A Lifetime-Plus of Music

     When Lady Gaga first emerged on the scene, my first reaction was that she was much more style than substance.  It took more attention and actually attending a live concert (seeing Gaga from the seemingly sterile corporate luxury box was an interesting contrast) for me to fully appreciate what an incredibly talented performer she is.  “Born This Way”, her second studio album, is the #484 rated album on Rolling Stone’s Top 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, and it built upon the impactful success of her first album.

     Like I said, her live performance is what fully converted me as a fan, and in comparison to many of the pop peers of her day, I fully recall her yelling out while dancing complex routines and singing dynamically, “None of this is fucking lip-synching!!”  Lady Gaga was a full-on performance bad-ass, and my image of this was only further augmented when I saw her routinely perform “You and I” solo on piano.  As a songwriter, musician, singer and dancer, she was about as close as I saw to a female version of Prince.

     The album itself has its high points and moments of monotony.  Several of the high-energy dance songs seem to blend together, as if the entire album is just an extended aerobics class.  Three of the songs that were released as singles stand out above the rest.  Many people accused the title track of being too close in sound and style to “Express Yourself” by Madonna, and Gaga herself also suffered from the same comparisons as an artist.  My thoughts are this… one, I love both songs, and if there is some similarity, all the better.  Two, there is enough distinction between the two to eliminate any true plagiarism concerns, and three, the two songs end up going together great back-to-back if I’m out running or even in a well-constructed mashup.

     “You and I” is a classic power-rock ballad, and who better to produce a power-rock ballad than Mutt Lange?  I really do love this song as well, and although it may be overplayed and a bit cliché for some, it is still a big hit for me.  “The Edge of Glory” is a theatrical closing track that is a perfect Lady Gaga song, and distinct enough to stand out from the rest of the album.

     I haven’t always loved what has come from Lady Gaga since this release, but I remain steadfast in my appreciation for her talent, drive, and social conscience in a musical genre that often lacks all three.  She is here to stay, and we are all better for her musical gifts as a performer.

     There are several megastars of the 2010s, to include Taylor Swift, Drake, Bruno Mars and Ed Sheeran, or Ed “She-heer-an”, as my friend Bobby would say, but none sold records quite like Adele Adkins, known simply as Adele.  Starting with her first album “19”, she has established a trend of naming each album for her age as it was recorded and released, and in a very impressive fashion, “21” was a massive hit that was the #1 selling album in both 2011 & 2012.  I think we were all taken aback by the unique soulful quality of her voice, and her remarkable talents as a songwriter were also on full display with this powerhouse release.  Besides being a commercial blockbuster, it was highly recognized in the industry awards circuit and is rated as album #137 on Rolling Stone’s Top 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.  I recall many of my friends discovering her as a new artist, and I still vividly remember a bold response on social media from my friend Jim, who isn’t always easily impressed, particularly by something this commercial in its exposure.

     I think the biggest barrier I eventually ran into with Adele’s music, and it is not that uncommon with an artist this big, is that I eventually hit the wall of “Adele” fatigue.  Her CD was in my home like it was almost everyone’s, and between that and five released singles, the first three of which all hit number one, along with an overlap of many genres, that meant you couldn’t turn around without hearing an Adele song.  As an artist, I’m sure that is the ultimate achievement, but I did eventually reach some level of burnout with this record, especially the big-name hits, so it was a refreshing return to come back to some of the deeper cuts which stood out as my favorites listening to it more than a decade after its release.

     We all know “Rolling In the Deep”, which was the first and biggest hit, and oddly enough, probably my least favorite of her hit singles from this album.  “Someone Like You” taps into her post-breakup depression that flows through most of this record.  “Set Fire to the Rain” is perhaps the most dramatic and intense song on the record, and another of those songs that when you first heard it, it was hard to believe how talented and young Adele was at the time.  “Rumour Has It” was a bit more of a funky chant, but very well received, and the ballad “Turning Tables”, which was probably the least exposed of her five singles, also happens to be my favorite among those songs.

     As I noted, the best part of coming back to this album was finding some songs I had lost sight of previously, and my favorite song on the album is “I’ll Be Waiting”, maybe the most up-tempo R&B song on the record, and the piano and horn opening really sets the stage for a great song.  Other hidden gems include “He Won’t Go” and “One and Only”, and I had also lost sight of her outstanding and beautiful cover of “Lovesong” by The Cure.

