I remember how this performance became a big moment on the internet in 2017:

 

 

and I was always curious on when and why her vocals started declining. was it solely due to whistles?

 

I mean Celine Dion still sounds great today. I wish Mariah kept her vocals intact too. 

Even in her prime she sounded a bit rough sometimes, she never had that strong vocal peak that Celine and Whitney had

A lamb made a whole documetary about it. Hope it helps 

 

Girl even celine rn is having struggles with vocals, albeit more because of health issues

 

Mariah has had nodules since she was little + having vocally demanding songs + being overworked will cause long term wear and tear overtime

 

Obv Mariah can still sing, but not as easily as her prime (and shes like 50+ years old, not everyone will have maintained their vocals forever)

Edited February 24, 20251 yr by Lightbringer007

Because the voice is a muscle that doesn't last forever. Mariah style of singing is damaging. Celine declined too.

1 hour ago, MP3 said:

Even in her prime she sounded a bit rough sometimes, she never had that strong vocal peak that Celine and Whitney had

this delusion. She sang far more complex songs live and all three voices deteriorated heavily. Mariah gave unparalleled live vocals in her prime years, and Celine lips everything these days as well, which is what video in op was about. All singers have off days in their prime years as well, just as those two did. Whitney struggled throughout Bodyguard Tour and Mariah was sick during the Music Box Tour.

 

This is obviously a troll thread in response to a Gaga/Madonna chart thread, but the actual answer is she had nodules since childhood and the chords are like muscles that age over time. This aging in Mariah's case was exacerbated by overuse and by lifestyle such as stress, lack of sleep, drinking. Same as Whitney's even worse deterioration due to drugs, lack of sleep, overuse. All voices age in the same way that athletes lose muscle ability over time, but these factors can exacerbate it. 

Edited February 25, 20251 yr by suburbannature

In summary of the documetary, even in her prime, she had rough days, so it's hard to know when it really started. It's been a constant decline since her very first days. Nodules have taken a toll into her voice, and yet she refuses to remove them and prefers to lip sync instead, which increases her insecurities and puts her on the risk of failing even more, it's kind of a vicious circle

We know who took her vocals

 

Mainly her vocal nodules and age. She's talked about her nodules and how there are good and bad days.

Bad vocal technique. Simple.

Just now, A-V-XYZ said:

Bad vocal technique. Simple.

 

She still sounds as good as she did in 1990. 

It's worth remembering that she didn't perform live much that much throughout the whole of the 90's, so her voice would have been generally more rested. She used her voice a lot more in the years since

7 minutes ago, suburbannature said:

this delusion. She sang far more complex songs live and all three voices deteriorated heavily. Mariah gave unparalleled live vocals in her prime years, and Celine lips everything these days as well, which is what video in op was about. All singers have off days in their prime years as well, just as those two did. Whitney struggled throughout Bodyguard Tour and Mariah was suck during the Music Box Tour.

 

This is obviously a troll thread in response to a Gaga/Madonna chart thread, but the actual answer is she had nodules since childhood and the chords are like muscles that age over time. This aging in Mariah's case was exacerbated by overuse and by lifestyle such as stress, lack of sleep, drinking. Same as Whitney's even worse deterioration due to drugs, lack of sleep, overuse. All voices age in the same way that athletes lose muscle ability over time, but these factors can exacerbate it. 

like it or not but Mariah lips 95% and more of her shows nowadays while Celine was still able to sing live some of her prime hits just before her break, Celine was also able to sing complex vocal trick, equal if not superior than Mariah and claiming otherwise is just a lack of knowledge of Celine's vocal prowess

4 minutes ago, MP3 said:

like it or not but Mariah lips 95% and more of her shows nowadays while Celine was still able to sing live some of her prime hits just before her break, Celine was also able to sing complex vocal trick, equal if not superior than Mariah and claiming otherwise is just a lack of knowledge of Celine's vocal prowess

Mariah started doing that two years ago and Celine has been lipping nearly everything since the start of the decade. They both experienced rapid vocal decline for a myriad of reasons and in a way that's consistent with normal wear and tear but exacerbated by other factors. It's pointless to compare one decline to the other or one's lipping amount to the other's because the differences are negligible. 

