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Mariah Carey - Giving Me Life (feat. Slick Rick & Blood Orange) 2018

The song begins with an unexpected audio sample from the 1983 film ‘Trading Places’.  By injecting this clip of nostalgia from her youth, Carey manages to create a retrospective and reflective atmosphere to the song thinking back to days gone by.

An organ-like synth plays the main, repeated riff which creates an eerie or haunted vibe.  The reverb adds to the organ sound creating a sense of space in the music, similar to that of a cathedral with a naturally reverberant acoustic.  This also adds to a sense of grandeur and space.

“if you’re so inclined let’s take a ride tonight” - the sonics of the production and the melody line itself create a notion of darkness by employing reverb, dissonance and minor chords - however the textures of the synths and warmth of the instrumentation create a warm sense of glowing light. 

The drum beat creates a groove suitable for driving and the sonic nature of the piece lends it to driving at night.

You can hear the sound of the city in this track - with Mariah and Slick Rick bothe being New Yorkers and Dev Hynes being from London, the track has a definite urban feel.

“thinkin’ bout when we were seventeen” - a teenaged Mariah pictured in her 1987 school yearbook.  A picture capturing her before the superstardom and perhaps the Mariah she is trying to reconnect with on the song.  

“lil splash of wine and forget about it” - The intensity of the song is created by the warm, lush production as well as Mariah’s decorative vocal performance juxtaposed by intimate and reflective lyrics.  

Here, the limousine is reflective of the high sheen, polished production and performances by Devonte Hynes of Blood Orange and Mariah Carey, however the cityscape surrounding it reflects a ruggedness encaptured by the Hip-Hop inspired drums and rap verse from Slick Rick.

“feeling myself like I’m Norma Jeane” - this lyrically brings to life the juxtaposition between high end glamour and rugged real life by using the transformation that Norma Jeane underwent to become Marilyn Monroe

The records in this image symbolise a variety of musical inspirations that have been drawn on to create this song as quite an experimental song for Carey.  By using the fresh, contemporary production skills possessed by Dev Hynes (synths, guitars, drum patterns etc) as well as the classic rap style of experienced rap heavyweight Slick Rick, an interesting direction has been taken for Mariah and her music.

Despite the track being heavily produced and sonically busy, there is a sense of solitude which is pedalled by the introspective lyrics as well as the increasingly sparse instrumentation, especially leading in to the instrumental ending beginning at 4:35 of the track.

Despite the contemporary instrumentation, there is a sense of old Hollywood glamour, partly due to the Marilyn Monroe reference and partly due to the stylish vocal performance.

“living like Babs cos it’s evergreen” - a reference to Barbra Streisand’s performance of ‘Evergreen’ from her starring role in the 1976 version of ‘A Star is Born’.  In both songs, they are both talking about their love as something which should be forever lasting or ‘evergreen’.

The song’s lyrics are definitely introspective, and there is strong songwriting displayed.  The song is written by Mariah Carey, Devonte Hynes (Blood Orange) and Richard Walters (Slick Rick) and as the only featured artists, there is a definite synergy between them that is tangible in the song.

The above are images taken by Architectural Digest of Carey’s Manhattan apartment.  She is reminiscing about a relationship from her youth where she did not possess the fame or power that she has acquired since then, illustrating that beyond the grandeur is a longing for something that she can no longer access.

Richard Walters (Slick Rick)

Devonte Hynes (Blood Orange)

The personal lyrics and urban sound to the song is enraptured by this lone female skateboarding through the city at night.

Stills from the 1998 music video for ‘The Roof’ - the song reminded me sonically of Mariah’s song ‘The Roof’, a song from her back catalogue which explores similar sonic production.  This was another Hip Hop influenced track which was built around Mobb Deep’s ‘The Shook Ones Part II’.  

Another sample from ‘Trading Places’ is played during the outro of the song.

The warm tones of this city skyline compliment the sumptuous instrumentation and vocal performance.

A lone female in the city at night demonstrates the reflective nature of the lyrics as well as the urban feel.