Raiff Celebrates Mariah's 20 Years in Music: 2002

Posted by Raiff on Thursday, 27-May-2010, 12:01PM EDT

After a physical and emotional breakdown, an unsuccessful movie, a slow-moving album, and a greatest hits collection released to little fanfare, it was safe to say that 2001 had not been Mariah's best year.

The year 2002 got off to a bumpy start. In January, Virgin Records announced that they were ceasing Mariah's four-album contract, and paid her $28 million. In a joint statement, she stated that "This is the right decision for me. I look forward to the many new and exciting opportunities, which have now been presented to me. I wish Virgin well."

Ironically, things were looking better on the acting front. Mariah made a cameo appearance on Ally McBeal as Candy Cushnip, a woman involved in a lawsuit against a dating service. A week later, Mariah was off to Utah to attend the Sundance Film Festival, where WiseGirls received a standing ovation. Roger Friedman of Fox News said that "Carey looks relaxed and comfortable as she plays a savvy waitress in an upscale Staten Island mob joint... Her line delivery is sharp and she manages to get the right laughs. She shows good comedic timing in places where you wouldn't expect her to get it right."

In 1990, Mariah Carey kicked off her career with a show-stopping performance of "America The Beautiful" before the crowd at the NBA Finals. Twelve years later, she found herself in a similar scenario. After a tough year both personally and professionally, she picked up the pieces and sought a new beginning. She found it in New Orleans. On February 3, Mariah brought down the house at the Super Bowl. Barbara Walters said on 20/20 that "she gave patriotism a new voice. You could have heard a pin drop during her rendition of the National Anthem." US raved that "the New England Patriots weren't the only underdogs who ruled on Super Bowl Sunday. Mariah Carey overcame recent career setbacks to kick off the big game in New Orleans with a glass-shattering rendition of 'The Star-Spangled Banner.'" A couple of weeks earlier, she had given another stellar performance when she serenaded Muhammad Ali with "Happy Birthday" on a televised tribute to the boxing legend.

And on this note, Mariah returned to the studio to work on her next record. She was in talks with labels but had not signed a deal, so the new album did not have a distributor or an anticipated release date, but that didn't stop her creative juices from flowing. One of her first sessions brought her to the Bahamas, where she collaborated with producer 7 Aurelius, who described the experience to MTV News as "amazing" and "really special." Together, they created a handful of songs with a live band, ranging from uptempos to ballads. News reports revealed that Mariah was also working with DJ Quik, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis.

Mariah and her new album found a home in May, when she signed on with Universal Music Group. "I'm incredibly happy," she said in a statement. "It's a tremendous and unprecedented opportunity.... I am excited to be a part of [the Universal] family." As part of the deal, Mariah would have her own label underneath the Island/Def Jam imprint. Her label would be named MonarC, a combination of her initials and her love for the symbolism of butterflies.

Mariah continued writing and recording for the new record throughout the spring and summer, bringing Jermaine Dupri on board in addition to her previously announced collaborators. "I recorded in Capri. It's a very small island, a serene environment," Mariah revealed in a promotional interview. "Mainly I just sleep up in the studio, there's an apartment on top of the studio and I go downstairs and I do my work and I'm kind of like away from my cell phone and my pager and people and other stuff, and I can totally focus on writing and singing."

In July, Alfred Roy Carey, Mariah's father, passed away after a bout with cancer. Although the two had not been close for many years, they had a chance to reunite and reconnect in the weeks and months leading up to his death. Mariah recalled to MTV News:

"I do have really nice memories and he actually saved everything I've ever made for him in my life since I was two years old, and I have it. It's like in this folder that he made for me... I thought he didn't even know my songs and people were like, 'Come on, like he doesn't know your songs?' But he just didn't talk about it. He thought, like when I was singing in 'Vision of Love,' 'suffered from alienation' and all those things I was saying; he thought that was about him, and me feeling abandoned by him, which it totally wasn't... We had this intense conversation and then he said to someone else, 'Mariah told me such and such, that really means so much to me, that lifted such a burden off of me.' Meanwhile, I never knew it. So I just thank God that I had that time and that we were able to clear the air of everything."

Mariah wrote about the experience of reconnecting with her father in a song titled "Sunflowers For Alfred Roy."

