Album Pick: E=MC² (Mariah Carey)

Original Release Date: April 15, 2008
Label: Island Records

1. Migrate (featuring T-Pain)
2. Touch My Body
3. Cruise Control (featuring Damian Marley)
4. I Stay In Love
5. Side Effects (featuring Young Jeezy)
6. I'm That Chick
7. Love Story
8. I'll Be Lovin' U Long Time
9. Last Kiss
10. Thanx 4 Nothin'
11. O.O.C.
12. For the Record
13. Bye Bye
14. I Wish You Well

Being Mariah Carey may not be a science of Einsteinian proportions. But the dynamic diva has re-created an engaging musical mix on new disc E=MC².

The formula — first perfected on 2005's slick, sassy The Emancipation of Mimi — goes something like this: equal parts flirty club jams and sing-along ballads. A dash of kitsch. A sprinkling of guest rappers. An endless supply of short skirts and high heels. (Warning: Never, ever add Glitter.)

It made Mimi, the album and the singer, one of the biggest comeback stories in contemporary pop and appealed to both longtime fans and new listeners. Now back atop the diva elite, Carey isn't taking any chances. She has positioned E=MC², her 11th studio disc, as a sequel of sorts to Mimi, a second statement of her musical independence.

Carey co-wrote and co-produced the new album's 14 tracks, including first single Touch My Body, a coy come-on that has her promising to hunt down a lover who brags about their "secret rendezvous."

"If there's a camera up in here then I best not catch this flick on YouTube," she warns. Silly stuff, but the sugary keyboard licks and cooing harmonies have already zoomed to No. 1. It's also fueled by the hilarious video, which finds Carey frolicking and pillow-fighting with Jack McBrayer (30 Rock's Kenneth the page).

In case you haven't heard — unlikely, since it's been everywhere — that's chart-topper No. 18 for Carey, who is now second to the Beatles for most No. 1's on the Billboard charts. (The Fab Four leads with 20; Elvis Presley was left in the fairydust with 17.)

She'll show the upstarts how it's done as a mentor on tonight's American Idol, and she'll perform during Wednesday's results show.

By the sound of things, E=MC² just might earn Carey the all-time crown. Its girlish bump-and-grind should soon start popping up as ringtones and on MySpace pages: the rollicking reggae of Cruise Control; the We Belong Together shimmer and synth accents of Last Kiss; the hands-in-the-air, hip-bounce of O.O.C.

Migrate's auto-tuned appeal boasts go-to-rapper T-Pain and a late-night thump that chronicles a zippy girls' night out. ("From my car into the club — we migrate/From the party to the after-party — migrate/After-party to hotel — migrate.")

Houston-bred hitmaker Bryan-Michael Cox lends a hand during For the Record, whose ethereal melody soundtracks the M by Mariah Carey perfume ads. She name-drops some of her past hits amid the lilting, music-box arrangement. Cox also co-produced I Stay In Love, a likely summer single. It's the kind of gently grooving ballad that Janet Jackson should be recording instead of wasting her time on tired sex clichés. (It's doubtful, however, that Jackson could reach the notes Carey effortlessly hits at the end of the song.)

The StarGate-fueled I'm That Chick comes to life via a breezy disco sample of Michael Jackson's Off the Wall. All that's missing are roller skates and short-shorts. And I'll Be Lovin' U Long Time isn't, as the title suggests, a riff on 2 Live Crew's crass rap classic. It's an old-school party record with buoyant choruses and lush keyboard work.

It wouldn't be a Carey record without some personal drama, and she gives it during Side Effects, an electro-tinged standout that finds her feeling the aftershocks of an abusive relationship.

Producer Scott Storch and rapper Young Jeezy give the song a menacing mood, and Carey chronicles a romance that descends into "violent times."

"Keepin' me there, under your thumb/Cause you were scared that I'd become much/More than you could handle," she confesses in what's likely a reference to ex-husband Tommy Mottola.

"Shining like a chandelier/That decorated every room inside/The private hell we built."

I Wish You Well is a rousing piano ballad that showcases Carey's penchant for gospel fervor and her signature whistle register. But it's new single Bye Bye that is truly trademark Mimi. Carey wrote the song for her late father ("And you never got a chance to see how good I've done/And you never got to see me back at No. 1"), but it's also a lighters-and-hands-in-the-air tribute to deceased loved ones, from "best friends" to "grandmothers."

Chalk up No. 19 — it's a safe bet to hit the top spot in a few weeks.

Even E=MC²'s less dynamic moments — Love Story, Thanx 4 Nothin' — have ample pop sparkle, thanks to Carey's winning, winsome delivery. Every track plays like a potential hit single, and that's exactly what fans will love about E=MC². Expect it to soundtrack much of the summer and beyond.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/features/5700230.html