I guess we can’t quite call it a comeback. After all, Mariah Carey has been here for years. In fact, her career has been so prolific that she has recently been nominated in the 2018 Songwriters Hall Of Fame (along with Missy Elliott). She’s arguably the biggest selling female artist of all time. Her range is still unmatched by any of today’s current female pop superstars. However, she had her share of low moments, including a recently broken engagement and lackluster sales for last studio album, Me. I Am….The Elusive Chanteuse. 

The marketing push and even the title (Caution) for her first studio album in four years was a bold move. She started marketing the tour simultaneously with the album’s release (with the assumption that it would be successful). Looks like there is plenty reason for naysayers to proceed with caution here. Let’s take the teaser single, “GTFO” for instance. The song took a while to grow on me, in part because of the lyrics. I honestly wasn’t used to Mariah Carey toning down her vocabulary to simply say, “Get the f’ out”. Indubitably, it didn’t seem like her.  That’s the hook for the appeal though. She really has nothing to prove at this point. 

On songs like “The Distance” she cleverly manages to capture 90s nostalgia, remain current and make your head bob all at the same time. Plus, the unlikely Ty Dolla $ign feature surprisingly works well. She reaches back to her own repertoire in “With You”, referencing her Bone Thugs N Harmony collab, “Breakdown”. She even teams up with Timbaland on one of the album’s standout tracks, “8th Grade”. Ever notice how Mariah Carey frequently references that young love, high school time period of her life?

Slick Rick stops by to join the party on “Giving Me Life”, another worthy track on Caution. Honestly, there isn’t a bad song on the album. Sure, “Portrait”, the album’s closer, may be a bit too sappy but she’s singing full out on it. Mariah Carey has actually laid down her whisper vocal chords. By the looks of the early album sales, her fans are glad about it. The Butterfly queen has delivered her best album since The Emancipation of Mimi. Enjoy……with caution.