 

Mariah is well documented for having melismatic ability and agility that was far superior to Celine's. Mariah had better transitions between registers, versatility of tone that allowed her to transition in seconds, and musicality. Not even Dion fans argue that because Mariah's Queen of Melisma status and influence on popular music is universally accepted. 

 

Edited February 24, 20251 yr by suburbannature

23 minutes ago, MP3 said:

Even in her prime she sounded a bit rough sometimes, she never had that strong vocal peak that Celine and Whitney had

The lies. She had her rough days in her prime, and yet in those days, she was still outstanding

Bad technique and careless decisions. But it's ok, I too would push the limits if I knew the rest of my career would depend on just one song from my prime that resurges one month every year. She must be living a comfortable life now, just a few embarrassing performances here and there won't do much damage.

She sounded good until E=MC2 era for me but like everyone said it's kind of expected like athletes past their prime - doesn't mean they can't ball 

4 minutes ago, Loca said:

Bad technique and careless decisions. But it's ok, I too would push the limits if I knew the rest of my career would depend on just one song from my prime that resurges one month every year. She must be living a comfortable life now, just a few embarrassing performances here and there won't do much damage.

Yet she outstreams Celine, Whitney, Madonna, and Janet in recurrent streams without AIWFCIY. Why?

 

And no, Mariah's technique was always top tier. I can go into detail or recommend videos that discuss her technical prowess in detail, but I think we both know you only mean to troll. 

 

 

- 1990-1996 Was her prime with 1994 being her peak (mainly her vocals on the Merry Christmas album).

- 1997-2000 Rasp was controlling her voice, but her agility was maintained.

- 2001-2005 Rasp was lessened, but she still struggled with some high notes.

 

This was the end of her prime and after that she became inconsistent, highlights include:

 

1- American Idol recording sessions 2013 - She did 3 takes that you can find on YouTube and even sang Underneath The Stars, sounding like she did from 1996.

 

2- The Sweet Sweet Fantasy Tour 2016 - Her confidence made her attempt notes she rarely did and her vocals were sublime in most shows.

 

2017 was the last of her ''second prime'' because in 2018 her voice lost the ability to belt high notes even when she had her confidence or recording in the studio ( Caution having barely any belts and even her admitting she needed more time with the album because of her vocals)

 

2019 onwards is just sad, even the spark in her eyes seems gone when performing and she just seems heavily medicated ( not trying to be funny, just commenting on her state while performing). The worst part is that everything is lipsynced now, everything. 

 

I enjoyed my time as lamb, but I can't support an artist who gave up on themselves.

She's had ups and downs historically but sounded fine most of the time—

 

but it's been consistently rough since post-pandemic (around 2021-ish)

It's sad to say bad vocal technique but that's exactly what it is. It's a shame bc at her peak, I truly believe Mariah was the best pop vocalist ever. But she constantly wrote and recorded songs at the top of her range which would mess up anyone's voice over time if they're not using it correctly.

 

I want her to release an album using mostly or exclusively her lower register. I think it would absolutely EAT!!!

Edited February 24, 20251 yr by king_queen

One thing I'll say is that it's odd she didn't do that many live shows in her prime yet the rest didn't help unfortunately. Can't beat aging 

not brilliant technique, drinking, genetics, 

She didn't address this in the memoir but she did say something along the lines of that she pushed her voice to the extreme in her early days which I thought was interesting. I would say her voice was always delicate because of her nodules. Also interesting is that she did a few rare international interviews in 1996 where she expresses concern she's going to ruin her voice because of no sleep and constant interviews. 

 

If I'm going to do a deep dive as a lamb I would say her voice started thinning as early as Daydream era. It's been speculated that she started to use more of her breathy vocals to make up for her declining belting range. She sounded great during Daydream but her voice didn't sound as full and rich from that time on. She always had rasp in her live performances but from 1997 and on it became more dominant. All those live whistles can't be good for her voice. Ironically that's one of the only things she still attempts live these days because her nodules actually make it easier to whistle but restricts her belting range according to her own words. I would definitely say her voice is shot since 2022. She sang more than half her concerts live before this and mostly ignored some belting with sustained notes. But now it's mostly lipsync. I would also say besides age and nodules, it's been speculated she doesn't do a lot of vocal warmups before her concerts. Also she started lipsyncing as early as 1994 when she allegedly lipped some Without You performances abroad. I would say she started having difficulty as early as those days. 

Edited February 24, 20251 yr by SharGaga