Who would have thought Mariah Carey will be back in Asia again. She rarely visits any Asian country (aside from Japan) and it's great that one of our neighbouring countries - Singapore, had the pleasure of having her perform for the recent Formula One Singapore Grand Prix 2010.
Set list for the LG Live at the Singtel Singapore Formula One Grand Prix 2010
01. Butterfly Intro
02. Obsessed
03. Emotions
04. Make It Happen
05. Dreamlover
06. It's Like That
07. One Sweet Day
08. I'll Be There
09. Touch My Body
-- Champagne Speech --
10. Shake It Off
11. My All
12. Always Be My Baby
13. We Belong Together
14. Hero
Carey, who is married to American comedian and TV host Nick Cannon, was in town to close the F1 concerts - which smartly lined up mainstream celebrities like Missy Elliott, Adam Lambert, Chris Daughtry and Sean Kingston to appeal to the mass crowd who turned up at F1.
Carey proved that the formula worked - a crowd of some 35,000 showed up after Sunday's races to catch her performance on the Padang stage.
She opened her 90-minute show with the catchy Obsessed (2009), which is reportedly about rapper Eminem (with whom she was rumoured to have had a little liaison, circa 2001).
Carey, all big hair and sass, then began to play the diva - hilariously so.
"My shoes are killing me," she said, before launching into a debate on whether she should take them off (her assistants eventually helped her with that task).
She asked whether the fan could be moved closer to her.
She asked if someone could bring her water.
"I'm tired, I'm sorry," she giggled.
She would later drink water out of a champagne glass, say that she was "shockingly" pouring water on her own, and collapse on a divan lounger brought out just for her.
It was all theatrics, all playing to the image she has built for herself - a sweet, slightly naive, sometimes-inane little gal who can really, really sing.
The crowd waited for her to catch her breath before she launched into Dreamlover (1993), recorded at a time when much was being made of Carey's five-octave vocal range. She still has it. Her voice peaked, swooped, and made you listen (despite sound problems that had the speakers crackling).
Carey's 11-song set was clever, covering the entire range of her career, from the early hit Emotions (1991), to the moving break-up song Always Be My Baby (1996), and the dancier, more current tracks like It's Like That and Shake It Off (2005).
Carey, who is rumoured to be pregnant (there was an awkward moment in the song Touch My Body, which contains the lyrics "Do you like my curves?" and, well, you could see there was a lot to love), also took a tumble while singing Make It Happen (1992).
She was helped up by her dancers, and her humour was on show again as she told the crowd, "I did that on purpose!" She also took very extended breaks during her show, making one wonder each time if she was coming onstage again.
In the end, as Carey launched into the ever-popular Hero (1993), you realise why people came out in force to see her.
Despite the theatrics, Carey is no joke. She is legend.
Although rumour has it that she's pregnant, I can't help but think that she is over-sized for a pregnant woman. I'm not hating, I just find it amusing. Who would have thought that the once-photoshopped photo of Mariah
Photo source: random web photos (2005)
will materialise some time 5 years after it came out.... Be the judge.... See for yourself!
Photos courtesy of Chuck Lumanlan (2010)
What can you say?