     This album remains one of the biggest sellers in musical history and opened the door for a landmark career that remains at full speed to this day.  With her soulful voice and creative talent that greatly exceeded her natural age and experience, along with her British heritage, I can’t help but compare her to Amy Winehouse, and I’d like to think Adele is helping us to carry on and fill the massive void of Amy’s tragic death.  No matter what generation, the world still appreciates the simple beauty of a heartfelt song by a beautiful singer, and that’s exactly what we have on “21”.

     The next album from Kanye West proves to be another unexpected masterpiece in my eyes, with “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy”.  Like many of us who are a few steps or more away from modern hip-hop, Kanye remains a difficult person to appreciate, and my skepticism certainly carried over to his music, but even more so than “The College Dropout”, I absolutely love this record and fully appreciate why it is rated as #17 on Rolling Stone’s Top 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

     Kanye lays the foundation with amazing beats and production, and while his rapping is the centerpiece, this record is marked by some amazing and unexpected collaborations.  For every time that I listened to “Dark Fantasy”, I struggled to figure out who was singing “Can we get much higher”?  I never would have guessed, but now it makes perfect sense that it is actually Jon Anderson from Yes.

     “Gorgeous” has a great hook that comes from Kid Cudi, and it is a sinfully funky main verse.  “Power” was the first single released, and was a triumphant return after Kanye’s much-discussed dustup with Taylor Swift at the 2009 MTV Music Video Awards.

     As good as those songs are, the album hits its highest peak with the next two songs.  “All of the Lights” is a brilliant song with an undeniably magnetic chorus by Rihanna, with piano and vocals coming from Elton John, as well as John Legend, Alicia Keys, Fergie, Drake and several others.  It is a spectacular song. 

     After that exhilarating pop peak, Kanye and his crew literally punch you in the face with one of the most overwhelming and intense beats I have ever heard in hip-hop with “Monster”.  This song has quickly become one of my all-time favorites, and while Kanye, Rick Ross and even Jay-Z do their jobs appropriately, the true all-star performance on this amazing song is delivered by Nicki Minaj.  She is a complete and total badass on this song; there is no other way to say it.  Some day when I’m fully liberated to play a top-notch sound system at its very loudest, this will be one of the first songs I pick.  Another unexpected star of this song, as well as other tracks on the album, comes from none other than Bon Iver, the “folk” band I featured a few albums back.  I mentioned then they worked with Kanye, but I never expected such a high-profile connection between these remarkably diverse artists.

     “Devil in a New Dress” is built on top of a great Smokey Robinson sample, and the result flows perfectly for another phenomenal track.  “Runaway” is a haunting, extended track built around an extremely descending piano note sequence, and is an introspective look at the inner demons Kanye has always battled.  I thought I recognized this from the beginning, but the vocal chorus not only mimics “Iron Man” by Black Sabbath, the linkage is strong enough that Ozzy, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward find their way into the songwriting credits.  “Blame Game” is a unique song to say the least, pairing Kanye with John Legend, with an oddly effective incorporation of a sexually inspired comedy monologue by Chris Rock.  How it all works, I don’t really understand, but I finally get why so many people, including my son, look at Kanye West as a disturbed genius in the art of musical creation.  Another unexpected reappearance by a past artist in my blog, as Gil Scott-Herron surfaces with Kanye on the last song, “Who Will Survive in America”.

     Of all of the albums I have listened to, “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” will stand out as one of the biggest, unexpected favorites.  I have said it so many times, but it is worth restating one more time.  The gift of unearthing treasures like these, even if they were widely celebrated by the rest of the modern music world, remains the most impactful component of this journey.

     I feel like “Recovery”, the next Eminem album on the journey, probably flew a bit under the radar, even as it was the #1 selling album of 2010.  It doesn’t have a signature song like some of his earlier albums, but it is another strong effort and as best as he can, he attempts to present a slightly more positive mindset on life and the world around him.

