What We Know: Me. I Am Mariah

Mariah Carey - Me. I Am Mariah

Update: According to multiple sources, the album was intended for release on iTunes ONLY on May 27th, but will also impact physical retailers the same day.

I don't usually talk much about upcoming albums, I felt it was right to include to dedicate a post to Mariah Carey's upcoming 14th studio album, which will be released on May 27th via iTunes and physical retailers (as a temporary exclusive).

While Me. I Am Mariah... The Elusive Chanteuse (previously titled "The Art of Letting Go") has suffered several snags in the road so far (multiple push backs), Mariah and her team are starting to turn all that around really quickly. Preceded by lead single "#Beautiful (feat. Miguel)" and several other releases, the new album will include a 14 track standard version and a 17 track deluxe bonus version. The album's second single (and former title track), "The Art of Letting Go", is now only available as a deluxe edition track. Another track titled "Supernatural" will feature Carey's twin children on vocals. In addition to Miguel, several other artists contributed tracks to the project. Mary J. Blige, Nas and Wale are among the short list of guests.

The announcement of the album was expected, but I (like most others) were surprised that it was confirmed so soon after it was teased in a cover story article for Billboard during the past week. Most speculated a May release, but nothing had been confirmed at the time. These speculations came in part due to the fact that Mariah had announced a now scrapped May 6th release date back in mid February when "You're Mine" was released as a single.

You can see both album covers (deluxe below and standard above), and the track list below. Bolded tracks are exclusive to the deluxe version of the album.

1. "Cry."
2. "Faded"
3. "Dedicated (feat. Nas)"
4. "#Beautiful (feat. Miguel)
5. "Thirsty"
6. "Make It Look Good"
7. "You're Mine (Eternal)"
8. "You Don't Know What To Do (feat. Wale)"
9. "Supernatural"
10. "Meteorite"
11. "Camouflage"
12. "Money ($*/...) [feat. Fabolous]"
13. "One More Try"
14. "Heavenly (No Ways Tried/Can't Give Up Now)"
15. "It's A Trap (feat. Mary J. Blige)"
16. "Betcha Gon' Know (feat. R. Kelly)"
17. "The Art of Letting Go"

Update #2: On Wednesday, May 14th, Mariah announced a special deluxe version of the album exclusive to  American mass retailer Target including 1 bonus track called "America the Beautiful". A 3rd cover was released alongside the announcement. In my opinion, it is the worst cover so far.

1. "Cry."
2. "Faded"
3. "Dedicated (feat. Nas)"
4. "#Beautiful (feat. Miguel)
5. "Thirsty"
6. "Make It Look Good"
7. "You're Mine (Eternal)"
8. "You Don't Know What To Do (feat. Wale)"
9. "Supernatural"
10. "Meteorite"
11. "Camouflage"
12. "Money ($*/...) [feat. Fabolous]"
13. "One More Try"
14. "Heavenly (No Ways Tried/Can't Give Up Now)"
15. "It's A Trap (feat. Mary J. Blige)"
16. "Betcha Gon' Know (feat. R. Kelly)"
17. "The Art of Letting Go"
18. "America the Beautiful"

What does this bold move mean? It means she's running out of options. After the failed starts of "The  Art of Letting Go" and "You're Mine (Eternal)" as singles in November 2013 and February 2014, Mariah turned toward a Beyoncé-esque move. While she somewhat took the same approach, it wasn't handled correctly. She had given out too much information prior to the album's announcement (and then denied most of it), causing people to expect something like this. If she wanted it to be HUGE, she would have completely stuck with the Beyoncé idea (now called "pulling a BEYONCÉ" throughout the vast music industry) and released everything all at once as a surprise. But then yet again, she would have receive lots of criticism for "stealing" another artist's idea, so I guess you really can't win in this world. It makes it even worse when your once fabulous career is starting to turn into a scrap yard.

How do you think Me. I Am Mariah will perform with audiences and critics? Will she have a turn out similar to Beyoncé's most recent album, or will she open with numbers similar to "Yours Truly", the most recent album from her teenage equivalent (in terms of vocals) Ariana Grande? Only time will tell.