Well okay, so sucks is going a tad bit too far. My problem isn't that she's returning to her balladry roots. My gripe is that she's released songs like this many times before that were waaay better, including '#Beautiful'. I shudder at anyone billing this her next 'Vision of Love'. They must not know her musical history.
She also sounds like someone hung a weight down on her tonsils, only releasing it during the last 50 seconds of the song. That is, to leave room so that she can do her compulsory 'I can still sing' belting towards the end. A now classic Mariah trait. I don't even think Mariah cares whether or not this will be a commercial hit (it won't be).
I think she is done being a slave to the radio and appears to just be making music solely for her own enjoyment. That's admirable if the song was epic and she didn't sound like an amateur singer. C'mon Mimi, you can do better.