New Mariah Carey rated

Fans of pop music might remember the moment back in 1995 when Mariah Carey started pushing her love of hip-hop to the front of her previously purely pop sound. When she snuck Ol' Dirty Bastard onto the classic Bad Boy remix of 'Fantasy' under her record label's nose, she signaled the start of the love affair between the big-voiced diva and hip-hop artists.

By 1997's 'Butterfly' album, the transformation was complete, and Carey moved rap onto her albums (instead of keeping it to the remixes as her record label had previously insisted). Fans of Strait-Laced Mariah, who'd first appeared in 1990 and became the best-selling artist of the '90s by peppering her output with paint-by-numbers ballads like 'Hero' and 'Love Takes Time', were horrified when Bone-Thugs-N-Harmony crashed their princess' previously rap-free party (on one of Carey’s best songs ever, 1997's 'Breakdown').

Fans who've since fallen in love with Carey's blend of hip-hop, pop, R&B, gospel, disco and just about any other genre she cares to throw into her over-the-top mix, will likely be just as thrown by the singer's 12th studio album, 'Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel'. Like the leap of faith she took between 1995 and 1997 as she eased her listeners toward hip-hop music, she makes another leap on her first rap-free disc since 1995's 'Daydream'.

This time round, Carey fully embraces the R&B sound she's previously threaded into her mix of genres, crafting an album that might alienate her remaining pop fans even further, but should please those who adore Hip-Pop Mariah and R&B Mariah.

Aside from her gospel choir-backed cover of Foreigner's 'I Want To Know What Love Is', 'Memoirs' is pure Mariah. All the tracks are stamped with Carey's playful songwriting ("You’re a mom-and-pop, I'm a corporation, I'm the press conference, you're a conversation…" she sasses on 'Obsessed', aiming her skilled vocal jibes squarely at one-time beau Eminem). And she co-produced the entire album with the team of The-Dream and Tricky Stewart (who produced her number one hit 'Touch My Body' as well as Rihanna's 'Umbrella').

If you've never liked any version of Mariah from the past two decades, and don't enjoy R&B, this album won't win you over. But if you want to hear skilled, confident, playful (and always funny — Ms Carey has never been capable of taking herself too seriously) R&B, give 'Memoirs' a listen.

Carey (whose voice is still a jaw-dropping wonder 19 years into her career) sounds like she was born to sing R&B in her own, genre-bending way. As she approaches her third decade in the business, Carey seems to grow more confident with each album, and her confidence and humour make this album a treat.