mariah carey emancipation of mimi tour

The Celebration Of Mimi

Mariah kicked off her third Las Vegas headlining residency on April 12, 2024, on the nineteenth anniversary of her multi-platinum album, The Emancipation Of Mimi . The Celebration Of Mimi sees Mariah performing songs from her 2005 album as well as many of her many classics at Dolby Live at Park MGM. Due to extraordinary demand, The Celebration Of Mimi , which would originally run only from April 12 through April 27, 2024, was extended with eight additional shows during summer 2024. Tickets are available at Ticketmaster.com/MariahVegas .

The Celebration Of Mimi takes fans on a chronological journey through Mariah's impressive collection of hits. Opening the show with her debut single, “Vision Of Love,” The Celebration Of Mimi sees Mariah performing some of her biggest hits and fan favorites from closing the show with a selection of songs from her 2005 debut album, The Emancipation Of Mimi .

Vision Of Love Emotions Make It Happen Can't Let Go I'll Be There Dreamlover Hero Without You Fantasy Always Be My Baby Looking In Butterfly Babydoll Breakdown Close My Eyes The Roof My All Honey / Heartbreaker (Medley) I Wish You Knew It's Like That Say Somethin' Your Girl Shake It Off Circles Don't Forget About Us We Belong Together Fly Like A Bird

First Leg — April 2024

Second leg — summer 2024.

Amazon Music is the exclusive merch provider for The Celebration of Mimi , allowing fans to purchase exclusive, official artist merch online as well as in-person within Dolby Live at Park MGM. The online collection is available exclusively in the Mariah Carey official Amazon store at Amazon.com/MariahCarey . The Mariah Carey and Amazon Music merch collection celebrates Mariah's critically acclaimed album The Emancipation of Mimi , among other fan-favorite hits, featuring brand new designs across t-shirts, hoodies, hats, and special in-venue exclusives, including a Rainbow bedazzled denim jacket and a satin robe emblazoned with the lyric “Why You So Obsessed With Me.”

The Adventures of Mimi

The Adventures of Mimi was a concert tour by Mariah Carey in support of her tenth studio album, "The Emancipation of Mimi."

The tour began on July 22, 2006 and ended on October 28, 2006 with with 2 stops in Africa, 25 stops in the United States, 7 in Canada and 7 in Asia.

• 1 Tour Background
• 3 Concert Dates
• 4 Critical Reception
• 5 Commercial Reception
• 6 Personnel
• 7 Recordings

Tour Background [ ]

Unlike her previous tour three years prior, Mariah started this tour 16 months after the release of her latest album, the successful, "The Emancipation of Mimi."

She had initially not wanted to tour, dreading the long travel times and not needing one to promote the album, but after requests from fans to appear in concert, she decided to do so to celebrate one of the best times in her career.

Similar to the past tour, Mariah gave her fans the chance to submit their ideas for set lists and for the title of the tour. Her long-time musical partner and American Idol judge Randy Jackson joined her tour as the musical director, although he did not often appear at shows due to concurrent Idol auditions.

During the tour, Mariah revamped her image as a performer, performing remixes of her songs, dancing along a bit with her dancers, having guests onstage, and going into the middle of each arena onto a checkerboard B-stage to perform "Fantasy", "Always Be My Baby" and "Don't Forget About Us." (The B stage had become an increasing popular way for large-venue performers to get closer to their audience ever since U2 introduced it on their 1992 Zoo TV Tour.)

The main stage was a two-level affair with the band situated on the lower level, backed by strands of glittering material and a staircase between the two. Her "MC" logo was present in several places.

Once again, Mariah invited her long-time friend and back-up singer Trey Lorenz to sing "I'll Be There" and "One Sweet Day" with her and perform several songs on his own during one of her costume changes. Except for an occasional guest appearance, raps on her songs were the pre-recorded originals, with the rapper shown on the video screens.

Set List [ ]

This set list is representative of the official DVD track listing; it does not represent all concerts for the duration of the tour.

• "Rollercoaster" (video introduction)
• "It's Like That"
• "Heartbreaker"
• "Dreamlover"
• "Shake It Off"
• "Vision of Love"
• "Fly Like a Bird"
• "I'll Be There" (with Trey Lorenz)
• "Fantasy" (Bad Boy Remix)
• "Don't Forget About Us"
• "Always Be My Baby"
• "I Wish You Knew" / "Can't Let Go"
• "One Sweet Day" (with Boyz II Men)
• "Make It Happen"
• "We Belong Together"
• "Butterfly" (Outro)
• On selected dates, Mariah performed renditions of "Breakdown", "Thank God I Found You" and its "Make It Last" remix, "Without You", "I Know What You Want", "Your Girl", "Stay the Night", "Joy Ride", the So So Def remix of "Honey", "Close My Eyes", "Love Takes Time", "My Saving Grace" and "All I Want for Christmas Is You".

Concert Dates [ ]

• Mariah never schedules shows in two consecutive nights, as she "actually [has] to have a full day and a half off between shows, whereas most touring artists do it every night", and she spends her down time preserving her voice by not talking and "sitting in a humidified room, sleeping.
• Mariah performed a show at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles on July 29, 2006 as part of the Pepsi Smash concert series. These tickets were not available to the public. Only winners selected through an online contest. The show featured the same stage setting but a shortened setlist with some different costumes.
• A planned second Madison Square Garden date was also scrapped and at least thirteen shows on the North American tour sold out, while dates were added in Canada.

Critical Reception [ ]

Reviews of the tour were generally positive and most critics celebrated Mariah's transformation from a pop star to a full-fledged hip hop artist. They also praised her vocal performances saying that was the main attraction of the spectacle.

Some critics commented on the short length of the show, especially given that she was offstage for several breaks while undergoing costume changes while others felt that Mariah was trying too hard to make the public like her, especially in terms of the "rollercoaster" metaphor she used to begin the show.

Commercial Reception [ ]

At the end of 2006, the tour placed 24th on Pollstar's "Top 100 Tours", earning $27.9 million with 32 shows from the North American leg.

