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Mariah Carey

 Taylor Swift often writes "letter-songs" -- the verses are a note to a former lover. These songs are somewhat icy and cinematic; both parties behave badly, until the "house of cards" comes tumbling down.


I think this technique is most impressive in "Getaway Car," in which Swift confesses to an ex that she has used him as a "vehicle" -- a means of escaping another relationship. "I wanted to leave him -- I needed a reason." The narrator is impatient with her interlocutor, who is just a bit disingenuous: "Don't pretend it's such a mystery. Think about the place where you first met me -- in a getaway car." It takes a certain boldness to pick up an installment from your own personal history and "re-fashion" the climactic scenes as an interlude from "Bonnie and Clyde."

By contrast, in her own greatest achievement, Mariah Carey is writing just about herself. There is an ex -- but he is hardly a character. MC really wants to dramatize an "inner" war. To do this, she divides herself. One half wants to trudge forward in denial. But her smarter half -- represented by the voices of Bobby Womack and Babyface -- understands that she has made a grave, grave error.

I can't sleep tonight, when you're on my mind--
Bobby Womack's on the radio--
Saying....If you think you're lonely now...
Wait a minute. This is too deep.
I gotta change the station....
And then I hear Babyface:
I only think of you....
And it's breaking my heart....

Curiously, Tony Kushner uses Mariah Carey's trick for "Caroline, or Change." Kushner has Caroline isolated -- over and over -- so her crucial dialogues involve a talking dryer and (yes) a radio.

Hats off to Mariah this weekend.
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