It’s also a digital EP.
There’s a good chance you weren’t one of the lucky few to see Mariah Carey perform at New York’s Club Tatou back in 1990 when the new kid on the block wowed the crowd. And even though time has no meaning in MC world, the singer is celebrating three decades of hit-making this year under the #MC30 tag, beginning with a new EP dedicated to one of her very first live performances from that night.
“We don’t acknowledge numbers, but we do acknowledge when it’s time for a celebratory moment!” Carey tweeted on Friday morning (July 17). Accompanying the tweet is archival footage of Mariah explaining how a 1970 R&B classic ended up in one of her early showcase shows featuring just her voice, a piano and background singers.
“I needed an extra song, so I added ‘Don’t Play That Song For Me,’ by Aretha Franklin and it’s like I do it in concert and I say to the people, ‘this was originally recorded by the incomparable Aretha Franklin’ and I just say it so they know I don’t think I’m even coming close to the way Aretha sang it but this is my tribute,” Carey says in the archival interview. Carey posted one more caveat in another tweet, tweaking the “olive green crushed velvet ensemble,” which was not her choice.
She promised a new #MC30 surprise every Friday, including remixes, live performances, B-sides and more. The accompanying five-song EP, The Live Debut – 1990, features “Love Takes Time,” “Vision of Love,” “Vanishing and “Don’t Play That Song (You Lied).”
The version is, of course, impeccable. Check out the Franklin song and the full EP below.
