Loverboy (Mariah Carey Song) - Critical Reception

Critical Reception

"Loverboy" was met with generally mixed reviews from music critics; many were not impressed with the incorporation of the sample, and felt the song didn't lead Carey into any newer ground or innovation. Additionally, several reviewers were not impressed with Carey's concealed vocals and the song's overly-complicated production. Sarah Rodman of the Boston Herald described the song's production as a "traffic-jam" and wrote "'Loverboy' is another in an increasingly long line of glitzy, candy-coated, creatively stunted song." Writing for the Los Angeles Times, Natalie Nichols felt "Loverboy" was "predictable" and presented nothing new for Carey's audience. USA Today's Edna Gunderson wrote the song off as "skimpy", while Glenn Gamboa from Newsday described its overall reception as "lukewarm". Harry Guerin from Raidió Teilifís Éireann outed the song as one of Carey's "finest moments" on Glitter, and disagreed with criticism regarding the "overly-populated" musical background". Allmusic editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine listed the song as the only "recommended" song from Glitter, while Gil Kaufman of MTV News called it an "fun, uptempo dance number". Craig Seymour from Entertainment Weekly rated "Loverboy" a C-, and criticized its lyrical content and production. An anonymous writer from The Guardian felt the song had "no decipherable tune", due to the inclusion of electronic musical instruments and background shouts and ad-libs. Billboard's Chuck Taylor described the song as "self-sabotage", and felt Carey was gambling her longevity. He described the production as a "mumbo jumbo of disparate elements", and wrote "the mighty may have fallen here".