A little love for Mariah Carey

Okay, I'll be the first to say I quietly enjoyed the post-Jeter, post-"Glitter" Mariah meltdown to an extent. I mean, oof! She really was cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs for a while there.

But her career decisions hardly warranted Sony dropping her from the label, especially when she pumped out a gajillion No. 1 hits, even during the grunge/gangsta rap apex of the 90's, when pop would be shunned by the cool people until the Backstreet Boys broke through. (Come on... like you didn't at least nod your head hearing "Back-street's Back! All right!")

The aftermath of her label release was perplexing to me, admiring someone with extraordinary vocal talent. The woman had tons of mainstream success and one of those once-in-a-generation pop voices that made you go, "Who the heck is that?" the first time you heard her on the radio.

This is not to say she's completely had it together in recent years. I had trouble finding a PG-rated photo to accompany this blog post. Her MTV "Cribs" episode is the hilarious standard by which all subsequent episodes are measured. (Clothing changes? Come on, MC!) And I'll acknowledge that I would have lost money if, four years ago, Vegas posted odds on whether Mariah Carey or Whitney Houston would evoke more pity in 2005. Have you seen "Being Bobby Brown"?

But forgive me if I'm now happy for a talented singer with genuine longevity because her new album is doing exceptionally well on the charts. And this praise is coming from a guy who has exactly one of her songs on his iPod ("Vision of Love") and owns none of her albums.

You go, girl.