I can let my hair down…
[Video]
[6.08]
Alfred Soto: Pianos and polysyllabics — after 28 years in the biz, Mariah Carey reduces her craft to its essence, with affectionate nods to Usher’s Confessions and Bone Thugs-n-Harmony. The dialogic structure softens her startling rasp. Like most of Caution, “With You” catches me off guard.
[8]
Pedro João Santos: Weeks come and go, and I keep spinning Caution. It’s brief and straightforward, but there’s a panoply of layers to be peeled off, from the musical intricacies and wordplay to its crux: Mariah’s voice. It’s in its deepest, most modulative configurations to date, and never attempts to overdo things (see also: The Emancipation of Mimi) or be ornamental (see also: Charmbracelet), and seldom does it soar beyond what appears to be humanly possible. The importance of Mariah’s voice is most apparent when most of the production layers are removed, as on “With You”. Amid an album of dense, exploratory grooves and sensuous ambiance, this is a consciously bare-bones track, piano and finger snaps giving a domestic fireplace vibe. Mariah’s love-laden words, especially in the pre-chorus, are warm and made disarming by her airy head voice, which is then combined with a modest array of emoting Mariahs. The track slides smoothly, seemingly unwilling to transgress or bop too hard. But given proper time, it reveals itself as classic Mariah — only with less schmaltz, the extra resonance allowed for by restraint, and a sense of honest intimacy.
[8]
Thomas Inskeep: One of the most stripped-down ballads Mariah’s done in years: Some simple piano chords, a click track, and that glorious voice all serve to spotlight a lovely little love lyric. I never would’ve thought this a DJ Mustard production, either, but he pulls this off nicely. This is grown-ass Mariah music, and I’m here for it.
[7]
Edward Okulicz: A sweet and pretty good summary of what Mariah did supremely well in her second imperial phase, and lovingly sung and produced, but the song’s too low-stakes. I’m bewildered by it as a single, really.
[6]
Will Adams: Caution boasts a streamlined roster of lush, atmospheric R&B that’s well suited to Mariah’s late-career blend of unbothered diva and steely performer. Its biggest hit is a plain ballad with the requisite piano and ten-cent words. I don’t understand how things work sometimes.
[5]
Andy Hutchins: At the risk of heresy: To me, Mariah’s balladry has always been her least interesting work. Its quality varies wildly depending on the melodies and the lyrics involved no matter how well Mimi is singing, and I’d rather hear her hit those highs in service of the joy of “Emotion” unless the song itself is as letter-perfect as “We Belong Together.” “With You” is not a particularly memorable lyric, outside of the reminder that a similarly slow Mariah song was helpfully leavened by the Thuggish Ruggish Bone and the hint of a better, more colorful song in the “damn, I fucks with you” admission. The singing sounds strongly like it’s been heavily Auto-Tuned in the descending bits of the first verse. And Mariah making this staid stuff, at the precise moment Ariana Grande is finally getting around to some of the most fun (read: take-no-shit) elements of the career she’s been doing an inferior impression of for a decade, is depressing. Break up with DJ Mustard — I’m bored.
[4]
Katherine St Asaph: I know “Boo’d Up” exists, but that doesn’t make it any less holy-hell bizarre to hear “Mustard on the beat” slamming into a “Hero”-esque Mariah Carey piano ballad. If anyone’s going to make a “Hero”-esque piano ballad, it might as well be Mariah; the arrangement is absent but her vocal mannerisms are very much present, well-preserved and welcome, from the feathery-and-low octave harmonies to the ad-libs and coos. But the fact remains: “Boo’d Up” exists, and it has instrumentation.
[5]
Tobi Tella: The intro of signature Mariah cooing followed by the DJ Mustard tag is a perfect encapsulation of this song: classic with a modern twist, updating with the times but never losing her signature sound. There’s no way most artists 30 years into their career could release something this fresh — thank god for Mimi!
[8]
Jonathan Bradley: Mustard provides Mariah with — for him, not her — uncharacteristically trad production that suits well the nostalgia of her lyric. Nods to Bone Thugs and Usher cast “With You” as a gentler version of “We Belong Together”‘s sketch of a relationship drawn between the twin poles of Bobby Womack and The Deele; here the denouement is cozier, and Carey’s tones warm accordingly, reaching for the high lonesome wistfulness of “H.A.T.E.U.” and the bedroom glow of “#Beautiful.” That small scale doesn’t play as restraint though; she sings neat little phrases like “there in front of the whole damn nation” and “damn, I fucks with you” knowing that they should appear in boldface. I was surprised to hear her create anything this emotionally and technically poised this far into her career, but perhaps Carey knows how unexpected it is to hear her in such form. The signature trill she throws in during the closing moments seems like it had been summoned as a warning not to write her off.
[8]
Stephen Eisermann: Only Mariah is capable of making a song like this that is so specifically hers and nostalgic, without feeling tired or overly familiar. Like a modern “We Belong Together,” Mariah gives us her best, most romantic vocal over a lovely, slow R&B beat. It’s perfect for the upcoming Valentine’s Day.
[7]
Iris Xie: Mariah Carey, I want to believe that you understand love and can express its incredible decadence and all its intimacies, but I really don’t feel it. The ornamentation that is her whistle notes is paired with a hollowness at the core, and the spare piano provides a blank backdrop for…what? I just don’t know. This isn’t like any love I knew, unless she is singing mimicries.
[3]
David Moore: Probably just the title evoking soars and swoops of her past, but this one feels like it’s stuck on the tarmac.
[5]
Joshua Minsoo Kim: Rhyming “trepidation” with “whole damn nation,” the awkward “damn I fucks with you,” a cheap reference to the infinitely superior “Breakdown” — “With You” is mostly fluff, tricking you into thinking it’s meaningful via familiar vocal tricks. But even recognizing this, I’m still moved by the beginning of the chorus. There’s a sudden intimacy in the image of “shots of Remy” and “bodies blending”; Mariah’s lower vocal register makes this the serious, down-to-earth confessional that it wants to be, but only for the briefest of moments. I suppose sustained love is similar: a whole lot of coasting together — surviving together — punctuated by moments of the casually sublime.
[5]