      My favorite track is probably the opener, “Cold Wind Blows”, even though it wasn’t one of the singles released.  “Talkin’ 2 Myself” is one of the life turnaround tunes as Eminem is trying to look at himself as much as he does the outside influences he typically demonizes on his earlier music.  “Won’t Back Down” is a collaboration with Pink that works well, although there are a couple of lyrics I have to wonder if she signed off on before she agreed to this track.  The street-tough side of her probably loved it.  “W.T.P”, which is an acronym for White Trash Party, is a pretty infectious chorus and I was singing it to myself for most of the weekend.  “Going Through Changes” samples Black Sabbath, which is a nice twist and another attempt to look on the bright side of life.  “Not Afraid” is in the same vain, and was the first released single from the album.  I enjoyed hearing Lil Wayne make an appearance on “No Love”, which samples “What Is Love” by Haddaway, a song most of us associate with Will Ferrell and “A Night At the Roxbury”.

     My other favorite track on this record is probably “So Bad”; it has my favorite beat and slow-jam groove on the record.  “Love The Way You Lie” is another A-list collaboration with Rihanna, and they match up well which isn’t a big surprise for two of the biggest superstars of their era.  This is the last stop on the Eminem parade in my blog, but his impact as an MC and durability as an artist were absolutely appreciated along the way.

     Not surprisingly, this journey has led us to the first really big album success from Taylor Swift, her second record overall, “Fearless”.  I have always respected Taylor Swift for her creative control and integrity as a songwriter and performer, and unexpectedly, that’s where this blog is going to ultimately take me.  When she originally recorded this album, she was a young artist with some creative control, but not unlimited ownership of her own music, which became a landmark issue for her and many other artists.  This is understandable when you realize this was the #1 selling album of 2009.

     My first reaction when listening was the consistent hook that every single song held on this record.  Not every song that was recorded came out as a single, but I think almost every song on this album could have been a hit single if marketed as such by the label.  At this point in her career, Taylor was in the midst of crossing over from country to pop, and there is plenty of both to be found on “Fearless”.  I did naturally gravitate to the two songs I most clearly recognized, “Love Story” and “You Belong With Me”.  And maybe it is just me, but do those two songs have a very similar melody at the chorus?  Maybe I was just melting in the Florida sun as I listened to this on my morning run, but those two songs had a lot in common, which isn’t a bad thing.  Other songs that stood out for me were “Fifteen”, which was almost 40 years ago for me, and “Breathe”, which was her collaboration with Colbie Caillat.  I will acknowledge that none of this material is highly complex or serious, but it is what it is, very well performed pop music.

     I was almost ready to put a wrap on this record when I vaguely recalled that Taylor Swift was re-recording some of her own material for the purposes of taking a larger ownership stake in her music the second time around.  As I researched it, “Fearless” was in fact on this list, so I listened to “Fearless (Taylor’s Version)” the second time around.  She did a very credible job of re-recording these songs in a nearly identical manner, although there are some subtle differences in production quality and the maturity of her voice.  I respect her intent here greatly, and from this point forward, I will be sure to tag her current version of any song I can into any of my streaming playlists.

     This brings me to a topic I haven’t really taken on yet, the business of musical streaming.  I do think it is pretty sad what a fractional amount of revenue the artist gets for the widespread distribution of their music, and here is my proposed solution.  It is somewhat ridiculous that I and several family members can listen to an unlimited number of songs for a relatively low monthly fee.  I would add tiers of access, with a higher monthly fee.  For example, last year I was in the 95^th percentile of users on my streaming service.  Clearly, I listen to a LOT of music.  Frankly, I would pay a lot more than I do for this purely unlimited access.  For those who don’t have the same interest I do, and either don’t want to pay a higher fee or can’t afford to, yet they still want to avoid those annoyingly repetitive commercials on the free service, set their monthly fees equal to usage.   One to one-hundred songs a month is $X.95, one-hundred to one-thousand songs is $Y.95, and so on.  These artists deserve more than they are getting paid, and we are still getting a major bargain in comparison to what we would pay to own all the music on CD or vinyl that we listen to each month.

     OK… that’s enough problem-solving for today.  Cheers to Taylor Swift for her music and her independent drive, they are both worthy of respect and admiration.

