Columnist Roger Friedman had a chance to listen to Mariah Carey‘s upcoming album, Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel, and has revealed that the official first single will be a gospel-tinged track titled “I Want to Know What Love Is.” The track was originally recorded by British-American rock band Foreigner but has been redone as a ballad.

I heard the Foreigner song yesterday along with all of “Memoirs” and let me tell you: Mariah’s got a hit on her hands along the lines of “Emancipation of Mimi.” The hour-long CD is ballad-centric. Written and produced with The Dream and Tricky (I know, but these are their stage names), “Memoirs” boasts a lot of singles. Starting with the Foreigner song is a canny move in these uncertain times. By the time its run is over, a new generation will think “I Want to Know What Love Is” is a Mariah Carey song.

SOURCE: SHOWBIZ 411

He also revealed the titles of the other tracks on the album, in no particular order: “Betcha,” “Obsessed,” “H.A.T.E.U.,” “Candy Bling,” “Ribbon,” “Standing O’s,” “Impossible,” “It’s a Wrap,” “Inseparable,” “Up Out My Face,” “More than Just Friends,” and “Angels Cry.”

Friedman also describes the album as “radio ready” and “what the kids want,” and mentions that there are no more songs about Eminem. We kind of figured the latter would happen, especially after the rapper’s latest diss track in which he talks about releasing pictures he has of Mariah. As for the album being for the radio and “what the kids want”, it doesn’t make us any more excited. The radio doesn’t really have much music with substance now-a-days and when “Obsessed” surfaced, the “kids” were all into but look how that played out. Nevertheless, we’ll wait till the album drops to properly judge it.