🎵 Now Playing: “Fly Like a Bird” – Mariah Carey

Another sold-out Beyond the Singles event is officially in the books, and this time, the night was for the women!

My friends Raigan and Amber brought us together once again for another full-album vinyl listening experience, this time featuring Mariah Carey’s The Emancipation of Mimi. Originally released in 2005, the album is now celebrating more than 20 years, and it marked a major moment in Mariah’s career. After a period of personal and professional struggles, The Emancipation of Mimi became the album that helped put Mariah Carey back on the map and reminded everyone exactly who she was. And Baltimore showed up for her!

Once again, the event was held at Corkscrew, a Black-owned restaurant in Baltimore, with the music curated by ONEs & TWOs, the local vinyl DJ duo I mentioned in my previous Beyond the Singles and VinylCon posts. Walking into the room and seeing familiar faces from the Baltimore vinyl community was such a good feeling. Some people were returning from the Jay-Z event, while others were experiencing Beyond the Singles for the first time. Either way, everyone came ready to listen. And listen we did!

The entire room was singing, vibing, laughing, and relating to the album. But just like our first Beyond the Singles event, the night wasn’t simply about putting a record on and letting it play. We had our Socratic seminar-style conversation, which gave everyone an opportunity to dig deeper into the music, Mariah’s life, and what the album represented when it was released. Naturally, we had to discuss one of the most iconic lyrics from the album: “These chickens is ash and I’m lotion.” If you know, you know! But beyond the funny lyrics and the songs we all love, we also talked about what the word emancipation actually meant for Mariah at that point in her life.

The album came after Mariah’s highly publicized split from her then-husband, Sony Music executive Tommy Mottola. Mariah has spoken publicly about the restrictive control she experienced during their marriage and over her image and career. With that context, the title The Emancipation of Mimi takes on a much deeper meaning. This wasn’t just a catchy album title. It represented Mariah reclaiming herself, her creativity, and her freedom. You can hear that theme throughout the album. Songs like “Shake It Off” and “Fly Like a Bird” explore different ideas of freedom, independence, and moving forward. Even the decision to call herself “Mimi” felt personal. Mariah was introducing audiences to another side of herself while also taking control of how she wanted to be seen.

We also talked about how significant it was for Mariah to incorporate hip-hop into this project. The album featured four rappers, which was a pretty major move for a singer of Mariah’s R&B and pop stature in 2005. Today, collaborations between singers and rappers are so common that we barely think twice about them, but at the time, Mariah’s willingness to embrace hip-hop as a major part of her sound was another example of her evolving creatively.

Hearing The Emancipation of Mimi on vinyl, in full, with a room full of people who knew the album just as well as I did, was completely different from casually listening to it through headphones or streaming a few of the popular songs. We weren’t skipping around to our favorites. We experienced the album as a complete body of work, the way it was intended to be consumed. That’s what I continue to love about Beyond the Singles. It creates space for people to slow down and actually listen. We live in a world where we can skip a song within seconds, shuffle an album, or listen to music while doing five other things. Sitting in a room and giving an entire album your undivided attention feels almost nostalgic now. And there is something even more special about doing that with other people. Throughout the evening, people connected over their favorite songs, lyrics, memories, and personal experiences with Mariah’s music. I loved watching the room come alive because everyone had their own relationship with this album, but for a few hours, we were all experiencing it together.

This is exactly why I love Baltimore’s vinyl community. There are people in this city who care deeply about music and want to experience it together and they’re creating spaces where people can connect through them. Raigan and Amber have created something that allows Baltimoreans to get dressed up, enjoy a good meal, meet people, have meaningful conversations, and listen to an entire album without the distractions of everyday life.

From Jay-Z to Mariah Carey, I’m loving the opportunity to see how different albums can bring completely different people and conversations into the same room. The music may change from month to month, but the community continues to grow. Baltimore’s vinyl community may be niche, but we’re out here! And we’re doing some BIG things.

Until next time,

Signed, A Baltimore Native