(Island Def Jam/Universal)

With everything that's gone on with her life and career in the past several years, there remains one constant with Mariah Carey -- the voice.

It's still one of divadom's finest, most emotive instruments, containing more personality in it than half of R&B hit list's hottest names. She is, in a world of propped-up pretenders, the real deal.

Unfortunately, where goeth the material so goeth Mariah's career, and for the past several albums, that's been earthward, thanks to weak songs and production.

The Emancipation of Mimi, her latest attempt to get things back on track, is slightly more successful than 2002's Charmbracelet, but it's still an entirely predictable and typical R&B record following the same paths as those aforementioned pretenders.

The few gems on the disc -- the peppy Say Somethin' featuring Snoop Dogg and the pleading One and Only with Twista, that allow for some impressive vocal calisthenics -- remind you how good she can be when she's given a chance.

While Emancipation may not send Carey's stock or star back up to where it once was and where that voice deserves to be, at least she's not plummeting -- she's merely levelled off.