My best friends and I have an entire 84-song “Guilty Pleasure Playlist” on Spotify so it wasn’t difficult to pick one of the many songs we secretly love but feel like we shouldn’t. But one of my favorites and most guilty of them all is “Obsessed” by Mariah Carey. I have to admit I wasn’t an active member of the Mariah Carey era; whether that was because I was too young or I just didn’t pay attention to her, I didn’t really discover this song until three years ago. Something just really drew me to it and caused me to play it on repeat for quite a while. I suppose it qualifies as a guilty pleasure song because I would never play it around someone I wanted to think I had good taste in music. Sure, it’s a fun song that I would gladly play in front of my close friends, but Mariah Carey is so far out of my usual taste in music that it makes this song a guilty pleasure. Her pop/soul sounding music is usually hard for me to appreciate, and the lyrical complexity of the song is nothing to be proud of. To begin, the very first line sounds like something a horrible, cruel teenage girl would say to some poor boy in middle school: “I was like, why you so obsessed with me?”
First off, there are clear grammatical issues in the sentence, which add to the extremely immature, self-obsessed nature of the question. I feel guilty listening to this song because it feels like I am adopting the same cocky attitude as Mariah Carey. Carey’s voice is highly auto-tuned in the song, which naturally makes me feel as though it has a lower quality than songs with natural vocals. I think this is mainly due to the negative reception of auto-tuning as early as 2009.
However, I am very drawn to this song. As soon as the hand clapping starts abruptly and Carey starts singing “So, oh, oh oh oh,” I am hooked. Her voice is melodic and the thumping bass in the background creates a beat that I can’t NOT want to dance to. Her voice sounds so feminine and sexy to me, when I sing it myself I take on the same persona. Singing this song is about as close to light rap/R&B that I will ever be able to sing, and it makes me feel cool and suave to sing along.
Writing on Music, Summer 2015 
I love this song, and Mariah Carey in general! I listen to this song all the time. It’s super catchy and I always find myself singing and dancing along to the music. I like how you mention that the first line is something a teenage girl would say. I agree with you; the word “like” stands out, giving it that valley girl style. I also agree with you on the fact that Carey’s voice is melodic. I’m not that great of a singer and I wish I could have a voice as beautiful as hers. This song exudes energy from the second it begins.
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I had never heard this song before now, but I was hooked from her hand clapping and “oh oh ooooh oh” at the beginning too. I love that you have a a guilty pleasure playlist on Spotify. I want to do the same thing. I like how this song allows you to adopt the cocky attitude that Mariah Carey has, which makes it fun. Sometimes it’s nice to let yourself sink into a song and pretend that the lyrics are about you. I think this is most of the reason that love songs sung by attractive men are so appealing– you can always pretend that they are about you. I feel cool and suave when I listen to this song too, and I am so happy that you introduced it to me. Thanks for this guilty pleasure– it’s going on my playlist immediately.
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I have to say this song is definitely one I would have picked for blog post 3. It’s not really even the song I don’t like; I just cannot stand Mariah Carey in general! Something about her has just always rubbed me the wrong way. I agree with the immature and cocky nature of the song. I think that’s how Mariah Carey is in person, too. Every time I see her or hear her in an interview she seems so unreasonably arrogant. I don’t think she has any musical talent either. Her voice sounds really nasally and dramatic to me. Personally, I would never even consider downloading any of her songs. I remember when this song was popular on the radio and I hated it!
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Wow what a ridiculously perfect choice. This song is the epitome of a guilty pleasure. The lyrics, the video, Mariah Carey herself. SO awesome yet so admittedly ridiculous. Are her and Nick Cannon still together? Because that would make this song infinitely funnier. I agree with you about the lyrics lacking complexity. I remember hearing this song for the first time and laughing at how ridiculous it was even after it hit top 10. This song is many of my friend’s guilty pleasures, because it is so hilariously relatable. Who hasn’t wanted to imagine the a guy that is so obsessed with you he wont leave you alone? (if you like him, and it isn’t creepy.)
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Megan!
I really liked your insight on your guilty pleasure song. I feel like a lot of my “guilty pleasures” are from bands that I know nothing about their other songs. This song was super catchy! I also really enjoyed the music video, and was surprised that Mariah Carey dressed up like her “stalker,” because I have always seen her as one of those “too-cool-for-school” types. It seems that this song generally has many of the same musical qualities as other pop hits which make them so enticing to us. I also feel like most of my guilty pleasure songs are ones that make me want to sing and dance. Thanks for your post!
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