Personnel [ ]

• Manager — Mariah Carey & Benny Medina
• Co-Manager — Mark Sudack
• Tour Manager — Michael Richardson
• Show Director — Barry Lather
• Musical Director — Randy Jackson
• Tour Executive — Michael Richardson
• Handprint Entertainment — Melissa Ruderman
• Maroon Entertainment — Gina Rainville
• Lighting/Set Design — Justin Collie/Art Fag
• Sound Design — Mike McKnight
• Sound Engineer — Howard Page
• Video Director — Chris Keating
• Backline Tech — Shawn Atkins; drums & Bass guitar/Key Bass
• Vignettes — Directed by Spike Lee
• Frefall Intro — Bill Boatman & Michael Shores
• Security: Darrel Clark and Rob Payne
• Make-Up & Hair — Paul Starr and Lew Ablahani
• Costume Designer — June Ambrose
• Dressmaker — Cmylo
• Personal Assistant — Lisa Ripi
• Personal Trainer — Patricia Gay
• Choreography — Rachel McIntosh, Eddie Morales, Anthony Talauega, Richmond Talauega, and AJ Jones
• Dancers — Rachel McIntosh, Eddie Morales, Earl Wright, Joshuah Michael, Michelle Brooke, Bryan Tanaka, Russel Wright, Rafael Mello Alvim, and Myles Anthony Urquhart
• Keyboards — Eric Daniels and Lamonte Neuble
• Drums — Jerohn Garnett
• Bass & Keyboards — James Butler
• Background Vocalists — Trey Lorenz, MaryAnn Tatum and Sherry Tatum
• Choir – Greater Los Angeles Cathedral Choir

Recordings [ ]

According to Mariah's musical director Randy Jackson, the show at Honda Center in Anaheim on October 8, 2006 was intended as the basis for a concert filming and subsequent DVD release.

Indeed, she held a pre-concert taping there, in order to include fans, regulate the lighting, and review other technical aspects in preparation for the night's actual concert recording.

The resulting DVD, called "The Adventures of Mimi" was released over a year later, beginning in Europe on November 19, 2007 with releases in other regions of the world coming over the following two weeks.

• 1 October 15, 1977 Olympia Stadium, Detroit, MI
• 2 The Magic Summer Tour

Mariah Carey announces 'Celebration of Mimi' shows in Las Vegas

The shows celebrate the anniversary of "The Emancipation of Mimi."

Mariah Carey is heading to Las Vegas.

The pop diva announced on Tuesday an exclusive April engagement at Dolby Live at Park MGM, titled "Mariah Carey: The Celebration of Mimi."

MORE: Mariah Carey talks 'All I Want for Christmas Is You' legacy, new holiday tour

The series of eight performances is intended to celebrate the release of her 2005 album "The Emancipation of Mimi," which turns 19 on April 12, the first date of the series.

In addition to fan favorites from that album, including "It's Like That," "We Belong Together" and "Shake It Off," the show will feature hits from throughout Carey's career.

Pre-sale tickets will be available via Citi Entertainment beginning Feb. 7 at 10 a.m. PT.

Members of the MGM Rewards loyalty program, as well as Live Nation, SiriusXM and Ticketmaster customers, have a pre-sale starting Feb. 8 at 10 a.m. PT.

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The general onsale is Feb. 10 at 10 a.m. PT, via Ticketmaster .

One dollar from every ticket purchased will go to the Fresh Air Fund's Camp Mariah, a three-week summer camp program for kids ages 11-15, which helps them explore possibilities for future careers.

The dates going on sale are April 12, 13, 17, 19, 20, 24, 26 and 27. All shows are scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. local time.

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Mariah Carey Will Celebrate ‘Emancipation of Mimi’ Anniversary With Las Vegas Residency

By Larisha Paul

Larisha Paul

If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Rolling Stone may receive an affiliate commission.

Mariah Carey recorded The Emancipation of Mimi 20 years ago, setting the stage for her grand comeback in 2005. It had only been three years since she released her ninth album, Charmbracelet, but she had made a career-defining transformation as a musician during that time. In celebration of its forthcoming anniversary, Carey has announced Mariah Carey: The Celebration of Mimi Live in Las Vegas .

The eight-show Las Vegas residency will be held at Dolby Live at Park MGM from April 12 through 27. General sales for the event will begin on Saturday, Feb. 10, at 10 a.m. PT. The current run of dates includes performances on April 12, 13, 17, 19, 20, 24, 26 and 27.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Mariah Carey (@mariahcarey)

When Carey prepared for the release of The Emancipation of Mimi in 2005, she described the record as: “the real essence of who I am.”

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The era officially kicked off with the arrival of “It’s Like That,” the party-ready lead single produced by Jermaine Dupri. In the months that followed, Carey shared the instant-classics “We Belong Together” and “Shake It Off,” then topped it off later that year with The Emancipation of Mimi: Ultra Platinum Edition . The expanded version included the Grammy Award-nominated single “Don’t Forget About Us.”

Carey last performed in Las Vegas during her first two residencies at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace, which included #1 to Infinity from 2015 through 2017 and The Butterfly Returns from 2018 through 2020.

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Mariah Carey on Why 2005’s Iconic ‘The Emancipation of Mimi’ LP Was ‘More Than a Comeback Album’

In honor of the upcoming 15th anniversary (April 12) of the now-iconic studio project, Carey reflects on the creative process, success, and legacy of The Emancipation of Mimi . &nbsp…

By Princess Gabbara

Princess Gabbara

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After you’ve been crowned “Artist of the Decade,” sold millions of albums worldwide, influenced an entire generation of vocalists, penned an iconic Christmas tune, and pioneered the now- ubiquitous pop-rap collaboration, the pressures of what comes next can be paralyzing for an artist.

Mariah Carey

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However, 15 years into her illustrious career — and following something of a rare commercial downturn — Mariah Carey dropped the best-selling album of 2005: The Emancipation of Mimi . Thanks to the success of TEOM,  which sold six million copies in the U.S. alone and helped garner Carey a whopping 10 Grammy nominations across 2006 and 2007,  Carey found true artistic freedom.  

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Mariah Carey, 2019 BBMA Icon

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The 14-track opus leans on the signature ballads (e.g. the megahit “We Belong Together,” aka the “Song of the Decade”) that Carey’s known for, but the dance-oriented “Get Your Number” and “To The Floor” remain standout tracks, driving home the LP’s celebratory vibe. TEOM is also notable to fans and critics for Carey’s use of her personal nickname “Mimi,” which symbolized the legendary diva pulling back the curtain a bit and letting her guard down after spending over a decade in the spotlight.  

More importantly, the album’s title was a direct nod to Carey’s redemption following her previous studio efforts, 2001’s Glitter and 2002’s Charmbracelet , which received less than favorable reviews. So naturally when TEOM opened to the second highest first-week sales of Carey’s career and spawned the singer-songwriter’s 16 th No. 1 hit, “We Belong Together,” Carey’s 10th studio project was immediately dubbed as her comeback album.

“In terms of having huge hits, [ TEOM ] definitely was a very successful album, so people were like, ‘It’s a comeback album,’” Carey tells Billboard . “For me, it was like a coming together of a lot of things with that album more than a comeback album. But they can call it that if they want to.”  

