Mariah Carey

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"Memoirs" is an album, not a collection of tracks, possessing its own flow and mood, which gives it a personality the slightly desperate "E=MC2" lacked.

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A compact, "Music Box"-sized album, it's unelaborate in presentation and makeup, a measured and understated collection of slow and midtempo R&B ballads.

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Undoubtedly opportunistic, but it updates and improves upon "#1's," a 1998 anthology filled out with four previously unreleased songs that, obviously, were not number ones.

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She's not about longevity, she's about being permanently transient, a characteristic "E=MC2" captures all too well.

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Shows that she's still capable of delivering 40 minutes of strong, supremely voiced R&B; when she's up for it.

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Apart from that pair of stiff originals, the whole thing is cheerful and engaging, a worthy sequel to its predecessor.

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This is a stunning return to form for Carey.

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She’s curbed her showboating instincts, reined in her signature melisma and for the first time treated songs as something other than dragons to be slain.

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Solid pop splendor.

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Carey's once glorious voice is all over the place, her rainbow-and-stars lyrics come off like the notebook doodles of a 12-year-old girl, and her song selection is shocking.