     By 2008, the world of hip-hop had taken on a mainstage role in popular music, and it retains its dominant force to this day.  The best-selling album of 2008 was “Tha Carter III”, the latest in a series of self-titled albums from Lil Wayne, aka Wayne Carter, a highly successful rapper from New Orleans.  In addition to its commercial success, “The Carter III” is album #208 on Rolling Stone’s Top 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

     Although my son appeared to be surprised by this outcome, I really enjoyed this album a lot.  I don’t find Lil Wayne to be near the top of my favorite MCs list, and there is something mildly cartoonish about him as he reminds me of what would happen if Snoop Doog was freeze-dried, shrunk-wrapped and given a grill.  That absurdity aside, this album is full of great beats, and is overflowing with powerful collaborations in songwriting, performance and production.  Among the superstars who are in the mix here are Jay-Z, Kanye West, T-Pain, Babyface, Busta Rhymes, and even Robin Thicke, and the overall allure of this record lines up with this collection.

     Without any real familiarity, it turns out that the songs I gravitated to the most were the big hits from this album.  My top pick is “Mr. Carter”, which is a play on the shared last name of Lil Wayne and Jay-Z, and I absolutely love the hook of this song.  My next favorite is probably “Lollipop”, which was a huge hit and obviously a club showcase that lives on to this day.  It also sounds the most like what I associate with Lil Wayne, heavy on autotune as a vocal production technique.  “A Milli” has this hypnotic and recurring backing track but it really works, and I enjoyed this song, like many others, from the first time around.  “Mrs. Officer” is a subdued and really funky groove, featuring Bobby V. and Kidd Kidd.  It is as much R&B as it is hip-hop, but it is a great tune.  As pointed out by my son, the Kanye influence is strong on the song “Let The Beat Build”, and it is another highly infectious hook.

     The last song, “DontGetIt” prominently features a sample of Nina Simone and her 1964 song “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood”.  It is an interesting objection to excessive black imprisonment, primarily for drug transactions, and it also takes several shots at Reverend Al Sharpton.  I raised the potential conflict of interest in a musical culture that frequently glorifies crime and violence, but considering that isn’t really Lil Wayne’s message, I will leave that debate and discussion for another time.  It is dramatic and powerful ending to a diversified and distinctive album that I find fully worthy of its success and critical appraisal.

     Since the death of John Bonham in 1980 and the dissolution of Led Zeppelin, all of us Zeppelin fans have wondered and waited what comes next from Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, and John Paul Jones.  After the Page-Plant experiment of the mid 1990s came to a close, Plant retreated to his low-key and low-fi existence, essentially shunning his bombastic past as the front man for the dominant rock band of the 1970s.  He has always looked forward with an eye for something different and unique, and he certainly checks that box with his 2007 collaboration with bluegrass singer Alison Krauss, “Raising Sand”.  It is really a three-part collaboration, as producer and guitarist T-Bone Burnett played a lead role in the song selection and creative influence for this record.  It was highly acclaimed by critics and won a Grammy for Record of the Year, and while I’m sure it served as a source of frustration for Zep diehards who continued to clamor for a reunion, it was seemingly embraced and enjoyed by most of us as well… me included.

     Most of the songs are older covers, dipping into the world of country, rockabilly, blues, and other roads less traveled.  The vocal interplay between Plant and Krauss is compelling, with some songs a straight duet, and others serving with one on lead and the other complimenting with harmony backing vocals.  My personal favorite has always been the soft and effusively warm song, “Killing the Blues”.  Slow and classic in its tempo, the vocals are stunningly beautiful, and it’s hard to even believe this is the same voice who belted out “Black Dog” or “Immigrant Song”.

     Other favorites to check out include the sultry “Rich Woman”, and “Gone Gone Gone (Done Moved On)”, which was the lead single and a sassy up-tempo pairing, written by the Everly Brothers.  “Please Read the Letter”, which was originally performed by Plant with Jimmy Page a decade before on the “Walking into Clarksdale” album is another great duet, and “Let Loss Be Your Lesson” is a countrified tune with Krauss on lead that evolves into an old school jam.  “Your Long Journey”, the last song on the record, is pure bluegrass, and another wonderfully subtle pairing of their voices.

     As a Zeppelin fan, if you center yourself on “Whole Lotta Love” and “Communication Breakdown” as the core of your playlist, this may not be your record.  However, if you are as equally attracted to “Going to California” or “That’s The Way”, and most certainly “The Battle of Evermore”, then this record should warm your heart and soul as it did mine.  Robert Plant’s fierce independence from his “Golden God” legacy is a source of frustration for many of us, but it also serves as a noble and genuinely inspirational slice of artistic integrity and pride.  I look forward to catching this duo later this summer with Jim and the Mikes at Red Rocks… you may want to mark your calendar as well.