In honor of the upcoming 15th anniversary (April 12) of the now-iconic studio project, Carey reflects on the creative process, success, and legacy of The Emancipation of Mimi .  

What’s the first memory that comes to mind when it comes to The Emancipation of Mimi era? 

It really was a moment and it did feel special. When I think about all the different songs on [the album] and the different collaborators, the timing was just right. It was the first time I collaborated with The Neptunes, and it was the first time I worked with [the late James] “Big Jim” Wright as a producer with “Circles” and with “Fly Like a Bird.”

My most sacred memory from that time would be recording the vocals for “Fly Like a Bird” in Capri. I recorded a lot of other [tracks] there, too, but I just remember finishing that song and feeling like there was something so special about it. I work at night, especially when I’m singing, so I was watching the sunrise [while] listening back to the song, and I was just like, “I’m so proud of this song.”  

“It’s Like That” is one of your strongest album openers. Why did you decide to kick off the album with “It’s Like That” instead of “We Belong Together”?  

That was a major decision. L.A. Reid really wanted an uptempo song, and I have to give him credit for inspiring Jermaine [Dupri] and I to go in [the studio] and do an uptempo record. We had “We Belong Together” and then I was like, “How can we not go with that song first?” But L.A. [Reid] planned to release something with a little bit of tempo and then we’d do “We Belong Together.”

My gut wanted to go with “Shake It Off” first. In retrospect, it was the right decision, but at that time, I was loving “Shake It Off” so much. I think there was a feeling that maybe “Shake It Off” didn’t have a broad enough appeal, which is ironic because it ended up doing better than “It’s Like That,” but I loved doing “It’s Like That.” It’s kind of like a party anthem, and when I [perform] it live, I really love the energy that the audience has.

[The song] was pretty celebratory, because I had come off the Glitter debacle, and I had gone into Charmbracelet , which I still love as an album, but it didn’t have the same kind of broad appeal. When I went in to work on [ TEOM ], it wasn’t like, “Oh, I’m really going to kill them now.” It wasn’t that. It was just the way everything fell into place at that time – [including] collaborating with The Neptunes and Pharrell [Williams] for the first time, and even Young Genius, who was 15 years old when he did the beats for “Joy Ride.” I got to have fun and do things that people weren’t expecting. 

Do you remember where you were and what you were doing when you learned “We Belong Together” hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100?  

I don’t remember exactly where I was when I found that out, because from the time we released the song, it was kind of like wildfire. It just went, and it stayed number one for a long time, so I was happy with that. But my memories around that song are more [associated with] writing the song. After I left the studio, I got in the car and I just played the demo over and over. I was like, “This is going to be really monumental.” I didn’t know exactly how the moment was going to be, I just knew that I loved it.

When I was recording the vocals for “We Belong Together,” I spent a really long time doing the background vocal arrangement by myself in the studio. L.A. Reid happened to be in the building and he came to see me and he was with these financial guys. He says, “I want to come bring these guys by to see you,” and I’m like, “Oh no! He’s going to make me play it for him.” So I was like, “Let me just hurry up and do this outro.” And that pressure made me do my best, I guess. [ Laughs. ]

Talk to me about the album cover – it’s memorable because it’s clear you were a woman who was fully in charge of her own life and career at that point. How much thought went into the concept? Was there a specific statement you were trying to make with the artwork?  

We did a few different photos, and actually my favorite shot is the one that’s featured on the Platinum Edition. That thing I’m wearing is not even a dress. It’s something that wraps around your body. It’s so weird, but you just had to be confident in wearing something like that and just be really present. I was just in a moment where it’s like, “Look, people may have written me off, but I will never write myself off, and this is an important time for me.”  

“Say Somethin’” marked the first and one of the rare instances where you worked with The Neptunes. What was it like working with Pharrell Williams in his heyday?  

Those writing sessions were great. Pharrell is just such a vibrant person and artist, so I really enjoyed making that record with him and collaborating with Snoop [Dogg] again on that song. It wasn’t my usual session, because I did the vocals there with [Pharrell] in the studio. Usually I go in by myself and just do whatever I’m feeling, but it was a real collaborative moment. [The label] wanted to actually go with “Say Somethin’” as the lead single. [They] were like, “I love it, I love it. It’s so different for you. You should go with it.” I felt like it was a really strong album cut, but I didn’t see it as the first single for me, because I thought it was too different. I think we really made the right choice artistically to work [with Pharrell]. It was such a perfect time in my life and my career for that.

What track on TEOM took the longest to create and execute conceptually?  

There were a couple of songs on the album where I tried to go with more of a live instrumentation like “Circles” and “I Wish You Knew” – the audience is on that song. Those were [written and produced] with “Big Jim” Wright again – we were just in this little place in the Bahamas. We had written “Circles,” then I went upstairs and all of a sudden I heard another melody and it wasn’t for that song. I was like, “Did he leave yet?” Because Jim was about to leave, so I ran downstairs and said, “This is what I’m hearing .” [Hums the opening notes of “Fly Like a Bird”] So he stayed for a little while as we mapped out the music together, and then I wrote the lyrics by myself after the fact. I wanted to take my time with that one.

I would say [“Fly Like a Bird”] encapsulates who I am as an artist. It’s one of those career-defining songs.  

Many of the tracks on TEOM , such as “Mine Again,” “Stay The Night” and even the unreleased “When I Feel It” have that retro sound and they feel very much inspired by ‘70s R&B and soul. Did you set out to create that vibe?

“ When I Feel It” was just a track that [producer] Mahogany had, and I just tried to do an arrangement that would work for me as a vocalist on top of that track because it was already so laid out. I do think “Circles,” “Mine Again,” “I Wish You Knew,” and “Fly Like a Bird” definitely have that ‘70s vibe. I just wanted them to feel organic. So it wasn’t like this whole thing is going to be a retro album, but it was inspired by that type of music, especially because I started working with “Big Jim” Wright and he was such a consummate  musician that you couldn’t avoid trying to make the track feel not over-produced but just soulful.  

How did you feel when you first heard the album in full?  

We spent a long time working on the sequence for the album — listening to it and just really putting it together as a body of work, as a cohesive piece of music that almost feels like it was one song. The sequencing of the album, I think, had a lot to do with the success of the project, as well, because it very much blends together from start to finish, even though there’s peaks and valleys.  

Any favorite tracks off TEOM ?  

It’s really hard to pick. I love “Fly Like a Bird.” If I’m listening to the album, I would probably play “Fly Like a Bird” and I would play “Your Girl,” which we all knew was never really going to be a single, but it’s actually one of my favorites. Of course, I’m so thankful for “We Belong Together,” but I really appreciate this album from start to finish. I think it really did what it was supposed to do. I just had the best time working on it and really got absorbed in the process.

