#1toinfinity

#1 to Infinity

When Mariah Carey burst into the music scene with her self-titled debut album in 1990, I did not discover her until early 1991 when her 4th single, “I Don’t Wanna Cry” was playing heavily on the radio. I’ve heard her 1st single “Vision of Love” and “Love Takes Time” (her 2nd) the year before but I didn’t put two-and-two together that it was from the same singer until a classmate revealed this to me over recess. Also back then, just having arrived in America in 1989, I was still tuning in and listening to music from the 80′s while adapting to this American culture, so music in 1990 was a bit of a blur.

Technically, “I Don’t Wanna Cry” is the song that I associate Mariah with the most but eventually I grew to like her previous singles. Being a fan since then, I have only seen her live in concert back in 2006 during her THE ADVENTURES OF MIMI tour at the Honda Center in Anaheim.

This video clip I took was from her #1 TO INFINITY residency in Las Vegas at Caesars Palace; it was a limited time engagement while Celine went on a hiatus. Seeing her live for the 2nd time where she sang her greatest hits and #1′s was such a treat. It took me and everyone in the audience back to memory lane. Hearing her perform this song live, brought me back during my time at day-camp going on field trips, hearing this song over the radio and singing along with my friends I made over the summer. Now as an adult, this song has so many layered meanings and I can finally relate to it.

During the show, there were these two blonde white girls who sat behind us, and you can tell they were a bit tipsy. After the show as we were leaving the venue, they happen to be walking behind us and one of them kept saying, (in her Valley girl-tipsy slurred voice) “omg...I...literally, like...LIVED and died...that...was...AMAZING! Like...wow!” We couldn’t contain our laughter and we didn’t want to be obvious, so I grabbed my friend’s Sara’s hand and I muttered under my breath just loud enough for her to hear, “walk faster, pick up the pace.” She followed as she giggled at the same time. By the time we were far away enough from the girls, I then imitated the way they talked by saying, “I...am...so...PRETTY?!” Sara just burst out laughing. Because she got the joke. She is a white girl herself (but a redhead), she could relate because she knows these type of girls.