Whatever Happened To RnB? Top 10 Mariah Carey Slow Jams

Remember when Sisqo was part of Dru Hill and Janet Jackson wore a nose ring? In this weekly feature, I take a look back at some of the best RnB artists of yesteryear, sharing their signature videos and underrated hits, as well as looking at what's happening in RnB today. Previous posts have focussed on latino singer Lumidee, new videos from Frank Ocean and Ciara. In celebration of Mariah Carey's comeback hit '#Beautiful', I wanted to share with you my top ten favourite slow jams from the diva herself.

Mariah Carey is most famous for singing sweeping ballads which show off the incredible range of her voice. 'Hero', 'Vision of Love', 'One Sweet Day'... all classic songs but in reality, Mariah is the queen of the slow jam. With her smooth sensual vocals, Mariah sounds incredible on mid-tempo numbers like new single 'Beautiful', but which of her slow jams is best? Listen to my top ten choices below and decide for yourselves.   

Five Reason Why I Love Jason Reitman.

The other day, I finally got around to watching Young Adult, which I've been dying to see since its release last year and I wasn't disappointed. The film showcased a brilliant performance from Charlize Theron, a well crafted script from Diablo Cody and of course, the wonderful direction of Jason Reitman, who has never failed to disappoint me with any of his films. Reitman's next project, Labour Day, stars Kate Winslet and is due out at the end of the year. I have high expectations; maybe this could be the film to finally win Reitman a very well deserved Oscar. We'll just have to wait and see if he can keep up his successful run, but for now, I'm taking a look at what I think makes him such a brilliant film maker and why I love him so bloody much.

The Five Best Superhero Sequels of All Time

Hollywood is full of pointless cash-in sequels that ruin everything that was great about a series in the first place, but I think that superhero sequels can be the exception to this. Often, it is the first film in a superhero franchise that turns out to be the weakest because so much of the plot has to be devoted to introducing the character and their origin story. Once that's all out of the way though, the sequels are then given free reign to take the character's development to the next level. That's why 'The Avengers' worked so well; each of the heroes had already been introduced to audiences in each of their previous solo films.

To celebrate the fact that 'Iron Man 3' is a thousand times better than either of its predecessors  let's take a look back at the five best superhero sequels of all time. Just remind me to update this post when 'The Avengers 2' comes out ok?

Whatever Happened To RnB? - Mariah Carey's #Beautiful ft Miguel - Official Video

Remember when Lauryn Hill was a promising new talent and New Jack Swing was all the rage in RnB? In this weekly feature, I take a look back at some of the best RnB artists of yesteryear, sharing their signature videos and underrated hits, as well as looking at what's happening in RnB today. Previous posts have focussed on latino singer Lumidee, new videos from Frank Ocean and Ciara, as well as Mariah Carey's comeback hit '#Beautiful'.

Good news Mariah fans. After only a few days of airplay, Mariah has released the official promo for '#Beautiful' and I can tell you now that it's pretty awesome. 

Whatever Happened To RnB? - Mariah Carey's #Beautiful ft Miguel

Remember when City High had a promising career and The Black Eyed Peas were just a little-known hip-hop act? In this weekly feature, I take a look back at some of the best RnB artists of yesteryear, sharing their signature videos and underrated hits, as well as looking at what's happening in RnB today. Previous posts have focussed on the Honeyz comeback, a retrospective on Lumidee's career and new videos from Frank Ocean and Ciara. Today I wanted to share Mariah Carey's comeback single 'Beautiful'.

Despite starting off as a pop artist, Mariah has been successfully releasing huge RnB records since the late 90s and her impact on the scene is incomparable. I'm a huge Mariah fan so I was ridiculously excited to hear that the diva would be releasing a new studio album this summer, although I was worried that the new release wouldn't perform well. The hip-hop heavy sound of last years single 'Triumphant' didn't make much of an impact on the charts and not many people heard the song 'Almost Home' from the 'Oz' soundtrack, so comeback single 'Beautiful' needs to be a huge smash to put Mariah back on top. But is it good enough?

The Good Women of China: Hidden Voices by Xue Xinran

Autobiographies, historical accounts, information texts... none of these really do it for me. As a rule, I don't tend to be a fan of non-fiction books but it's important to step out of your comfort zone every now and again, as you may be surprised by what you might find.   

When I first spotted 'The Good Women of China' on the charity shop bookshelf, I found myself picking it up out of passing curiosity, as I am a huge fan of Asian culture. I almost didn't buy the book but there was something about the format that grabbed me and I am now so glad that I gave 'The Good Women of China' a chance, as it is one of the most powerful and moving books I have ever read.

Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings (2012) Xbox 360

Based on a fantasy book series by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowksi, the 'Witcher' series was always going to be a hard sell for casual gamers. However, after reading a number of fantastic reviews for the acclaimed action RPG, I decided to give it a go. The opening video was seriously impressive but as soon as the game got started, I found the whole experience difficult to get into. The controls felt a bit clunky, combat was far from intuitive and the hardcore fantasy setting put me off, yet I persevered.

After putting aside ideas to trade 'Witcher 2' in for something better, I began to notice little things that I actually quite liked and after a few hours, I finally became engrossed in the world of Rivia. But why did I eventually get turned around by a game that started off so inaccessible?