The quickest album I ever did was Rainbow , which took three months, and there was a reason for that, because I was moving labels. But I really did take my time with TEOM creatively. I recorded much of it in Capri with just me basically living in the studio with no distractions, and that’s what I love.  

What do you hope TEOM says about your legacy?  

I look at it as a very important time in my career, a very significant time for me as an artist. It was a sense of feeling triumphant when it was as successful as it was. I know a lot of people were introduced to me from that album, as well. So I would just love for people to take away the music from that album. I hope that it makes people feel good. That’s the goal.

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The Emancipation of Mimi

By Julianne Escobedo Shepherd

Pop/R&B

Island Def Jam

February 18, 2024

Mariah Carey is zipping up to Harlem in Cam’ron ’s purple Lamborghini when she suggests they ditch her security. It’s long past the middle of the night, they’ve outgrown the afters at her Tribeca penthouse and want some fun in the relative anonymity before dawn. Cam steps on the gas, gaining some distance on Carey’s detail in the SUV behind them, and speeds her to a brick church on 131st Street, where her great-aunt Nana Reese used to worship, and where her mother and father were married.

In Carey’s recounting, this moment occurs after the release of 2002’s Charmbracelet , her ninth album, and as a prologue to the creation of The Emancipation of Mimi , the massive 2005 release that would reinvigorate a career that, at that time, many in the music industry and media had left for dead. She had weathered the chaotic rollout of her 2001 movie Glitter , a commercial flop reviled by critics. Its accompanying soundtrack was released on 9/11, which Carey watched live on television from the communal room of a Los Angeles rehab facility. (More than a decade later, Carey would reveal she had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder.)

That July, she’d planned a stunt with MTV in which she rolled an ice cream cart onto the set of TRL to promote “ Loverboy ” and rambled a bit, calling it “my therapy session.” For the tightly controlled TRL , it was off-the-cuff and random, but after three decades of reality television, not that wild in hindsight. Yet host Carson Daly sniffed sensationalistically that “Mariah Carey’s lost her mind,” and the tabloids sneered that she was “crazy.” Her label, Virgin, paid her $28 million to leave its stable rather than put up with the flagging sales and negative press.

Charmbracelet , the result of a bidding war won by Island Def Jam, was layered and introspective but didn’t shoot her to the peaks she’d achieved in the past. Yet by the time she was joyriding in Cam’s Lambo, she had reached peace with what she had overcome— Glitter and a sexist, racist media culture trading on schadenfreude, but also the aftermath of her controlling and coercive marriage to former label boss Tommy Mottola and her fractured relationship with opportunistic family members. Outside the crumbling Harlem church, Carey contemplated her great-aunt and grandmother’s ownership of several brownstones despite their lack of formal education, meditated on the cumulative effects of the Jim Crow South, and recalled her devout Nana Reese, an “extra-crispy Christian.”

“So much of the pressure from the recent past had been lifted,” Carey wrote in her 2020 memoir with Michaela Angela Davis, The Meaning of Mariah Carey . “I had a new record deal. I had people who were excited and enthusiastic about my comeback. I had thought that Glitter would be the death of me, but it gave me new life. I took it as an opportunity to retreat, rest, and renew my purpose.”

At 35, Carey was primed to write The Emancipation of Mimi , named for a long-fought spiritual liberation and a nickname from her childhood. Though she had always considered herself a soul singer, Carey—a multiracial woman of Black American, Afro-Venezuelan, and Irish American descent—had been dogged by label suits demanding she remain in the “crossover” white pop space even after years of hip-hop-influenced singles and collaborations with rappers.

For the bulk of Mimi , Carey reunited with Jermaine Dupri , the So So Def super-producer who had worked on Charmbracelet , 1996’s “ Always Be My Baby ,” and produced her best remixes (“ Honey ,” “ All I Want for Christmas Is You ”). Their approach was contemporary, free, and in the moment, embracing Atlanta’s growing dominance in hip-hop and Carey’s desire to write bright and cheeky songs about love and relationships. At the same time, she was reinvesting in her spiritual faith, as manifested in one of Mimi ’s most powerful songs, “Fly Like a Bird,” a gospel soul track that features Bishop Clarence Keaton, the leader of the Brownsville, Brooklyn church she began attending regularly during the rough years at the turn of the millennium. “Don’t let the world break me tonight,” she belts, clear and emphatic. “I need the strength of You by my side.”

“Fly Like a Bird” is the only blatant godly part of Mimi . Like R&B throughout its existence but especially in the mid-2000s, the two moods are love and the club. Mimi ’s songs express the fun she’d been yearning for, making tactile the sound of an evolving woman who’d shook free from her albatross and kicked off her Choos. “When I see Mariah now,” Dupri told Joan Morgan at Essence in 2005, “I see her almost as a new person who’s lived a full life.” Carey’s new attitude paid off: Mimi became a colossal success, ultimately selling seven million copies in the U.S. Seven months after the album’s initial release, an Ultra Platinum Edition added an EP worth of remixes and songs, including the soon-to-be-everywhere, lush slow jam “Don’t Forget About Us,” which became Carey’s 17th No. 1 single and tied a record set by Elvis Presley (she later surpassed him). Untethered from the judgment of others, Carey returned with a vengeance.

From Mimi ’s opening track, “It’s Like That,” Carey signals her desire to put an end to the past. Over Dupri’s whistling synths and drum machine, she sets a boundary, drawing the line at “stress” and “fights”: “Mimi’s emancipation/A cause for celebration,” she chirps. “I ain’t gonna let nobody’s drama bother me.” The drum machine has a dinky clink at first, a common tic in the crunk era, but it’s a proportionate amount of dink that allows Carey to soar between the kick drums and cowbell. On the triple-time verses, she telegraphs that no matter her superstar status, her ears are angled toward the club: “All the fellas keep lookin’ at us/Me and my girls on the floor like, what?/While the DJ keeps on spinnin’ our cut,” she sings, cocksure in a fashion that would inspire two decades of dancefloors to mimic her pose, before unforgettably rhyming “Caution, it’s so explosive” with “Them chickens is ash and I’m lotion.”

Carey was lotion, and she was a hair-flip. She flaunted her impassivity to drama on “Shake It Off,” the slinking, mid-tempo radio hit built on a piano-propelled lowrider bounce. As she reads a laundry list of a paramour’s indiscretions, including “this one and that one by the pool, on the beach, in the streets,” her voice is baby-oil smooth and almost slack to signify her breezy indifference: She can’t even bother to entirely enunciate consonants. The whisper quality of her background vocals—“I gotta shake, shake, shake you off”—sounds like salt thrown over the shoulder to prevent bad luck, a gentle internal monologue that gives the song its nimble quality. On “Say Somethin’,” another chrome-smooth single—and, alongside the jaunty “To the Floor,” her first time collaborating with the Neptunes —Carey bats her eyes and flirts with a coy low register, the smoky persuasion of Snoop Dogg as her rapper foil. (The album cut, however, remains slightly inferior to the sublime So So Def remix with Dem Franchize Boyz.)

