Mimi & Andy – and the emphasis

Mariah Carey’s new album, Here for It All, drops on Friday. It’s her first in seven years with original music. And while MC is the most excited about the release, your girl is pretty pumped too. Because from what Mimi has been sharing, these are cozy fall bops, the kind of songs that only she can write, perform, and produce. Just hours ago she teased another example… with her boyfriend, Anderson .Paak. We’re just going to call him Andy because I really can’t with the space in the styling of his name before the period. 

Anyway, Mimi and Andy collaborated on a track called “Play This Song” and the R&B is STRONGGGGG. Listen to this and you’ll want more of it. 

Nothing sounds like this on mainstream radio anymore. Or mainstream social media. But this was pop music, popular music, in the 90s and 2000s, the sound that was everywhere, with Mimi one of the leaders of that parade. She does it best, and she’s gifting it to us like three months before Christmas because she’s a generous angel queen. I can’t f-cking wait to hear all of it. 

But I’m about to risk the wrath of the lambily because I have a minor quibble about the album: it’s the name, Here for It All, and specifically the emphasis. Because I’m a broadcaster on a television show, so I have to say the name of this album, Here for It All, out loud a lot in a sentence. And with a phrase like “here for it all” there are several different points of emphasis. Where you put the emphasis has an impact on other parts of the sentence. 

Say it in your head right now, or out loud if you’re alone. I’m willing to bet that you and I would have said it different, and that we would have emphasised different words. Now compare it to how she says it: 

@mariahcarey

HERE FOR IT ALL! Out 9/26! Can’t wait for you to hear it!! Countdown to #MC16

♬ original sound - Mariah Carey

Did you say it the same? Or did you emphasise “all” at the end, UNLIKE what she does? 

Now, try to say it the way she does but in a sentence like, “Mariah Carey’s new album, Here for It All, features a song with Anderson .Paak”. It doesn’t roll off the tongue, because you have to put a little more effort into punching up “features” to account for the drop in intonation on the “all” at the end of “here for it all”. 

But Mimi doesn’t always say Here for It All the way she said it in that clip. I’ve seen her say it at least three different ways in interviews lately. This is triggering my OCD because I like consistency in language but also, I get that a lot of people probably don’t give a sh-t. If, however, you are with me in the minority about this, please know that I’m here with you. I am here for her new music and will bump the sh-t out of it but I am not here for all the different ways to say this title. 

Attached – Mimi continuing her press tour yesterday in New York. Our butterfly must be SO tired.