#1 [url]

Dec 29 11 11:38 PM

MrSpice wrote:
Summer 2005 during the Emancipation of Mimi. I was taking summer college courses made available for free by Tulane since Katrina had occurred the Fall before. I remember sitting in the crappy cafeteria after a 9AM consolidated calculus class. "We Belong Together" was still dominating airwaves and "Shake It Off" seemed just as big. I'd hear "Shake It Off" booming out of stereos all the time. Anyway, the school always had the local Pop or Urban channel on in the cafeteria. I'm not sure which one was on, but I'll never forget hearing "We Belong Together" sung by the entire female volleyball team at the top of their lungs. The volleyball team was big (they took up like eight tables), and it was extremely diverse both racially and ethnically -- there were students from Western and Eastern Europe on scholarship playing volleyball whose first language was clearly not English. For a fan who had been there through her major successes in the 90's subsequent extremely public downfall, it was quite a sight. Along with Obama winning the presidential election on my 21st birthday, it's one of those extremely vivid, hyper-sensory memories where I remember everything that was occurring around me. I never questioned whether she would ever be big again, but I had no idea her comeback (which IS what it was) would be so colossal.

For the first time, she was releasing music she actually liked, that she was finally singing on, and people were crazy about it. It wasn't even so much about her. Yeah, she was everywhere, but she was everywhere performing. She wasn't doing damage control (CB) or promoting a product line. She was making headlines for her music. She was like the Adele of 2005, except she had a well-seasoned career at that point. She even got the obligatory 8 Grammy nominations (even though they screwed her again, it was so typical of the Grammys...nominate the crap out of whoever sells the most and then pretend like they don't care about numbers). It was nuts!


--------------(long ramblings and memories about the 90s)

I've always been obsessed with music. My parents were always playing classic rock and pop from the 60's and 70's, and my babysitters always had the pop station on. Pop radio really used to be more like "popular music"; they played pop, dance, r&b, alternative rock, and hip-hop. I would hear Mariah on the same station as "Snoop Doggy Dog," Corona, The Cranberries, Boyz II Men, Ace of Base, Nirvana, Amy Grant, Sheryl Crow, No Doubt and John Secada. In the 90's, I can't really pinpoint a certain era as her biggest, but she seemed unstoppable from Music Box through Daydream (including Merry Christmas).

Music Box was huge, too, but I was only six going on seven, so my memory isn't quite as vivid. Did "Dreamlover" come out in the summer? I remember the song coming on while we were playing dodge ball in the gym -- I was less interested in Dodge Ball and far more interested in the red-headed camp counselor's favorite song. She kept telling me about how much she loved it and Mariah Carey. I wanted to be a teenager. I wanted to date her. At the end of the summer, my family went to San Francisco, and .....
lovely post! thanks for sharing!