These three singles, as well as the breakup dirge and gigantic hit “We Belong Together,” are notable for what Carey is not doing in them: She is not performing vocal gymnastics, she is not hitting impossibly high notes, she is not venturing anywhere near music that could be considered overly emotional or even treacly. It is easy to get caught up in the mere fact of Mariah Carey’s voice, which is impressive and beguiling but invites the listener to get over-jazzed by her technical razzle-dazzle—her four-and-a-half-octave range, her whistle register, her melismatic backflips. This prowess can elide the emotion within each song, and on Mimi especially, she is exercising a characteristic rarely cited in exaltations of her genius: her total restraint. “I’ve just never wanted to only belt,” she told the New York Times ’ Lola Ogunnaike. “And when I sing breathy it feels more intimate.”

Her vocal self-discipline fit perfectly in a year when the biggest and most culturally resonant R&B hits— Ciara ’s “1, 2 Step,” Amerie ’s “1 Thing,” Kelis ’ “Milkshake,” even Rihanna ’s “Pon de Replay”—were sharp and contained. Those records played tight, streamlined production against simple, sometimes coquettish vocals, a response to the gospel-inflected power ballads that had dominated R&B in the ’90s, and Carey sat neatly within this zeitgeist. Her ability to convey the more sordid nuances of relationships—and assert herself as a much stronger woman finally having the best night on the town—was undeniable to fans old and new. Everybody loves a redemption narrative. Mimi was the best-selling album of 2005, ubiquitous on all radio stations and video channels, and remains the marker of when pop-R&B morphed irrevocably with hip-hop’s synthy shift (not to mention the mid-’00s dominance of the Korg Triton ).

In retrospect, Mimi feels like a pointed assertion of Carey’s relevance in the third decade of her career. She was catwalking out of the ’90s into a wiser, more authoritative iteration of herself—as signified by the futuristic album cover, where she stood gilded and celestially glowing, infinite golden leg aslant. Her exhortations to the physical world situated her within the moment too, as she sang about using the answering machine or changing the terrestrial radio station, technological concerns that would be dustbinned within a decade. (The last-call jam “Get Your Number” also places her firmly there, courtesy of Jermaine Dupri’s extremely 2005 delivery, though their playful good time at least gave us Michael Ealy as its video club hook-up.)

Behind the pop juggernaut, though, resides an extremely enduring soul record. Strip away the memory of hearing Hot 97 and MTV Jams play “We Belong Together” 12 times an hour, and it’s affecting how in the pocket Carey was. On “Stay the Night,” a newly famous Kanye West revs up the Stylistics’ “ Betcha by Golly, Wow ,” while Carey makes being a side chick sound like the most angelic pursuit in the world, singing in a rasp alongside the pops of the sampled record. On the chorus, when she belts “niiiiiiiight” and “liiiiiiight,” she mirrors the pure, planetary timbre of a very young Michael Jackson (a reminder that she covered “I’ll Be There” for her 1992 MTV Unplugged EP). On “Mine Again,” with its flourishes of Rhodes and flute, Carey channels Diana Ross without ever sounding like anyone but herself. “Circles” hearkens to classic Philadelphia soul with its warm bass guitar, sax, and other live instrumentation, showcasing Carey’s most kaleidoscopic talent: the way, when she harmonizes with herself, it evokes infinity mirrors in the most glamorous discotheques, so glittering as to be hallucinogenic.

Perhaps not unexpectedly, the initial reception to Mimi was lukewarm, and still marred by the negative reception of the Glitter era. (One 2005 interview with Carey in the New York Post began, “Everyone knows Mariah Carey is crazy,” as if the writer felt obligated to preemptively disclaim his praise.) Nonetheless, as Andrew Chan points out in the book Why Mariah Carey Matters , Emancipation brought in scores of new listeners who hadn’t grown up on “Vision of Love” or “Emotions,” maybe hadn’t even been born when those songs were released. To longtime fans, the initial critical reaction didn’t seem to matter, and the astronomical sales eventually nudged a reluctant critical establishment to come around. Carey’s attunement to what was popping on the streets showed, and her fealty to soul and self shone through. “There are so many intimate, special, inside, almost intangible details that are specific to me on that album,” she wrote in The Meaning of Mariah Carey . “You can actually feel my authentic emotions; there are no dramatic, overproduced ballads to appease label executives. This was pared down, simple, real shit.”

Mimi ’s best song is one of its simplest. The beat for “Your Girl” is based on the Kanye-style, sped-up soul record trend that was aflame at the time, but it was made by Scram Jones and samples an acoustic guitar from “ A Life With You ,” a 2004 song by the New Zealand R&B duo Adeaze. The premise is classic: a shy young woman makes up her mind to seduce a man she’s had her eye on for ages, asserting herself in his presence for the first time. The chorus is an exercise in exhilaration that arrives in a high-registered delirium—“You’re gonna know! For! Sure! That! I should be your girl!” Carey’s ecstasy is premised less on the potential for love and more on the rush of finally going after what she wants. It’s a transcendent moment so bright it’s nearly blinding.

There’s a Diplomats remix , too, which circulated on the DJ mixtapes—physical CD mixtapes, the kind procured from disinterested guys running tiny stalls on Canal Street—featuring Juelz Santana and Cam’ron at the peak of their fame. “Roll that purple and pop that Crissy/We the ’05 Bobby and Whitney, yo mami you with me?” Cam raps in the intro. “Forget security, you hopped in the whippy/We left the block at 160/Cops couldn’t get me/I’m gone.” The elusive chanteuse hums feather-light vocal runs around his verse, as if lost in thought behind her knowing smile, in ascension while the wind whips through her hair.

Additional research by Deirdre McCabe Nolan

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The Emancipation of Mimi

Like a fine wine, soul diva Mariah Carey matured into a classic vintage with the release of 2005’s The Emancipation of Mimi. The songs reflect a newfound intimacy and humor, while exploring gospel, hip-hop, and live band influences. The airy, then yearning vocals of “We Belong Together” are offset by the harmony-packed head-nodder “It’s Like That.” Meanwhile, blingtastic club bangers with Snoop Dogg and Pharrell Williams will start a party in your heart.

April 12, 2005 14 Songs, 50 minutes An Island Records and Mariah Carey Release; ℗ 2005 UMG Recordings, Inc.

