Up Out My Face

"Up Out My Face"
Single by Mariah Carey featuring Nicki Minaj
from the album Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel
Released	January 16, 2010 (2010-01-16)
Format	Digital download
Recorded	2009
Genre	R&B hip hop
Length	3:41 (album version) 4:23 (single version feat. Nicki Minaj)
Label	Island
Writer(s)	Mariah Carey, Terius Nash, Christopher Stewart, Onika Maraj
Producer(s)	Mariah Carey, The-Dream, Tricky Stewart
Mariah Carey singles chronology
"H.A.T.E.U." (2009) "Up Out My Face" (2010) "Angels Cry" (2010)
Nicki Minaj chronology "BedRock" (2009) "Up Out My Face" (2010) "My Chick Bad" (2010)

"Up Out My Face" is a song by American singer Mariah Carey from her twelfth studio album, Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel (2009). Carey wrote the song with Terius Nash, and Christopher Stewart, and produced it alongside The-Dream and Tricky Stewart. The remix version featuring American rapper Nicki Minaj was released as a single by Island Records on February 16, 2010. It was initially intended as the lead single from Carey's now cancelled remix album, Angels Advocate.

The song peaked at the bottom position of the US Billboard Hot 100 and at number 39 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The accompanying music video, produced by Carey and husband, Nick Cannon, takes place in a store and features Carey and Minaj as Barbie characters. Soon after release it was announced that Angels Advocate was cancelled and so subsequent promotion and releases of the song ceased.

Background

The original version of the song featured no guest vocals and was featured on Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel. The remix version clocks in at 4:27 due to additional verses from Nicki Minaj; however the video version also adds "Up Out My Face (the Reprise)" from Memoirs to the end of the song bringing the new song length to 5:29.

Minaj spoke to MTV News about how surprised she was to be asked to work with Carey and admitted that she didn't actually expect to appear in a video with Carey even before she released her debut album. Additionally, the pair entered the studio for a day to record the remix together, the featured vocals were not recorded separately and then simply inserted into the song.^[1]

Critical reception

Alison Stewart from the Washington Post gave the song a somewhat positive review, stating: "Sometime in the past six months, Minaj became the go-to girl for artists who wanted to add some skank to their tracks without sullying themselves in the process. Here, she enlivens an otherwise polite track from Carey's upcoming remix disc".^[2] Robbie Daw of Idolator hailed the remix of the song calling it a standout of then to be released Angels Advocate which was the remix album of Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel but has been suspended due to the underwhelming performance of the album. He added: "More Mimi has leaked, this time in the form of the re-swizzed “Up Out My Face” from her forthcoming Angel’s Advocate remix album. Twenty-five-year-old rapper Nicky Minaj [sic] lends some spunky rhymes to the cut, such as, “Mariah, I was in the million dollar meetin’s, he was cheatin’/ All up in the church he was sneakin’ with the deacon.”" Daw also compared the song to Carey's 2005 hit Don't Forget About Us, "Overall “Face” rings a little too similar to Mariah’s winter 2005 smash “Don’t Forget About Us,” which itself copped from her mega-hit from earlier that year, “We Belong Together.” But still, if Mimi’s going to mine from her own extensive back catalog of ballads, those are the primo melodies to go for."^[3]

Anna Pickard of The Guardian hailed the unusual hooky way Mariah looked in the song while reviewing the music video. Pickard added: " It is important to remember that is not the Mariah we know. The last time we had dealings with the Mariah we know in this column, she was poncing about with a unicorn." She continued "And now Mariah's back. Not boring belting ballady Mariah, either; the other, much more fun one. That's why we're so pleased to announce that this video, and everything in it, are brought to you by the letters W, T and F, and by the colour red."^[4]

Music video

Minaj and Carey as nurses in the song's music video.

A music video was shot in December 2009, along with the video for "Angels Cry (Remix)" featuring Ne-Yo. Both videos were co-directed by Carey and her husband Nick Cannon. They premiered together on VEVO.com on January 27, 2010. Cannon makes a cameo in the video in a reference to his 2002 film, Drumline.^[5]

The video features Carey and Minaj as several different characters. In one scene, they are dressed as Barbie dolls who escape their boxes. In another scene they are dressed as nurses. Another finds them in a nail salon. There are also several scenes of the two attending a shopping store wearing large dresses. Minaj said that Carey said, "Everybody's gonna say 'she's doing Nicki.' But I told her, she's always had a doll persona, like all that 'doll baby' [stuff]. So it goes perfect with Barbie and we had fun. That's all that matters."^[1]

In a review of the video, Chris Ryan of MTV News said, "No offense to the imperfect angel or anything, but Nicki kinda steals the show here, dressed up like Nurse Barbie, referencing Trey Songz' "LOL" in a British accent, she basically pops balloons all over this thing."^[5] Shaheem Reid of MTV said that "the two bust out and have a good time changing outfits and playing with men," and that "The doll angle plays perfectly with Nicki's "black Barbie" personality."^[1] The video also features an appearance by TV personality B. Scott.

Charts

In the chart week of January 28, 2010 the song debuted at 97 on the US Hot R&B/Hip Hop Songs chart. With the entry, Carey extends her lead as the female artist with the most consecutive yearly R&B/Hip Hop Song chart debuts. "Up Out My Face (remix)" is her first 21st annual chart debut on the Hot R&B/Hip Hop Songs chart, and her 42nd overall entry on the chart.^[6]

Release history

References

External links

• Full lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics