It wasn't supposed to be this way.
Mariah Carey's first album for Virgin Records was supposed to be a triumph, an album that confirmed her status as pop's reigning diva, while serving as the soundtrack to a film that proved her crossover status was every bit as potent as that of her unexpected arch-rival Jennifer Lopez.
Instead, Glitter proved to be an utter meltdown -- the pop equivalent of Chernobyl.
It's hard not to sympathize with everybody involved, actually, from Mariah herself, to all the musicians and producers involved in this and the film, plus the label that shelled out millions of dollars for a proven quantity that suddenly stopped delivering the goods.
Because Glitter is a catastrophe -- it captures Mariah on a downturn of creativity and popularity, just when she needs to shine the brightest, and then it was paired with an extremely public emotional breakdown, highlighted by a bizarre appearance on TRL, where she was seemingly dressed only in a T-shirt and handing out Popsicles, plus a scarily suicidal message posted and then quickly deleted from her website.
Poor Mariah! Poor Virgin! Who could have predicted this pop perfect storm? And, when you're seeing it unfold, or listening to it unspool, it's hard not to be shocked by the miscalculation of every aspect of Glitter.
Superficially, it's not that all far removed from her last Columbia album, Rainbow, but if that record illustrated the freeing effect of her divorce from Tommy Motolla, this album shows that Mariah needs some guiding force, something to keep her on track.
Otherwise, she sinks into gormless ballads, covers of early-'80s funk tunes that sound exactly like the originals, hip-hop funk that plays plastic and stiff.
This touches on everything Mariah tried before, but nothing works -- not the oversinging, not the sentimental, not the desperate attempts for street cred.
If she indeed was paranoid about Lopez's career and success, as certain tabloid reports indicated, she shouldn't have made a record that seems to ape On the 6 the way that album slavishly followed prime Mariah.
It's an embarrassment, one that might have been easier to gawk at if its creator wasn't so close to emotional destruction at the time of release.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Loverboy [Remix]Larry Blackmon, Da Brat, Mariah Carey, Thomas Jenkins, Ludacris, Shawnna | Mariah Carey, Da Brat, Ludacris, Shawnna | Play | 04:30 | 10 MB | 32 MB |
| 2 | Lead the WayWalter Afanasieff, Mariah Carey | Mariah Carey | Play | 03:53 | 8 MB | 26 MB |
| 3 | If WeJeffrey Atkins, Mariah Carey, Nathaniel Hale, Howard Hersh, Damion Young | Mariah Carey, Nate Dogg, Ja Rule | Play | 04:20 | 9 MB | 30 MB |
| 4 | Didn't Mean to Turn You OnJames Harris III, Terry Lewis | Mariah Carey | Play | 04:54 | 11 MB | 38 MB |
| 5 | Don't Stop (Funkin' 4 Jamaica)Mariah Carey, DJ Clue?, Toni Smith | Mariah Carey, Mystikal | Play | 03:37 | 8 MB | 25 MB |
| 6 | Reflections (Care Enough)Mariah Carey, Pierre Philippe | Mariah Carey | Play | 03:20 | 7 MB | 22 MB |
| 7 | Last Night a DJ Saved My LifeMichael Cleveland | Mariah Carey, DJ Clue?, Fabulous, Busta Rhymes | Play | 06:43 | 15 MB | 46 MB |
| 8 | Want YouMariah Carey, Terry Lewis, James "Big Jim" Wright | Mariah Carey, Eric Benét | Play | 04:43 | 10 MB | 34 MB |
| 9 | Never Too FarMariah Carey, Terry Lewis | Mariah Carey | Play | 04:21 | 10 MB | 30 MB |
| 10 | TwisterMariah Carey, Terry Lewis, James "Big Jim" Wright | Mariah Carey | Play | 02:26 | 5 MB | 15 MB |
| 11 | LoverboyLarry Blackmon, Da Brat, Mariah Carey, Thomas Jenkins, Ludacris, Shawnna | Mariah Carey, Cameo | Play | 03:49 | 8 MB | 27 MB |
| 46 mins | 107 MB | |||||
| 46 mins | 330 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Walter Afanasieff | Composer |
| 2 | Jeffrey Atkins | Composer |
| 3 | Eric Benét | Performer, Primary Artist |
| 4 | Larry Blackmon | Composer |
| 5 | Elliott Blakey | Assistant |
| 6 | Lee Blaske | String Arrangements |
| 7 | Busta Rhymes | Guest Artist, Performer, Primary Artist |
| 8 | Cameo | Guest Artist, Performer, Primary Artist |
| 9 | Mariah Carey | Arranger, Composer, Executive Producer, Primary Artist, Producer, Vocal Arrangement, Vocals, Vocals (Background) |
| 10 | Dana Jon Chappelle | Engineer, Mixing, Vocal Engineer |
| 11 | Michael Cleveland | Composer |
| 12 | Da Brat | Composer, Guest Artist, Performer, Primary Artist |
| 13 | Damizza | Producer |
| 14 | DJ Clue? | Composer, Primary Artist, Producer, Vocals (Background) |
| 15 | Nate Dogg | Guest Artist, Primary Artist |
| 16 | Fabulous | Performer, Primary Artist |
| 17 | Tony Gonzales | Assistant |
| 18 | Kevin Guarnieri | Assistant Engineer, Digital Editing |
| 19 | Nathaniel Hale | Composer |
| 20 | Fernando Harkless | Flute |
| 21 | James Harris III | Composer |
| 22 | Michael Herring | Guitar |
| 23 | Howard Hersh | Composer |
| 24 | Steve Hodge | Engineer, Mixing |
| 25 | Ja Rule | Guest Artist, Performer, Primary Artist |
| 26 | Jimmy Jam | Arranger, Executive Producer, Producer, Production Assistant |
| 27 | Rick James | Composer |
| 28 | Thomas Jenkins | Composer |
| 29 | John Kennedy | Violin |
| 30 | Clark Kent | Producer |
| 31 | Anthony Kilhoffer | Assistant |
| 32 | Terry Lewis | Arranger, Composer, Executive Producer, Producer, Production Assistant |
| 33 | Bryan Loren | Keyboards |
| 34 | Trey Lorenz | Vocals (Background) |
| 35 | Ludacris | Composer, Guest Artist, Performer, Primary Artist |
| 36 | Bob Ludwig | Mastering |
| 37 | Brenda Mickens | Violin |
| 38 | Mystical | Performer |
| 39 | Mystikal | Guest Artist, Performer, Primary Artist |
| 40 | Jon Nettlesbey | Assistant |
| 41 | Pete Novak | Assistant |
| 42 | Tim Olmstead | Assistant |
| 43 | Derek Organ | Drums |
| 44 | Pierre Philippe | Composer |
| 45 | Alice Preves | Violin |
| 46 | Alexander Richbourg | Drum Programming |
| 47 | David Rideau | Engineer |
| 48 | Torrel Ruffin | Guitar |
| 49 | Leslie Shank | Violin |
| 50 | Shawnna | Composer, Primary Artist |
| 51 | Pitnarry Shin | Cello |
| 52 | Ryan Smith | Assistant |
| 53 | Toni Smith | Composer |
| 54 | Xavier Smith | Assistant, Assistant Engineer, Mixing |
| 55 | Jason Stasium | Assistant |
| 56 | Tamas Strasser | Violin |
| 57 | Mary Ann Tatum | Vocals (Background) |
| 58 | Twenty II | Guest Artist |
| 59 | James "Big Jim" Wright | Composer |
| 60 | Bradley Yost | Assistant, Assistant Engineer, Mixing |
| 61 | Damion Young | Composer |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |