Single Review: Mariah Carey featuring Shenseea & Kehlani - Sugar Sweet

When I first heard the snippet of “Sugar Sweet” in that TikTok where Mariah Carey was trying to murder a diabetic, I was immediately sold. I am a person of the Island, so I like any song with a slow whine tempo. But then “Sugar Sweet” dropped and I was less enthused. I still ran the song back countless times and burnt so many calories whining to it that my FitBit crashed. But there was this constant feeling in the back of mind of ‘I wish this were better and that I liked it more’. But that said, I still think the song is kinda great.

I know this don’t make no sense. But irregardless, walk with me for a minute.When I heard that Kehlani and Shanseea were going to be on “Sugar Sweet”, I sighed. Not because I dislike Kehlani and Shanseea. But because I really wanted this to be a Mariah-only song. Putting a Jamaican artist like Shanseea on “Sugar Sweet” makes complete sense, because of the sound of the song. But with Kehlani in the mix too, these features collectively felt like a label and management decision in order to get the song to appeal to a younger crowd. Now lemme be clear. There is nothing wrong with this. The purpose of features on songs is largely about expanding appeal and reaching audiences that the song otherwise wouldn’t reach. We’d all like to believe that features and collaborations come about because of mutual love, respect and friendship — but that isn’t the case a lot of the time. Beyoncé did not put that scruffy white boy on “Uniiqlo Jeans” because she’s a fan. She put him on the song because she knew it would get the song played in places that it wouldn’t had she done the song alone — proving one of the points of Cowboy Carter. And it was also a cute look that he also happened to be a fellow Texan. None of this is to say that Mariah doesn’t listen to Shanseea or Kehlani and that she wasn’t a fan prior to “Sugar Sweet”. But as was the case with a couple of the features on Caution, the features on “Sugar Sweet” do feel like a calculated choice as opposed to a creative one or a personal one. And as a long time Lamb, I feel that distinction with Mariah, because so often in the past when she would have features on her songs, they always felt like personal choices — because she was a fan and admired the guest artist. And none of this is a slight on what Shanseea and Kehlani bring to the song. They both sound great and ‘understood the assignment’ as the kids say. I just wish the artist choices felt a bit closer to Mariah.

Mariah and Ariana have developed this really great relationship over the years — she woulda been great on this song and appeased those like myself who have been wanting Ariana to dip back into more R&B sounding songs. Mariah has been frequently mentioning how much she likes SZA, who would have been a great choice and a win-win situation — a personal choice of Mariah’s and an artist that younger crowds listen to who is popular and does well commercially. Rihanna also would have been an amazing choice. They shared a viral moment when Mariah signed Rihanna’s titty at one of her shows and Mariah has said how much she likes her — so there is a history of some sort there. And from Rihanna’s perspective, featuring on a song would have been a way to appease those asking for new music without fully committing to it. And of course, Rihanna would suit the vibe of the song. Everybody would have been talking about this song if Rihanna was on it. And old bitches woulda gone crazy if Mariah had put Missy Elliott and Da Brat on the song. This would have been a great throwback moment and spotlit two artists who haven’t put out music in a minute. Choices such as these would have made sense within the Mariah lexicon and felt like they came from Mariah herself. Then again, Mariah appearing on a Kai Cenat stream to promote her album goes to show what is driving a lot of the choices when it comes to what Mariah puts out, so “Sugar Sweet” was always gonna be about putting artists on the song that the kids listen to. I guess we should be thankful that the song didn’t feature Sexyy Red. Then again, maybe more people would have tuned into “Sugar Sweet” if it did.

But the biggest gripe I have with the guest features is how ‘Just drop their vocals here’ they sound on the song. There is barely any overlap or back and forth between Mariah, Kehlani and Shanseea. Each person feels confined to their section of the song. We only get a few ad-libs from Shanseea during the intro, when she should have been across the song. We don’t get any cool harmony moments with Mariah and Kehlani. We get no ad-libs from Mariah over Shanseea’s verse. This is the kicker for me, because Mariah was one of the first artists I remember hearing do ad-libs over rap verses. It added so much to the songs, because it created this sense of Mariah and the rapper(s) having recorded together. But it also just showed effort on Mariah’s part to have heard the verse, familiarised herself with it and gone back into the studio and added her vocals over the top. Not just to be on the song more, but to further fold the rap into the song, so it doesn’t sound so ‘Just drop their vocals here’. So it’s a shame she didn’t do that here. Mariah, Kehlani and Shansaeea having presence on the song beyond just their verses would have made the song feel like there was some connection between all 3 of them and created the fantasy of them having recorded the song in the studio together. Girl group vibes should have been the goal here.

There is also somewhat of a disconnect between what each of the three ladies are singing about, which I find amusing. And it makes me so curious about how this song landed with Mariah, how it was pitched to her and how it was then pitched to Kehlani and Shanseea. Because the hook paired with the beat implied TO ME that that the song was about choochie. Kehlani clearly thought the same thing, because she’s singing about her pussy dripping and getting creampied in a car. Meanwhile Mariah’s verse is about having a crush which is reciprocated, enjoying the ceremony of getting all dressed up for this person and knowing that she is such a bad bitch that he will eventually put a ring on it. And then there’s Shenseea. And I’m assuming that she heard the song when Mariah and Kehlani’s verses were already on it, because her verse lands somewhere in the middle — being about wanting to look good for her man, but also that her pum-pum smells good. Mariah said ‘I will absolutely not be singing about my vagina. I’mma keep it nice, I’mma keep it cute. I’m not gon’ be ratchet and nasty like you.’

I kinda want a “Sugar Sweet” remix with CupcakKe.

Mariah’s vocals. I’ve gotta talk about ‘em. She sounds good on “Sugar Sweet”, but it was clearly recorded on a day when…the lethargy was hittin’ a little. Mariah does sound good, if a little too measured. And it’s really noticeable compared to Kehlani’s verse which is super fluid and sounds easy by comparison. Mariah really shines on the hook though, which is easily the best part of the song and what really sells it for me. I just wish there was more variation in Mariah’s vocals during it. There’s this cool run she does with the word ‘Sugar’. But it’s copied and pasted across every single instance of the hook. Having Mariah sing different versions of it, layer it, or add something to it each time would have made a big difference to my ear. I get that vocals for hooks are frequently copied and pasted. But this one particular moment felt like an ad-lib, which makes it different from a standard hook vocal. And whenever ad-libs are copied and pasted with such frequency, I can’t un-hear how much they’re copied and pasted — it kinda takes me out of the song. This is probably just a me thing though.

The production of “Sugar Sweet” is a highlight. It’s such a good sounding song and it’s of a sound that we’ve not heard Mariah do before, so it also feels fresh for her. The closest and most adjacent song Mariah’s done to this is probably “Cruise Control” from E=MC². It really is amazing that despite being 35 years anniversaries into her career, that Mariah is still able to deliver something new and that she is willing to try something new.

Even with its faults, I still think “Sugar Sweet” is a damn good song. I think it deserved to be a smash hit, but I’m not delusional. Separate from the baffling rollout and how Mariah is viewed by the general public — I can also hear why it isn’t a smash. There just isn’t enough punch to the song for it to really break through. And as great as the hook is, there just isn’t enough to the song for it to really stick. And despite having 3 different artists with different vibes, there is too much flatness and monotony in the song. I can imagine it working better as part of the album. But irregardless, I’mma keep working my waistline as I keep it nice, keep it neat, but not too sweet, because a bitch is trying to cut back on sugar.