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Grrl of The Year:
Don’t call it a comeback!
THE LOWDOWN
The process of choosing the Man of the Year or the Grrl of the Year is a long and tedious one. I have to think about who is deserving of the honour and praise for their contribution over the past twelve months, whose work was better than everyone else’s, and who impressed me the most. Since Christine chose a Man of the Year, I decided to bestow some props on a female.
I had originally planned to award my grrl Alicia Keys with the title, due to her humanitarian efforts and the fact that she is an amazing talent, BUT when I thought of a person who did a complete 180° on her tarnished image, I realized that the award would have to go to none other than Mimi, a.k.a. Mariah Carey.
Ms. Carey was almost counted out of the R&B game a few years ago. The soundtrack for her semi-autobiographical movie Glitter (2001) and her CD Charmbracelet (2002) were both flops. And her ho-like behaviour confused a lot of people (remember the video for “Loverboy”? What was the girl thinking?). I’m sure I’m not the only one that envisioned that she would be the latest D-list celeb to be cast on “The Surreal Life. “ Okay, it didn’t happen, but she came quite close, no?
Nonetheless, Mimi took some much needed time off, got her act together and created the hot album, The Emancipation of Mimi. She hit us off with dance friendly club-bangers like “It’s Like That” and “Shake It Off.” She also warmed our hearts with “We Belong Together,” and “Don’t Forget About Us,” all of which gave her the opportunity to get reacquainted with her loyal fan base, and allowed her to introduce herself to a younger audience. Good move, grrl!
With each release, Mariah was showered with more and more accolades. At the 2005 Radio Music Awards, she was given the auspicious Radio Legend Award.
Luckily for Mariah, she really didn’t have that much competition this year. There weren’t any strong R&B contenders to battle against. Ciara? I don’t think so! This allowed Mariah to regain her spot as the reigning R&B diva.
She completely deserves to be the Grrl of the Year for coming out with an impressive CD and for successfully rejuvenating her career. Instead of being defeated and giving up, she got back to what she does best and showed us all that she ain’t ready to leave the game. She cleaned up her image – to a point. Did you check out the barely there top that she was wearing at the Radio Music Awards? Must she be like Janet Jackson and show off her girls every time she is in front of a camera? Daaamn!
But besides that, she has shown us that she is very human. She may have made some really big mistakes (hello, Glitter!), but she was smart enough to leave for a while, work on her craft and deliver a flawless album. And that’s what makes her my Grrl of the Year. ¤ Michelle