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With ‘The Emancipation Of Mimi’, Mariah Carey staged a stunning comeback that resulted in hard-fought, record-shattering creative freedoms.

Published on

Comebacks don’t come much grander than The Emancipation Of Mimi . In the early years of the 21st century, Mariah Carey was looking for a new direction. Glitter had almost destroyed her movie ambitions at their very start, and 2002’s return to music, Charmbracelet , failed to yield any major hits, despite the help of Jam & Lewis and Just Blaze.

Determined to reclaim her momentum, Mariah set about recording The Emancipation Of Mimi with a renewed focus. As on many recent projects, the singer turned to a number of producers and writers, but it was Jermaine Dupri who shaped the collection’s signature tracks. Mariah wanted an upbeat feel to the record but was mindful that many of her biggest crossover hits had been emotive ballads. In songs like “It’s Like That” and “We Belong Together” she found the perfect solution.

Listen to The Emancipation Of Mimi on Apple Music and Spotify .

‘Cool For The Summer’: The Story Behind Demi Lovato’s Liberating Hit

Record-shattering achievements.

Both songs were composed with Dupri and among the last cuts to be completed for the album. “It’s Like That” was picked as The Emancipation Of Mimi ’s first single and returned Mariah to the US Top 20 on its release in January 2005. Later nominated for a Grammy for Best Female Pop Performance, it had replaced the shuffling “Stay The Night” on the release schedule – a sound move as, effective as it is, that song largely retrod ground covered in Mariah’s run of slick 90s singles. “It’s Like That” was something very different: a swaggering, of-the-moment, Run-DMC-sampling crowd-pleaser that featured rapper Fatman Scoop on top form. Mariah was most definitely – and defiantly – back on track.

But there was so much more to come. “It’s Like That”’s follow-up would elevate The Emancipation Of Mimi to a new level. “We Belong Together” is one of Mariah’s signature records, echoing the pop-soul smashes that she was famous for a decade earlier. Its gorgeous, timeless melody worked brilliantly across many radio formats and the single would spend a staggering 14 weeks on top of the US Hot 100, with Billboard declaring it the most popular song of the decade in due course. Its global awards and record-shattering achievements are simply too numerous to do justice to here, but the song was a staggering return to record-breaking form – all the bolder for its razor-sharp simplicity.

Hard-fought freedom

Released just a few weeks after “We Belong Together,” on April 12, 2005, The Emancipation Of Mimi (a fitting title, given that Mimi was a name Mariah used among her closest circle, and creative emancipation was certainly the order of the day) earned Mariah the best opening-week sales of her career to date. If anything, the album’s 14 songs liberated not just Mariah, but her legendary voice. Album closer “Fly Like A Bird,” which earned a belated single release in its own right, gives her vocal range a gospel -flavoured workout of spectacular ambition. Another stripped-back moment on which we can really hear her voice is the lounge ballad “Mine Again,” surely another candidate for single release if the competition had not been so strong.

Elsewhere, there were plenty of hands-in-the-air (and tongue-in-cheek) moments on the album. The Emancipation Of Mimi ’s third international single, “Get Your Number” (again featuring Jermaine Dupri), included a sample from Imagination’s 1982 European smash “Just An Illusion.” That was a reference few would have seen coming, but it proved an effective eyebrow-raiser in many markets. In the US, the song was paired with the Bryan-Michael Cox cut “Shake It Off,” which nicely bridged the gap between the previous two singles and made it all the way to No.2. It was kept off the top spot by the still-ubiquitous “We Belong Together,” only the second time a female singer had managed that double-billing in the US (Ashanti was the first).

Ahead of the pack

Rapper Twista joins Mariah on “One And Only” and Nelly appears on “To The Floor,” both effective album cuts that position Mariah as a credible urban draw when the out-of-the-park success of “We Belong Together” could have easily drawn her back towards the MOR heartlands she was obviously keen to visit, but not remain stranded in. “Say Somethin’” (with Snoop Dogg ) pushes things even further in a hip-hop direction but, overall, The Emancipation Of Mimi was a nicely balanced exercise between the R&B sound that spoke most strongly to the singer and the more familiar crowd-pleasers that would guarantee commercial success. Songs like “Circles” and “Joy Ride” don’t move her story too far forward, but successfully linger in the mind. In truth, there are no fillers here.

By the end of the year, with thoughts already turning to the reissue of the blockbuster album, a handful of new songs were recorded to promote its release. “Don’t Forget About Us” revisits the groove of “We Belong Together” and, again, was written with Jermaine Dupri, Johnta Austin and Bryan-Michael Cox. It returned Mariah to the top of the US charts in early 2006 and crowned a glorious 12 months. With awards season firmly in play, Mariah was once again ahead of the pack. Though the gap before her next album, E=MC 2 , would prove to be almost two years, Mariah was determined to make the most of this hard-fought creative freedom.

The Emancipation Of Mimi can be bought here .

April 30, 2020 at 4:24 pm

The Twister cut & the remix are the real gold from that album ….

October 19, 2020 at 6:54 pm

After reading her memoir these songs and her other album songs have so much more meaning. Mariah is a strong woman and she doesn’t have one bad album. No fillers in any of them.❤

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The Celebration of Mimi

• Edit source
• 1 Background
• 2.1 Fashion
• 4.1 Rehearsals
• 4.2 April 12 - Night 1
• 4.3 April 20 - Night 5
• 4.4 Merchandise
• 4.5 Promotional
• 7 References

Background [ ]

On February 6, 2024, Carey announced on social media that she would be returning to Las Vegas in April of that year with a new 8-date residency, running from April 12, 2024 to April 27, 2024 at Dolby Live at Park MGM. The Live Nation pre-sale began on Wednesday, February 7, 2024 and the Citibank cardmember presale began on Thursday, February 8, 2024, both at 10 a.m., while general sales for the event began on Saturday, February 10, 2024 at the same time.

Following Carey's announcement, Billboard reported that the "exclusive engagement" would be themed around the 19th anniversary of The Emancipation of Mimi (2005), Carey's 10th studio album, and that it would "feature fan favorites from that album as well as other hits from her unparalleled illustrious career." [1] Later that day, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Live Nation Las Vegas are donating $1 of every ticket purchased to the Fresh Air Fund 's Camp Mariah . [2]

On March 2, 2024, photographer Markus Klinko , who shot the album cover for The Emancipation of Mimi in 2005, revealed to Hello! that he was preparing to photograph Carey again ahead of the residency, "as she's using all the Mimi pictures" for inspiration. [3]

Carey posted a video of her rehearsing " It's Like That " on social media, accompanied by Daniel Moore II on the piano on March 22, 2024. [4]

On April 9, 2024, Carey posted a video of her rehearsing " Circles ." [5]

On April 11, 2024, exclusive items from the residency's merchandise catalog were revealed by Carey and made available for purchase on her official Amazon Store . [6] Later that day, due to extraordinary demand, the singer announced a second leg of the residency, running from July 26, 2024 to August 10, 2024. [7] The Ticketmaster official platinum presale and the Citibank cardmember presale for the new dates begam on Friday, April 12, 2024, both at 10 a.m., while the Ticketmaster, Live Nation, media and SiriusXM presales began on Monday, April 15, 2024 at the same time. Tickets went on sale for the general public on April 19, 2024, also at 10 a.m..

