Hear Mariah Carey's new single 'Almost Home'

The same strategy is at work here on "Almost Home" (Island), as she holds back for two-thirds of the song, the theme to the new Disney movie "Oz: The Great and Powerful," before letting loose. She makes a very ordinary song from Stargate seem exciting with her vocal pyrotechnics at the end, but it also draws attention to the plain-ness of the track overall. Mariah Carey has an extraordinary voice that deserves extraordinary material. This isn't quite it. "Almost Home" is crying out for a remix and a rap verse from, well, Nicki Minaj.