The classy Mariah we remember

Okay, continuing my own little Mariah marathon, we come to her performance at Proctor’s Theatre in 1993. It was her Thanksgiving Special on NBC and it soon became this great video. The video comes with 10 live performances of her biggest hits, the video for Dreamlover, and a few home video clips. Although, like in her MTV Unplugged performance, I would have liked her to perform some of her better non-single tracks, she does a great job.

Mariah has definitely changed since the Unplugged video. She is a lot less shy and more one on one with her fans. She talks to them, she sings to them, and she does this all with such grace. I mean she looks like a princess or something. Very classy and such an innocent singer. This is the Mariah I find more attractive than what we have today, but I try to not let that bug me too much lol.

Okay, now the video:
The video starts off with Emotions. She incorporates the audience in her performance and let’s them sing some of the song. She hits all the notes, she looks like she is truly enjoying herself, and she is awesome. She sings to the audience as if telling them that THEY are the ones who make her feel so emotional. A great song and she sings it with a lot of spunk.

The other uptempo songs are just as enjoyable. Someday and Make It Happen are sung a lot better than on the Unplugged video. In “Someday”, she brings out two of her backup singers (the Price sisters). They are definitely two amazing vocalists and Mariah lets them have their moment. They add a little sass to the song and makes the dull thing enjoyable lol. “Make It Happen” has more life to it because Mariah dedicates it to her fans who are trying to become something and might become discouraged. She even sits on the edge of the stage right in the middle of her fans. She shakes their hands and sings to them: Not more than three short years ago…. She really puts a lot into this performance and, as always, makes the bridge of the song awesome. The other uptempo song on the video Dreamlover is dull. She brings out a few dancers to dance behind her, but there is nothing special about the performance at all. It’s boring and pretty lifeless. A live remix of the song would have been better, at least it would have been different.

The ballads, Mariah’s specialty, really show her voice and range very well. Hero, Love Takes Time, Anytime You Need A Friend, and Vision Of Love really make this video worth viewing. This performance of “Hero” is Mariah’s favorite performance of this song. She does a good job and sings TO her fans, makes the song about them and looking inside themselves whenever they feel down. The lyrics are nothing spectacular, but her voice really does make it better. “Love Takes Time” is better here than on the album. Her arrangement here is a little simpler and she makes it more about the lyrics and about her voice. “Vision Of Love” is very enjoyable even though she kind of messes with the end. Here, she shows that she has soul. Her voice is even more soulful in the amazingly done “Anytime You Need A Friend”. Even though her voice shows very little signs of soul, it’s still there and this song shows that she can also sing a gospel song. She has a choir and really puts her all into it.

The one ballad that I did not list up there is the one that is the highlight of the video. Without You is a wonderful song and Mariah’s best remake to date. She sings this song from her heart and even tells her fans that this song used to make her cry when she was a little girl. You can see the emotion in her eyes as she sings and it’s great to see her sing like this. She shows us part of her lower range here and keeps herself in the song for the whole thing. There is nothing about this performance that I dislike. The cameramen show her back a few times, which I don’t get why, but her voice and her emotions just shine here.

Apparently she finished the special off with “Vision Of Love” because I’ll Be There is sung somewhere else and not in Procter’s Theatre. She is surrounded by children and she and Trey Lorenz sing the song nicely. It doesn’t top her Unplugged performance and I don’t like the song very much so this was really not all too enjoyable for me. It’s a nice ending and all, but why didn’t they include “Vanishing” instead? :)

The home videos and behind-the-scenes clips are mixed in in-between her songs and I don’t really enjoy them. Here is why: They really wanted to make Mariah seem down-to-earth and everything. But instead, they just showed that she isn’t. They had a small interview with her mother and Mariah talking about her as a baby and her voice. I really wish they had shown more of her mother talking about Mariah. It was way too short. Next they have Mariah and her old friends “reminiscing” about old times. This was just too cheesy, I really didn’t believe any of the stories they were telling. The part that bugged me the most is when they 3 girls were making pizza for the whole crew. Mariah’s friends were wearing jeans and T-shirts while Mariah was in her sundress. Mariah had the dough in her hands and was telling her “friend” how to spread the flour on the counter. The friend began throwing flour around (SO corny) and funny how the two girls got flower thrown at them and no one even threw any to Mariah. One of the girls was about to, but she hesitated (yes I notice EVERYTHING). The video then skips to about 5 minutes later and Mariah has flour on her (looks like it was professionally applied lol, really just watch it) and they are having the “time of their lives”. Next scene, they are driving and reminiscing even more, and finally the 3 girls jump into the lake with their clothes on. I WANT to say that it was Mariah who jumped in, but it could have easily been a body double. I’ll have to check on that. At the end of the video, they show Mariah and friends walking to the picnic of those who worked on the video. They are carrying three pizzas (“homemade”) and funny…there are about 60 or more people at this picnic. Mariah and her pals are just cracking up with the pizzas in their hands and everyone rushes to them. UGH! Anyways, they also interview those at the picnic and they talk about how great Mariah is and whatnot. The only REAL part of the whole behind-the-scenes part is when the backup singers are interviewed. They really seemed to be honest and everything. Too bad it was a short inteview.

The Dreamlover video followed and it was boring. Just her in the country-type setting playing in the grass while dancers danced somewhere else. Really nothing to look forward to watching lol.

Why do I love this video so much? Well for one thing, Mariah has no choreographed numbers for herself. She doesn’t rely on her hips as most pop singers nowadays do, she relies on her voice and the music she’s singing. Now, let me let you in on a little pet peeve of mine. When someone is singing a ballad, they should not be smiling and waving at everyone, it’s a BALLAD for goodness sake! Christina Aguilera is guilty of this. Why am I mentioning her in a Mariah review? Well, Mariah is Christina’s idol and I wish she would copy this aspect of Mariah’s singing: when Mariah sings a ballad, she gets into the ballad and feels the lyrics. In every slow/sad song on here, Mariah doesn’t smile, she even looks like she’s going to cry in “Without You”. Mariah literally pauses after every ballad to get herself out of the song. Christina, however, tells the audience, “Let me see your hands in the air” in the middle of the song. I love them both, but that just bugs me about my dear Christina :)

Overall, Mariah makes this video worth watching. I give this video an A- because it was not better than her Unplugged video, but it was still good. In that one, she was shy and really into showing off her voice. I liked the fan interaction she did here, but the shyness in the other video really made her more down-to-earth without even trying. The behind-the-scenes parts prevent me from giving this video 5 stars, but if you can get past that and you like Mariah, this video is just what you need :)