Production [ ]

Fashion [ ].

Speaking to Harper's Bazaar , Wilfredo Rosado , Carey's stylist for the residency, stated that the show's wardrobe was meant to celebrate Carey's entire career, while highlighting the ways in which she (and her style) have transformed as well." [8]

The opening number, a rhinestone-covered LBD from Laura Basci, paired with a dark blonde curly wig, hints at Carey's look from the " Vision of Love " music video and single cover, albeit representing the evolution of both her style and career.

The second look, a long pink gown by Robert Wun, is heavily reminiscent of Carey's pink dress from her performance at the 2006 Grammy Awards . For the third act, the floor-length skirt is removed and the now-mini dress is paired with a crystal bomber jacket by Prime Kreations with 'Mimi' encrusted in the back. Later, the jacket is replaced by a S Y L V I O pink sylk robe for the Butterfly medley, which is then taken off for the final song of the act.

The next look is a gold Sophie Couture dress, meant to resemble an updated version of the dress worn by Carey on The Emancipation of Mimi album cover. Initially paired with a custom butterfly-themed Jackie Cicogna Millinery mask, the bottom half of the dress is later detached to reveal a gold and cream mini-skit worn until the end of the act.

The final look is a crystal dress by Valdrin Sahiti.

Set list [ ]

• "Intro" (With elements from " Alone in Love ," " I Don't Wanna Cry ," " Vanishing " and " Love Takes Time ")
• " Vision of Love "
• " Emotions "
• " Make It Happen "
• " Can't Let Go / I'll Be There " (With Trey Lorenz )
• " Dreamlover " (Followed by "Dreamlover Reprise")
• "Dreamlover" (Def Club Mix, interlude)
• " Hero " (With elements from " Music Box ")
• " Without You " (Followed by "Without You Reprise")
• " Fantasy " (Bad Boy Fantasy)
• " Always Be My Baby "
• " Looking In " (Preceded by a piano solo performed by Daniel Mooore II )
• " Butterfly " / " Babydoll " / " Breakdown " / " Close My Eyes " / " The Roof (Back in Time) " / " My All "
• " Honey / Heartbreaker " (Mashup)
• " Loverboy " / " Don't Stop (Funkin' 4 Jamaica) " / " Didn't Mean to Turn You On " / " Last Night a DJ Saved My Life " / " Boy (I Need You) " / " Sunflowers for Alfred Roy " (Dancers interlude)
• " I Wish You Knew "
• " It's Like That " (Original Version / Tour Remix, with elements from "Here We Go" and "Sucker MC's" by Run-DMC)
• " Say Somethin' "
• " Your Girl "
• " Shake It Off " (With elements from "Don't" by Bryson Tiller)
• " So Lonely " / " Secret Love " (With elements from " Sprung ") / " Makin' It Last All Night (What It Do) " (Dancers interlude)
• " Circles "
• " Don't Forget About Us "
• " We Belong Together " (With elements from "Mimi's Late Night Valentine's Mix")
• " Fly Like a Bird "
• "Fly Like a Bird Reprise" (Outro)
• Heidi Klum and Tyra Banks joined Carey onstage during the performance of "Say Somethin'" on the fifth night.

Gallery [ ]

Rehearsals [ ].

April 12 - Night 1 [ ]

April 20 - Night 5 [ ]

Merchandise [ ]

Promotional [ ]

• The show marks Carey's fifth concert residency, following Mariah Carey Live in Las Vegas (2009), All I Want for Christmas Is You: a Night of Joy and Festivity (2014-2017), Mariah: #1 to Infinity (2015-2017) and The Butterfly Returns (2018-2020).
• "Looking In" since the MLB All-Star charity concert in 2013.
• "Butterfly" since the Butterfly World Tour in 1998 (not counting the "Butterfly Reprise" performed in several shows since).
• "Babydoll" since The Sweet Sweet Fantasy Tour in 2016.
• "The Roof (Back in Time)" since The Elusive Chanteuse Show in 2014.
• "Boy (I Need You)" since Carey's Hit Machine appearance in 2003.
• Additionally, it was also the first time "Don't Stop (Funkin' 4 Jamaica)," "Sunflowers for Alfred Roy," "So Lonely," "Secret Love," "Makin' It Last All Night (What It Do)" and "Circles" (not counting a cappella/acoutic snippets) were performed live.
• Carey raised the key of both "Vision of Love" and "Butterfly" for the residency: while the former raised by one semitone and is now performed in the same key as 1993-1999, the later was raised back to the original key.

References [ ]

• ↑ Sheckells, Melinda. (2024, February 6). Mariah Carey Returns to Las Vegas With The Celebration of Mimi Shows . Billboard. Retrieved February 6, 2024.
• ↑ Gardner, Chris. (2024, February 6). Mariah Carey Reveals Her Next Move: The Celebration of Mimi Residency at Park MGM . The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved February 7, 2024.
• ↑ Lewis, Rebecca. (2024, March 2). Exclusive: Iconic photographer Markus Klinko shares rare details of working with 'humble' Beyonce and 'super smart' Britney Spears . Hello!. Retrieved March 3, 2024.
• ↑ Mariah Carey [@mariahcarey]. (2022, March 22). See you in Vegas!! 🎉🎲 [Video]. Instagram. Retrieved March 22, 2024.
• ↑ Mariah Carey [@mariahcarey]. (2022, April 9). Countdown to The Celebration of Mimi 🎉🦋 See you in Vegas this Friday!! ❤️❤️ [Video]. Instagram. Retrieved April 9, 2024.
• ↑ Mariah Carey [@mariahcarey]. (2024, April 11). Get your Mimi on! 🤩 New merch to celebrate the new shows! 🎉🦋 link in bio 📌 [Photograph]. Instagram. Retrieved April 11, 2024.
• ↑ Mariah Carey [@mariahcarey]. (2024, April 11). The Celebration of Mimi continues this summer! We just added more Mimi shows this July 26 - August 10 at Dolby [Photograph]. Instagram. Retrieved April 11, 2024.
• ↑ Calfee, Joel. (2024, April 13). How Mariah Carey Is Capturing the Story of Her Career Through Costuming . Harper's Bazaar. Retrieved April 14, 2024.
• 1 Alison Carey
• 2 Patricia Carey
• 3 Alfred Carey

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Mariah Carey finds freedom ‘Emancipation of Mimi’

Old habits die hard, and so it is that Mariah Carey finds herself at a downtown recording studio well past midnight, rehearsing with her band for shows promoting the release of her new album, “The Emancipation of Mimi.”

