Winners sparse on latest effort by Carey

Mariah Carey’s latest album kicks off in wonderful and typical Mariah form: She sings a song that immediately pulls you in.

The torching, emotional Cry does its job on Me. I Am Mariah . . . the Elusive Chanteuse, which was released on Tuesday.

The song gives you the feeling that the rest of the album will offer musical bliss because, for most of her career, Carey has been able to hit her work out of the park.

But veteran singers, in time, tend to make too many errors and can’t score the hits they once did.

Sadly, that is happening with Carey, 44.

Most of the tracks on her 14th album are enjoyable, but they lack the pizazz and spark of previous albums — including Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel (2009), her worst-selling album, though musically one of the best of that year.

Elusive Chanteuse borrows from Carey’s earlier work — and although the powerful singer still has the vocal chops, the songs find her looking too much to the past. The downtempo ballad You’re Mine (Eternal) is We Belong Together 2.0, and the bouncy Thirsty sounds as if it were recorded a decade ago.

Tracks such as the Q-Tip-produced dance number Meteorite, You Don’t Know What To Do and Make It Look Good are album fillers that knock the project off-track.

Carey has been recording the album since 2011, and she has struggled with its singles — from You’re Mine and The Art of Letting Go to # Beautiful, a mellow outtake featuring Miguel that was released a year ago and peaked in the top 20.

Throughout the struggle, she called mega-producer Jermaine Dupri to come aboard as her manager and executive producer to shape the album.

The magical duo — who have collaborated on hits such as Always Be My Baby, We Belong Together and Don’t Forget About Us — haven’t completely lost their charm, but the thrill is somewhat gone.