes. I could go on and on. I think Mariah is one of the greatest songwriters of our time along with the likes of Madonna, Linda Thompson, Dianne Warren, Babyface, Linda Perry...

 

Anyway, I think it's more fitting to compare Celine to Whitney rather than to Mimi. Their chartbusting ballads were structured in the same way and their main man was........David Foster!

 

Mariah also worked with David Foster. Whitney did too, but certainly not as often as Céline worked with him. For that matter, it may be better to compare Céline with Miss Streisand.

Edited March 30, 2008 at 07:53 PM by Ray

[Ray]

But I have to say: Mariah was huge all over the world BEFORE Céline. When Mariah released the RnB influenced single Dreamlover way back in 1993, Céline had still to proof how big she would become. In 1995 Mariah started to work with rappers (Fantasy) and this was the year Céline had her first big hit in Europe (Think Twice).

 

??

an artist cannot be expected to be at the top for all time. mariah's early career with music box and daydream may have eclipsed celine's earlier releases by far - but celine's releases from 96-2000 in turn eclipsed mimi's releases in that period by far. I would put celine's career peak years at 95-2000

 

This is exactly my point. Someone said that Mariah was changing to R'n'B, because Céline was getting more popular. My point was exactly what you're saying: Mariah was changing BEFORE Céline was huge (in your words: 95-2000).

 

and another thing - mariah is such a studio artist, vs celine who has always had huge world tours.

 

There's nothing wrong with being a studio artist, I hope? Of course I'm glad that Céline toured the world and I've seen her several times live in concert. But I've also seen Mariah in concert. If you're a fan, it doesn't matter if someone comes for one or more shows.

 

Besides: Mariah takes time to write songs and she's never been keen on performing live. Especially not in her early carreer. Mariah loves being in the studio the most. And I'm glad for it. She writes great songs, spend a lot of time on the backingvocals and production part AND re-sings a lot of her songs when they need a remix.

 

Céline is brilliant. But of course she has a lot of "rivals". I think that's a good thing. I would be very bored if I only had her music to play. Thank the Lord for Mariah, Whitney, Christina Aguilera, Tina Arena, Toni Braxton, Linda Eder, Lara Fabian, Mylène Farmer, Deborah Gibson, Janet Jackson, Paula Abdul, Cyndi Lauper, Madonna, Diana Ross, Wilson Phillips, Lucie Silvas, Leona Lewis, etc. etc. etc.

 

And I wish them ALL the best!

[Black Kitten]

madonna & mariah are great songwriters. but i still have to give credits to Janet Jackson. (i guess i am her only fan here), she used to be a brilliant songwriter. especially the theme of the Rhythm Nation 1814. RN 1814 is a moment for janet. it's such a legacy. every song is a masterpiece (yesss! even the interludes!). listen to Rhythm Nation, State of the World and Living in a World (They Didn't Make). sad janet went downhill after RN and became a public sex doll. she's no way a rival of celine in terms of their voices (though i really love the very feminine voice of janet) and songwritting abilities. success wise, celine is the winner, but janet is still one to beat. having 2 of the most influencial albums ever with Control & RN 1814. too bad people overlooked her talent as an artist and focus on her image.

 

WAY TO GO MISS JACKSON!

Edited March 31, 2008 at 12:10 AM by dhena

[Ray]

madonna & mariah are great songwriters. but i still have to give credits to Janet Jackson. (i guess i am her only fan here)

 

Well, count me in too. I'm still a Janet-fan though I'm not so fond of her last albums. But Control, Rhythm Nation 1814 and janet. will always stay among my all time favorite classic albums. Privacy is my middel name, my last name is control, no - my first name ain't baby, it's Janet, miss Jackson if you're nasty! LOVE it!

 

One other thing I've always loved Janet for (and still do) are her dance video's: From What have you done for me lately to Miss you much to If to All for you to Feedback!

[birdabee]

Vocally:

 

Back in the day it was Mariah and Whitney. Now Mariah has only the range which is huge but not else, Whitney - well I don't know how her voice sounds now. So I think it's Christina Aguilera (power, ad-libs and technique).

 

As for success it's Mariah and Madonna.

[Edwin]

Celine has no rival in my book. It's just her

[Cris77]

Celine's the best and the only one for me.

 

Mariah Carey, Good voice but superficial personality. Materialistic and boastful. She looks like a Barbie doll.

Whitney Houston, great voice too but she's also superficial and unfortunately a drug addict.

Britney, Amy, Madonna... I prefer not to make any comments on them.

 

Celine Dion. Simple, kind, respectful, great personality, sensible, full of love and with very clear ideas and of course a stunning voice.

 

Should I say more???

 

Who's the best so???