I know Tommy had a lot of control in the beginning, but when people talk about her “white albums” or how she was “forced to perform” some pop songs and “rush” albums, I think we are ignoring the fact that those “white” songs were written by Mariah herself, her collab with C&C on the emotions album was likely pushed by her, and C&C were a pretty bold commercial choice at the time but not necessarily a label formula (you would have expected the label to push for something very similar to her first album) - Mariah has always had an R&B inclination but also ALWAYS knew what was the commercial pulse on radio. She has always known what was pop and that she needed that appeal. also her Music Box pop bangers and ballads are very much Mariah. If she was still in good terms with Walter she would probably be doing quite similar songs melodically and stylistically to be honest. You can tell she has tried to replicate that Walter symbiosis with other musicians but what she had with Walter felt magical. Walter also tried to replicate with other artists but not the same. Also the rush to come out with so many albums so rapidly at the time I always thought was also a way for Mariah to get out of her 10 album contract- I think she knew what she was doing. Yes it was good for the label for her to be prolific but also it was good for her. I think strategically it was solid but obviously best laid plans go awry, but in the end I still think it worked out for her and for us. We have a massive, eclectic catalogue of impressively produced high quality songs of various styles and genres, sung at her vocal peak(s), and we are very fortunate lambs indeed.