Discovering Janet Jackson: When I started going through Janet's discography, I expected what usually happens when I dive into an artist I don't know well, stumbling across songs I'd heard a hundred times without knowing who made them. That hasn't happened once, and honestly? That's still kind of shocking to me.

But Rhythm Nation 1814 makes up for all of it. Even without that familiarity, you can hear exactly how much this record influenced what came after it. It has ... read more

Descobrindo Rita Lee #13: Me diverti muito ouvindo esse disco. A Rita Lee tem tantos sucessos que já faz um tempo que eu não entro em um álbum dela sem conhecer pelo menos algumas faixas, mas aqui eu não conhecia nada, e isso acabou tornando a experiência ainda melhor. Ouvi tudo sem expectativas e fui surpreendido a cada faixa.

A produção é super divertida e leve, com uma energia mais animada e dançante em relação aos ... read more

Discovering Janet Jackson: Now we're talking. Control is a completely different beast from Janet's first two records, the leap in production quality and overall sound is staggering, almost like a different artist entirely. And in many ways, it is.

That said, it's not a perfect listen for me. The singles start to blur together after a while, and I found Janet's voice somewhat swallowed up by the production rather than sitting on top of it. Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis clearly ... read more

Discovering Janet Jackson: More of the same, except worse. Dream Street follows the exact same blueprint as the debut, Janet seemingly had zero creative involvement once again, and it shows just as much, if not more. If the first album was generic, this one is the dictionary definition of it.

Discovering Janet Jackson: Debut albums are tricky, aren't they? Especially when the artist is so young and clearly had little to no creative input. She essentially showed up, sang what she was handed, and left. And honestly, it shows. There's a song or two here that probably earned some mild chart attention at the time, but the bulk of it is just... painfully generic. Nothing that hints at what she'd eventually become.

Does it sound like Sugababes? Not at all. Is it as bad as people say? Not even close. The album produced three Top 10 hits on the UK charts (come on!) and a good portion of the songs were written by Bruno Mars. Get Sexy and About a Girl really do a lot of the heavy lifting here. The real problem with this album is that the versions with Keisha’s vocals leaked, and that kind of ruined everything, you can hear the full potential these songs could have had. About a Girl with her vocals is a ... read more

Descobrindo Rita Lee #12: Há um tempo, minha mãe me contou sobre uma novela que passou antes de eu nascer e disse que eu iria amar se tivesse assistido. Acreditei, fui atrás e devorei cerca de 200 episódios em um mês. Ela estava certa: realmente é uma obra-prima. Foi em A Próxima Vítima que tive meu primeiro contato com esse álbum da Rita, que traz uma atmosfera mais sombria às canções, e isso só tornou ... read more

Aguilera really has a thing for long albums. She could’ve cut like six songs off this one and literally no one would’ve noticed.

Descobrindo Rita Lee #11: Foi um experiência formidável! A produção nas canções possuem claras diferenças dos discos anteriores, estão mais evoluídas e com aspectos mais complexos. As letras são interessantes e em alguns casos divertidas. Desde seu trabalho em 1979 que não tinha terminado a experiência de ouvir com nitidamente uma visão positiva.

Descobrindo Rita Lee #10: É preciso pensar que todo e qualquer artista tem aquele disco que é One Hit Wonder, onde uma canção trás toda harmonia e em muitos casos, a qualidade. Sinto que esse é o momento da Rita, pois a música Flagra, um claro sucesso, é o fio condutor de todo álbum. Não que as demais canções sejam ruins, mas são bem básicas.

Descobrindo Rita Lee #9: O complicado desse álbum é que ele vem junto com uma sequência de grandes produções, com hits icônicos da Rita, não entregando o mesmo nível, mas ele está longe de ser um disco ruim. Minha questão aqui é que achei a produção como um todo relativamente esquecível, terminei de escutar e lembro muito pouco daquilo que acabei de ouvir.

Descobrindo Rita Lee #8: Com exceção de Lança Perfume, que talvez seja a música mais conhecida da Rita, esse disco não é para todos. A produção e o estilo das canções são agradáveis, mas achei levemente tedioso com o decorrer das músicas. Talvez senti as letras mais simples, de uma forma geral, especialmente comparado ao último álbum. Talvez minha percepção e expectativa tenha ... read more

It’s an album quite different from Mariah’s traditional ones; I even found her voice noticeably less powerful (though clearly by choice) on the songs. The R&B vibe is interesting, but I thought it was slightly tedious and lacking versatility overall, especially since it’s her shortest record. Reaching the end, I finally understood all the hype and fame around Mariah!

It has its value, but it feels like an outlier in Mariah’s discography. Songs like Meteorite show that she tried to do something slightly different, but it’s in moments like #Beautiful that we really capture her essence here. Too bad those moments are so few and far between. Just a detail: the journey I was making up until the concert ended because the show took place on Saturday. But let’s go ahead and finish this up, right?

A Journey to Mariah’s Show

Obsessed and I Want to Know What Love Is carry the album, which is fun but quickly forgettable. It felt like an attempt to follow the same style as the previous record, but with relatively lower quality. Mariah’s vocals remain as impressive as ever, and I’ve also been enjoying how, in her recent albums, the whistle register, meant to be used wisely, has become less overused.

A Journey to Mariah’s Show

A solid record, and maybe the one through which I first got in touch with Mariah, when I was 11. Touch My Body is my absolute favorite song in her entire discography, without a doubt! On top of that, she keeps bringing versatility, with tracks that reflect her roots but also others that feel more in tune with the time it was released. A big win!

A Journey to Mariah’s Show

I had a lot of fun with this album, which I consider one of Mariah’s most versatile. There are a few filler tracks, but overall it’s packed with quality songs. It’s Like That is definitely in my top 3 of her songs.

A Journey to Mariah’s Show

Let’s consider this an outlier, shall we? It’s an album with no personality, filled with rather forgettable songs. It feels like a collection of demos that were never polished enough and all sound like filler tracks on an album that already has some powerful songs. You know that one song you add just to make it ten when the record only has nine? Well, every track on this album feels like that.

A Journey to Mariah’s Show

Yeah, I’d heard some spoilers that this is one of Mariah’s weaker albums quality-wise, but honestly, it wasn’t as bad as I expected. There are a few nice moments here and there, but overall I found it to be her most monotonous record.

A Journey to Mariah’s Show

A solid album, with some powerful songs and a few of her biggest hits in the mix. I felt more entertained here than with the previous one, but towards the end I still caught myself feeling a bit bored, since the tracks start to sound kind of similar. Still, it’s a worthwhile experience!