On American Idol last night, they had Mariah Careyas the star mentor. One thing they said really shocked me. Mariah has written almost all of her own songs. This page says the same thing. Additionally, Mariah has surpassed Elvis as the artist with the most number 1 singles.
Seriously?? 18 number one hits? That is unbelievable. Why isn’t she considered one of the greatest singer-songwriters in the history of music? John Lennon, Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, Kurt Cobain? They are nothing comparred to Mariah!
I truly believe that if Mariah Carey was a man, she would be considered a genius. Why do women get such diminished coverage? I remember watching Shakira and how she has written tons of hits in multiple languages. Sure, she is a star, but she is not called a phenom. I thought she was awesome in her MTV special unplugged special. Then she felt she had to lose weight and dye her hair blonde to make more money. She and Mariah would not need to get boob jobs and diet to insanity if they were men. They could be fat and bald and it would be ok.
Well, I didn’t think it before, but I have to include Mariah Carey from now on in all conversations about the greatest singer-songwriter artists in history.
UPDATE: Hmmm. The story gets a little blurrier. I looked at each of her songs to find the writing credits. She never seems to be listed alone. Always with another person or group of people. She is always listed first, but what does this mean? Is she writing the songs or just the lyrics? Is she writing the music or just collaborating with serious song-writers? What is the dealy-yo?
How will I ever get clarity on this issue? It is truly the conundrum of our age.
This post _deserved_ to be filed under Random. :p But I think you answered your question when you found out the other “authors” of her songs — she’s probably hardly collaborating on them at all. I mean, she’s probably capable of it, but if you can pay someone else to do the work and you still get the credit, why not?
A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men. – Roald Dahl
Hi! I think as a songwriter Mariah Carey is really more of a lyricist than anything else. If you listen to her songs, especially post-Tony Mottola, the lyrics are really far too personal to have been written by someone else. Maybe that’s why she’s known more as a singer/diva than a songwriter and why her writing credits are always limited to collaborations – because she needs help in adding melody to her music.
Mariah Carey has written every song shes sung with the obvious exception of covers. There are many songs shes written on her own, however, she has quite often collaborated with others too.
it’s extremely extremely rare that an artist writes solely on their own.
Here are the technicalities –
– if a name is listed first, that person is the majority songwriter, legally. They have written most of the song. Names are listed in order of contribution. Therefore, if someone else has had an input into it (even just suggesting the writer switch X word for Y word), they must be written down as a songwriter.
– If an artist samples anything from a song, the original writers of the song theyre sampling (irrelevant of how many there are) must be listed. Mariah Carey has sampled tracks alot and therefore, youll often find perhaps 5 names listed in her later work. Really, theyve not contributed to the songwriting, but Mariah would have used a line from the song
(a good example is We Belong Together – mariah using Bobby Womacks “if you think you’re lonely now” will mean she must list all the writers of both We Belong Together and If You Think Youre Lonely Now)
Further, yes, as another person commented, shes a lyricst, not a songwriter in a way… Many times, its listed that Walter A. co wrote with her when infact Mariah Carey often wrote the lyrics and Walter would write the music. This would be considered a collaboration as walter would suggest changing words to fit the music and visa versa..
Mariah Carey is definitely a songwriter…When publishing companies determine what constitutes a song, the AND the melody are separate parts. So when she sings words that are in a particular melodic fashion…it’s a song. She then sings the arrangements to a pianist who will sometimes help her interpret. It is a shame that people dont recognize what a gifted talent she is.. lyrics
In her earlier albums, she’s listed as the sole lyricist to most of the songs, and a collaborator on the music. Even though Walter A. is obsolete in her later albums, the “sound” of the ballads are the same. Mariah doesn’t play the piano well, and she writes like most song writers – from listening to chords and singing a melody over it. If you look at the ballads that she writes, they are collaborated often with a pianist, who is then listed as a songwriter. Other times a song like “Heartbreaker” Mariah has “solely” written them, the only other writer’s listed are from a sample, proving that she writes and sings a melody over chords that she hears.