Carey’s well-known workaholism hasn’t changed. But what has, she says, is her approach to her work: It’s no longer all-consuming, the most important thing in her life — and it no longer defines who she is.

“I’m kind of at the point where as long as I can make music, I’m not absorbed by it,” says Carey, kicking off her stiletto heels and stretching out on a black leather couch before her late-night session begins.

“There’s a way bigger world, and a way bigger picture than just living for that, and getting knots in your stomach every time you’re worried about what’s your chart position,” she adds. “It’s not that deep. I know who I am as a person, I know who I am as an artist, and I know who my fans are.”

Reclaiming Mariah the person is the whole basis of the album as Carey seeks to redefine her image, which has yet to fully recover from the kind of fall from grace that seems to inevitably bewitch most pop superstars.

In 2001, she was at her peak, signing a reported $80 million deal with Virgin Records after a chart-busting run at Sony, which was then headed by her former husband and mentor, Tommy Mottola.

Later that year, however, she was hospitalized twice for physical and emotional breakdowns close to the release of her movie debut, the much-derided “Glitter.” That led to her being painted as an unstable diva, and Virgin bought out her contract for nearly $30 million.

Another poor-selling album, 2002’s “Charmbracelet” (on a new label, Island Def Jam), added to her commercial malaise. Many questioned whether she could return to the breathtaking success that defined most of her 15-year career — when every album was a multi-platinum success and No. 1 singles flowed as smoothly as her multi-octave voice.

Carey, 35, calls the hoopla over her troubles overblown, and remains frustrated that it’s still a topic of discussion.

‘A blip of a moment’ “I feel like that’s over and anybody that deals with that is kind of like living in four-years-ago land,” she says, calling it a “blip of my moment in my career, which has spanned almost half of my life.”

Carey doesn’t avoid talking about that “blip” — she’s candid when discussing the troubled times. But she clearly doesn’t like revisiting it, and regrets her label’s insistence that she do so on “Charmbracelet” with the album’s first single, “Through the Rain.”

“Everybody wanted me to be like, ‘Let’s have that moment, let’s sit and cry with Oprah, let’s just have tearful moments of like, ‘I’ve overcome this.’ (But) I think I was still overcoming it,” she says, noting her father had died of cancer a month before that album’s release.

“It was like, I don’t wanna go through this again. This was so sensationalized and it was so over-dramatized, the whole breakdown moment, which was like literally something that lasted like a two-day moment.”

Perhaps more damaging to her psyche was her five-year marriage to Mottola, 18 years her senior. He signed her when she was just a teen to Columbia Records and shaped her blockbuster career in its early years. They divorced in 1998; she describes it as an “abusive relationship.”

After she wriggled out of the marriage, she reveled in her freedom, which explains her move toward hip-hop and revealing outfits.

“I think everybody was shocked,” she says. “I don’t think anything I’ve ever done has ever been in poor taste, or too sexual ... (but) I did push the envelope for me, a little bit out of rebelliousness. Like, I could do whatever I want. For years, I wasn’t allowed to wear anything but a turtleneck and a full-length coat and a boot. After a while, it’s like, I can have fun, and be sexy in a video too?”

While she’s still looking quite sexy — she arrives for the rehearsal in a tight tank top, tight jeans, her long blond locks in perfect place — she’s no longer dressing to out-Britney Britney Spears.

“Yes, there has like an image change. A slight image change, because it’s still me,” she says. “I didn’t come out with like, auburn hair and a turtleneck up to here,” she says, gesturing to her neck.

And while she still coos with rappers and can sing circles around the competition, she’s more into soulful nuances than the high-pitched vocal gymnastics that have defined some of her other songs.

“I think for the last couple of times, the direction of her records have been decided by somebody else, so when she comes to the studio in the past, she comes with a lot of different ideas,” says superproducer Jermaine Dupri, a longtime collaborator and friend (Carey, as always, co-wrote and produced most of the new album).

This time, Dupri says, “she knew what kind of record she wanted — a feel-good record.”

No guarantees for No. 1 spot Still, she’s hardly guaranteed of the No. 1 spot anymore on the charts, especially since newer divas — Alicia Keys and Beyonce among them — have ruled in her absence.

But Island Def Jam Chairman Antonio “L.A.” Reid, who arrived at the label after “Charmbracelet” was released, says Carey need not worry.

“There’s only a few people who sing. She’s one of the few singers and very few really great singers ... and the beauty of Mariah is if you really take a snapshot of her career, she’s always had the support of the youth.”

So far, the buzz on the record has been positive. “If this record gets her back on track, I think people are going to be raving about her musically again,” says Rick Krim, executive vice president of music talent at VH1, where her video has been strongly received.

Carey, though, professes not to care — she’s more interested true emancipation of Mimi — that’s her nickname — from the pressures of fame.

As she sits on the couch, she notes that the interview is taking place in the very room where she got her big break — auditioning to be a backup singer for Brenda K. Starr, a room that Carey had not entered in years. That teenage girl is who Carey identifies with — and she wants to keep some of that inside her.

“I feel like the journey that I’ve gone on was a blessing, because it brought me back closer to the person that I was first stepped into this room,” she says. “I was a scared kid who just loved music and wanted to sing and had the desire to sing.”

“So, no, I don’t feel like I have to prove anything on this record. I’m just thankful for the record. I’m in a really good place right now in my life, and I’m grateful to God for everything that I have.”

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Mariah Carey’s 25 Greatest Songs

Posted: June 27, 2024 | Last updated: June 27, 2024

25. Sweetheart (with Jermaine Dupri)

24. Don't Forget About Us

23. Anytime You Need a Friend

22. Make It Happen

21. Breakdown (feat. Krayzie Bone & Wish Bone)

20. Can't Let Go

19. I Still Believe

18. I'll Be There (feat. Trey Lorenz)

17. Love Takes Time

16. Someday

15. Obsessed

14. Touch My Body

13. Heartbreaker (feat. Jay-Z)

12. All I Want for Christmas Is You

9. Dreamlover

8. Emotions

7. Without You

6. One Sweet Day (with Boyz II Men)

4. Always Be My Baby

3. We Belong Together

1. Vision of Love

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