     I have referenced the title track from today’s album by Amy Winehouse, “Back to Black”, on several occasions.  I have stated that I think this song is one of the greatest captures of the emotion of devastating sadness that I have ever heard, driven by the choice of her boyfriend/ex-boyfriend/future husband to go back to a former relationship.  It is the centerpiece of this album, but far from the only great song on this beautifully crafted record.  Rated #33 on Rolling Stone’s Top 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, I would be inclined to move it higher.  The collaboration of Amy Winehouse’s one-of-a-kind voice and her songwriting gift with the production expertise of Mark Ronson delivers a short, but very bittersweet musical gift.

     In 2006, I was fairly disconnected from the current music of the time, and Amy Winehouse was primarily known by me for her continuous troubles and public crisis played out in the tabloids and paparazzi.  She clearly had all of the signs of a tragic story waiting for her sad ending, which unfortunately occurred in 2011 with her death from alcohol poisoning.  It wasn’t until many years later when I watched the Academy Award winning documentary on her life that was filled with a lot of  personal footage from her life, when I finally discovered her beauty and grace.  I learned that while ultimately, she was accountable for her own choices like we all are, her brutal struggle with substance abuse was fueled by the constant betrayal of her boyfriend/husband and the indifference and exploitation by her own father as he kept driving her to record and perform, placing the family income ahead of her own health and well-being.   Both situations are well documented on this record, and it is very clear Amy brought all of her heart and soul, no matter how much they hurt, into her songwriting.

     Although her life was cut way too short, at the age of 27 like so many other performers in this blog, the impact she had in her career and in particular, this album is profound.  The music on this record is a delicious throwback to the pop-soul era of the 1960s, as well as the decades of beautiful R&B singers who preceded her in greatness.  The sultry, warm vibe, enhanced by horns, strings, and whatever other production magic Ronson chose to add, makes this album an all-time classic.

     The record opens with the painfully biographical track “Rehab”.  Where is that line between a fun lifestyle you control and a spiraling lifestyle that controls you?  I know many of us are still looking for some of those answers in our own lives.  By any fair measurement, it is safe to say Amy had probably gone well past that line, but as the song says, “I ain’t got the time, and my Daddy thinks I’m fine.  They tried to make me go to rehab, and I said, No, No, No.”  It’s a remarkably catchy melody and I have to assume most listeners at the time celebrated this song for their own defiance as they partied on. 

     Next comes “You Know I’m No Good”, another smoky self-portrayal that is impactful in music and in word.  “Me & Mr. Jones” is a sassier track that further diversifies the sound of this album.  There really isn’t a weak song on this album; it is remarkable all the way through.  Another landmark song from this record is “Tears Dry On Their Own”, which is perfectly retro and every day relevant at the same time.  I appreciate all artists who write their own material, and few have done it as well as Amy did.

     For all that I love about this record, I will always be most moved by the title song.  The chilling piano opening gives way to her state-of-shock numbness, and she lays out in the most graphic and blunt manner possible, the wallop of devastation she is wrestling with in this song.  She has entered that place where you are beyond mad, beyond tears, brought to the point of complete void of outward feeling or expression at the outcome of this broken relationship.  In some manner I’m sure most of us have felt this kind of complete loss of feeling and heartbreak at some point in our lives, when we are left with nothing but the void of the “Black” vacuum in our heart.  It doesn’t have to last forever, and with time and more positive subsequent discoveries, there is a way out, but it sure can flatten you in the moment.

     When I combine the emotion of this song with the tragic and unnecessary way her life ended when she was let down by the very people she needed the most, it is hard not to experience some emotions every time I hear this song.  It wasn’t supposed to end this way for Amy Winehouse, just like any life that short is never supposed to turn out that way, but thankfully she left us this enduring gift of music we can all turn to in our happiest and saddest times.

“We only said goodbye with words, I died a hundred times, You go back to her, and I go back to…   black.”

