Glitter is the soundtrack to the 2001 film of the same title and the eighth studio album by American singer-songwriter Mariah Carey. It was released in the United States on September 11, 2001 by Virgin Records.
Following the release of Carey's album Butterfly in 1997, she began working on a film and soundtrack project titled at that time as All That Glitters. However, Columbia Records and Carey were also working on a greatest hits album to be released in time for Thanksgiving season in November 1998.
Carey signed with Virgin and aimed to complete the film and soundtrack project. As part of her contract on her $100 million five-album record deal with Virgin Records, Carey was given full creative control. She opted to record an album partly mixed with 1980s influenced disco and other similar genres, in order to go with the film's setting. In early 2001, Carey's relationship with Latin singer Luis Miguel ended, while she was busy filming Glitter and recording the soundtrack. Due to the pressure of losing her relationship, being on a new record label, filming a movie, and recording an album, Carey began to have a nervous breakdown. She began posting a series of disturbing messages on her official website, and displayed erratic behavior while on several promotional outings. While some critics favored the album's retro style, and inclusion of several sampled melodies, many felt that Glitter lacked originality, and its excess of guest artists overpowered Carey's artistry.
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Music and lyrics
The album begins with a remix of "Loverboy" featuring a sample from Cameo's "Candy", which interpolates its instrumental and its melody into the song's chorus. The song's lyrics and vocals were described as "super-sexed" by Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine when put into comparison with Carey's previous work. The remix featured rap verses from Ludacris, Da Brat, Twenty II and Shawnna. The ballad marked the last song composed by the pair, as they halted work with one another shortly after its completion due to their growing creative differences.
"If We" featured rapper Ja Rule and Nate Dogg and garnered comparisons to Ashanti and Christina Milian. "Didn't Mean to Turn You On" is a cover of the 1984 Cherelle song of the same title. Lyrically, the song's protagonist "laments the end of a relationship", while also confronting her mother regarding her early abandonment. "Want You" featured American singer Eric Benét while lyrically implying and suggesting the "exploration of bedroom fantasies." It features "a bed of synthesized strings, gentle drums and Spanish-style guitar" as its primary instrumentation, and incorporates violin and keyboard notes prior to the first verse. According to Carey, Twist took her own life in the spring of 2000, and was known for her joy of life and her ability to put people at ease. Following Carey's publicized hospitalization and breakdown, as well as Virgin's price reduction on the single, "Loverboy" managed to attain a new peak of number two on the chart. Although being propelled by high sales, radio airplay was still weak, due to many radio DJs feeling tepid towards its 1980s retro sound. Accompanied by little promotion from Carey, due to her hospitalization, "Loverboy" quickly descended the Hot 100. The music video for "Loverboy" features Carey dressed in a variation of revealing outfits, while patrolling a large race track as her 'loverboy' wins the race. The video was notable for portraying Carey in a more sexually oriented manner than before. It failed to impact the main Billboard chart, and achieved weak international charting. Carey was unable to film a music video for the single, as she was still recovering from her collapse.
The album's third single, "Don't Stop (Funkin' 4 Jamaica)", released on September 11, 2001 mirrored the same weak charting as "Never Too Far", although receiving more rotation on MTV due to its video.
The fourth and final single released from Glitter was "Reflections (Care Enough)", which received a limited release in Japan on September 27, 2001. Following its limited promotional push from Virgin, and the absence of a music video, the song failed to make much of an impact.
Critical reception
The website Metacritic, which averages professional reviews into a numerical score, assigned the album a score of 59 out of 100, indicating "mixed or average reviews". AllMusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine gave the album two and a half out of five stars, calling it an "utter meltdown -- the pop equivalent of Chernobyl" and wrote "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." Nichols called the album's covers "tepid and pointless", while agreeing that Carey was overwhelmed by the many guest rappers, calling her voice "semi-disguised". Glitter became Carey's lowest-peaking album in the United States, remaining on the album chart for only 12 weeks, and being certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), denoting shipments of 1 million units in the US. As of November 2018, Nielsen SoundScan estimates sales of the Glitter album at 666,000 copies in the United States. In Canada, the album peaked at number four on the Canadian Albums Chart. Glitter entered the Australian Albums Chart at its peak position of number thirteen, during the week dated September 9, 2001. Remaining in the chart for only three weeks, the album made its exit at number forty on September 23.
In both the Flemish and Wallonian territories in Belgium, Glitter peaked at numbers ten and eleven, respectively, while charting for a total of four weeks. In France, Glitter peaked at number five on the albums chart, during the week dated September 15, 2001. Following seventeen weeks fluctuating in the chart, the album was certified Gold by the Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique (SNEP), denoting shipments of 100,000 units. Reaching its peak position of number twelve the following week, the album remained a total of six weeks in the albums chart. In Switzerland, the album peaked at number seven, and stayed within the chart for ten weeks. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) certified Glitter Gold in Switzerland, for shipments of 20,000 copies. On the UK Albums Chart dated September 22, 2001, the album made its debut at number ten. The following week, Glitter fell to number twenty-seven, staying in the chart for one more additional week. British sales of the album are at 55,080 units as of July 2014. In Japan, Glitter saw particular commercial success, debuting atop the albums chart and selling 450,000 units within a month of release. The album has sold over two million copies worldwide as of 2002.
Controversies
"Loverboy" sample
thumb|right|upright|190px|[[Jennifer Lopez was accused of copying the sample used in "Loverboy" in her number one hit "I'm Real".]]
Throughout 2000, Carey had already been writing and recording material for Glitter and during this period, she developed the concept for "Loverboy". Originally, Carey had sampled the melody and hook from the 1978 Yellow Magic Orchestra song "Firecracker", using an interpolation of it throughout the chorus and introduction.
Ultimately, Carey was unable to use the original sample, as Lopez's album was to be released far earlier than Glitter.
TRL incident
Following commencement for Glitter and the release of the soundtrack's lead single "Loverboy", Carey embarked on a short promotional campaign for the song and its parent album. On July 19, 2001, Carey made a surprise appearance on the MTV program Total Request Live (TRL). As the show's host Carson Daly began taping following a commercial break, Carey began singing "Loverboy" a cappella from behind a curtain. Seemingly anxious and exhilarated, Carey began delivering individual bars of ice cream to fans and guests on the program, while waving to the crowd down below on Times Square, and joking that the event was her "therapy". Only days later, Carey began posting irregular voice notes and messages on her official website:
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I'm trying to understand things in life right now and so I really don't feel that I should be doing music right now. What I'd like to do is just a take a little break or at least get one night of sleep without someone popping up about a video. All I really want is [to] just be me and that's what I should have done in the first place ... I don't say this much but guess what, I don't take care of myself. When questioned regarding Carey's suicidal rumor, Berger claimed Carey had broken dishes out of desperation, and as a result, accidentally cut her hands and feet.
Project delay
Following the heavy media coverage surrounding Carey's publicized breakdown and hospitalization, Virgin Records and 20th Century Fox delayed the release of Glitter, as well as its soundtrack of the same name. The announcement was made on August 9, 2001, that both the soundtrack and the film would be postponed three weeks, respectively from August 21 to September 11, and from August 31 to September 21.