Newsday from New York, New York • 79

1L tOm arts entertainment MMm i a hook girl in her own song vocals could have been delivered by Kelis or Amerie no one would have been the and finds her singing double-time like Destiny's Child as she tries to keep up Twista who dominates the And in the chib-sawy which also bears the breezy sun-kissed sound Carey sounds like a breathy Ashanti-influenced backdrop to deliver soaring sweet vocals that buzz with the youthful energy of her -early hits like The gospel-pop feel of Like a is an inspirational surprise with Carey showcasing her grand voice and a soulful edge that is sorely missing on the rest of the album On much of Carey is simply out far hits not greatness and thafs exactly what she gets Because of her vocal strength she can approad mate any style so she does Take Some- Laid-back' sf i Neptunes-produced duet with Snoop r( 1 Does where shesounds like Her and wiser with song the afterthought once Nelly gets thrown into the mix sounds like Carey is trying to establish herself as an industry player again not some overdramatic diva whose time has passed She has succeeded at that thanks to her current one-two punch of singles the streetwise Like (which easily could have been a Janet Jackson single) and the big ballad Belong which sounds like well Mariah Carey That may be the reason her record company is calling the release of this album Return of the However that is selling impressive legacy short Emancipation of is essentially an album for a pretender a first-rate collection of ready-made hits that is the best that money can buy another example of how die rich get richer and the poor have to rely on their talent and their brains in order to compete In the end this free Carey It will only result bling-blingier hand- cuffs Emanti- 1 potion of Mimi" in SONG OF THE WEEK: The favorite rock-rap cartoon band the Gorillaz parties big time on the new single Good (Virgin) making the most of some new friends including Danger Mouse who co-pro-duced the album due May 24 with head Gorilla Damon Albam of Blur On Good the funky bass line is hot and wistful vocals (law-yerly close to from at the are cool but De La Soul's giddy rap cameo that transforms the single into one of the year's best Contact Glenn Gamboa at 631-843-3434 or glemugamboa newsdayxom Mariah Carey calls her new album Emancipation of a bundle of ready-made hits but restrained GtTTV IMAGl PHOTO DROPS GLENN GAMBOA ariah Carey has named her new album "The Emancipation of (Island Def Jam) though she has never seemed more restrained and most of her songs sound like they were systematically drained of her personality like they were recorded by Stepford Mariah Pop psychologists would call it projection Delusion would work too a stunning turn of events that everyone would work so hard to make one of the top-selling female singers in pop music history whose string of personality-driven hits runs from classic ballads of and Sweet to contemporary dance numbers and sound like someone other than herself even more stunning that Carey not known for being shy about expressing her opinion would go along with it Nevertheless hard to argue with the results Emancipation of hi parWH -V with one potential single after another a -crazy quilt of radiofriendly dance pop and big ballads that are nothing if not eager to please Since her public breakup with EMI Records in 2002 after the tumultuous release of her movie and its soundtrack Carey has been searching for her hit-making skills with the desperation of someone hunting for a lost contact lens on the floor of Grand Central during the evening rush As her album showed that quest been pretty But for lined up loads of high-profile friends to help her look from Kanye West and The Neptunes to Nelly and Snoop Dogg as well as the big man himself Island Def Jam Group chairman Antonio Reid who executive produced the album with Carey With all that star power around hard for Carey not to shine though part of that is the reflection from her hotter collaborators She holds her own with Kanye West on the delightful the playing off the smooth throwback-soul Pianist Olga Kern is one of six honorees perform at the Metropolitan Museum FESTIVAL Hitting the right keys BY VIVIEN SCHWEITZER Van 1958 victory in the first Tchaikovsky International Competition in Mos-' cow was more than just a cultural thawing of Cold War tensions It spurred an explosion of music competitions worldwide some of whose winners have subsequently enjoyed major careers while as many others have vanished The four-day Festival of International Competition Win- -ners that starts Thursday at the Metropolitan Museum of Art will offer the ebanm to assess some of die latest victors Six pianists will perform all first-prize honorees Olga Kern Severin von Eck-ardstein Boris Giltburg Alexei Grynyuk Giuseppe Al-banese and Antti Siirala Collaborators in concert The series was the brainchild of Alexis Gregory president of the Vendome Prize International Piano Competition and Hilde Limondjian general manager of the concert and lecture series figured that all the pianists would get more attention as they are together and never been done before said Gregory He pointed to Grynyuk as an example of how even the most talented artists can miss the top accolades if they have a bad day or suffer from nerves a certain point it boils down to whether you like oranges papayas or mangoes And if more judges like papayas than mangoes the papayas will he said thatloesn't mean the papaya will be the best artist are very im- See FESTIVAL on B6 NEWSDAY TUESDAY APRIL 12 2005 wwwnyrwwtdayxoni.