    With all of the continuing expansion of musical sounds and styles, I was surprised, but not shocked, to learn that the #1 selling album of 2006 was the soundtrack album to the Disney Original Movie, “High School Musical”.  As a parent, I was caught between the early years of Disney musicals and the future life I wasn’t yet anticipating full of high school theater, so when this craze hit, I was not familiar or up to speed in any way.  Ultimately, I never would have expected what a huge impact high school theater would have on the life of my own son and mine as well, nor would I have predicted that sixteen years later I would see a nervous young lady make her large-scale acting debut in her own version of “High School Musical”.

     The soundtrack itself is fairly innocuous, as performed by Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens and others.  Efron would subsequently also star in the 2007 version of “Hairspray”, which is one of my overall favorite modern musicals for many reasons.  Even if the songs on this album don’t really do much for me, I’m very sentimental about this album and the varying emotions it triggered.  My only real experience with any song on this soundtrack prior to seeing this show and listening to this album this year was watching Phil Dunphy embarrass himself and his family with his hipster-dad attempt to pull off  “We’re All in This Together” on the television show “Modern Family”.

     As I noted, I have seen dozens of high school musicals in my life, primarily during the years of 2010 to 2014.  Some of them were amazing, some of them were OK, and some of them were train-wrecks.  None of that really matters, as what was important was that each was a showcase for young actors and actresses and their crew to learn the world of theater, take on the challenge of a new role, and experience the joy and celebration of weeks and months of hard work and preparation.  For my family, high school theater was a safe and happy space for those who may have previously struggled to find their place in life, and many of my favorite memories in life are watching my son and his friends perform in school and community theater musicals for almost five years.

     “High School Musical” is in fact, a musical about a musical, and it is a solid reflection of the drama, tension, and camaraderie that ultimately results in staging such a show.  I even reflect on my own theatrical career in high school, where I went from being the lead role in “You Can’t Take It With You” to being mercifully cast in the ensemble in “Oklahoma”, based on my disastrous singing and dancing skills.  I learned a lot about myself from both experiences, perhaps most importantly that any show, team, company or collaboration in life is much bigger than any one person, and that to be successful, we all have to prioritize the greater good of the larger group above our own needs and wants.

     It was very heartwarming and positive for me to return to this atmosphere this year, to watch another important person in my life take the leap into this show, and as such, it was my first “High School Musical” in many years, as well as my first time actually seeing this particular show being performed.  Through another set of eyes, I was able to witness the bonding influence the show has on all of those around it, and I was particularly happy to see the mom of this performer beaming with pride and love as she watched her daughter take the stage.

     I think Troy Bolton, Gabriella Montez, Sharpay Evans and even Phil Dunphy were all right.  We ARE all in this together, and the more we take the time to celebrate our youth and the beauty of the arts, the better off we all will be.

     I was reminded today how far out of touch I was with “Top 40” pop music by the year 2005.  The #1 selling album of 2005 was “The Emancipation of Mimi”, considered to be a comeback album by hit machine Mariah Carey.  There are several singles that charted high, and obviously this record was a huge hit, and I did not recognize a single song I heard.  Like most Mariah Carey, this record isn’t really my cup of tea.  Overwrought riffing and the vocal gymnastics we have come to expect from Mariah aren’t quite as omnipresent on this record, and her intent was to produce a more stripped down sound, but for the most part, I probably won’t spend too much time coming back to this one in the future.

     Of the five singles on the record, “We Belong Together” is probably the easiest listen for me.  It is a pretty good groove, and it is growing on me a bit as I play it again.  Like most of the album, this song is co-produced by Carey and Jermaine Dupri.  The record starts with the biggest hit single, which I’m sure most people will recognize more than I do, “It’s Like That”, featuring Dupri and Fatman Scoop.  I’m sure this was all over the clubs, unlike me.  The third single, “Shake It Off”, is a good example of Carey trying to move her sound closer to the hip-hop vibe that permeates this album.  Even Snoop makes an appearance on this album, on “Say Somethin’”, but either intentionally or unintentionally, his contribution is extremely subdued and lingers under the surface, and the song doesn’t have much of a hook.

     Of the non-singles on the album, I would point to “Circles” and “To The Floor” as my favorites, and even though I’m not a huge fan of the record, I greatly respect Carey continuing to take ownership and control over her musical direction, and she obviously hit a home run with this album.  Her career has gone through many ups and downs over the years, but this major success will always be a well-deserved highlight.