In September, Mariah's new music was ready to be heard. "Through the Rain," the first single from the new album Charmbracelet. The song was enthusiastically received by radio programmers, including John Ivey, Program Director at Los Angeles' KIIS FM, who stated that "'Through the Rain' is something we had to play right away. This ballad is classic Mariah.'" Despite the anticipation of her first new music on her new label, "Through the Rain" was not a hit and failed to make Billboard's airplay charts. The song's music video was filmed in New York City, and depicted the courtship and marriage of Mariah's parents, who "made it through the rain," despite their parents' objection to their inter-racial romance.

Universal Music launched an aggressive promotional campaign for the new music, beginning in September with a series of radio interviews surrounding the impact of "Through the Rain." In October, Mariah went on her first-ever listening party tour, which brought her to nine cities across the US, where fans from her online "street team" were treated to a preview of six new songs, in addition to a photo and autograph session.

Throughout the months of October and November, Mariah travelled around the world to plug Charmbracelet, including stops in Europe, South America and Japan, where she filmed the video for the album's second single.

With a December 2 release date set for the album, Mariah returned to the U.S., where she was all over television for the album's first week. A four-song concert at the Mall Of America for The Today Show was followed by performances on Oprah and The View, as well as interviews with Dateline NBC, Larry King Live, and an MTV concert special called "Shining Through the Rain." She also paid honor to Stevie Wonder with a rousing rendition of "You & I" at the BET Walk of Fame's tribute to the music legend. With all of this promotion, wasn't Mariah worried about having a repeat of the previous year's events? Not at all, she told MTV's John Norris:

"I will never allow myself to be at that point. Like, that's the one thing I learned," she said. "Now if it comes down to it, I'll just have to say no, lock my door, and say good night. And whatever happens happens. The bottom line is, it'll be me that ends up losing money or losing an extra bit of promotion, and that has to be okay with me because life is too short."

Mariah's worldwide promotional tour was documented in a VH1 special called "What It's Like: Mariah Around The World."

Charmbracelet featured some of Mariah's most personal and stripped-down work to date. USA Today, which raved that "Carey sounds like gold on Charmbracelet, likened the jazzy "Subtle Invitation" to an Anita Baker record, and described Spanish-guitar ballad "I Only Wanted" as "elegantly wistful." The New York Post felt that the record was "warmly human - a tough feat in an electronically charged pop world," while The Boston Herald proclaimed that "This is the Mariah that people swooned over in 1990."

Collaborators on Charmbracelet included rapper Cam'Ron, with whom Mariah re-created his hit "Oh Boy," and Just Blaze, who produced "You Got Me," featuring Jay-Z and Freeway. While fans and casual listeners had by now grown used to, and come to embrace, the increasing R&B/hip-hop sound in Mariah's music, one song on this record was not to be expected: a cover of rock band Def Leppard's hit "Bringin' on the Heartbreak." Rolling Stone described the song as "the catchiest cut [on the album]...a fantasticly overblown orchestral remake." While many critics and fans alike were pleased with Mariah's "Bringin' on the Heartbreak," one demographic was not: Def Leppard fans. Guitarist Phil Collen of Def Leppard defended Mariah, saying that her cover was "a genuine version of our song. The fans really get it wrong sometimes. She's on our side and it's an honor she's done it." A re-worked radio version featured Dave Navarro on guitars.

On the pop side of the album, one collaboration that did not make the record was a duet with Justin Timberlake on "Yours." Mariah's solo version appeared instead, and while she stated that the duet would be released as a single down the line, that never came to be.

Charmbracelet sold 241,000 copies in its first week in the U.S.- twice as much as its predecessor Glitter had sold in its first seven days. The album debuted and peaked at #3 on the Billboard charts, but that would be its only week in the top ten before it quickly declined down the charts. Charmbracelet fulfilled global sales expectations, selling 3 million worldwide. Although the album would not reach blockbuster status by any means, Mariah's presence with it was far from over. She would continue trecking around the world in 2003, and would even release more new music from it.

MARIAH QUOTES

"Life hits you with lemons, you make lemonade. That's the only thing I can do. The thing is, I asked for this fame and I got it, so this is what comes with it. Understandably, no-one is out there going, "Oh, poor Mariah." FHM

"Everybody thinks I'm like a cartoon character. Just today somebody told me they were surprised I was doing this interview in a hotel because they'd heard I wouldn't walk on carpet! I'm like, "I lived in a hotel for three years, so what else would I walk on? what am I gonna do, fly into the room?" FHM

"I'm inspired, each time I go in, to do something a little different, yet something that's still the core of who I am. I think that music speaks and crosses all boundaries." Promotional interview for "Through the Rain."

"It's not so much a barrier as a reality. If I go out, I'm still Mariah Carey. I think I do gravitate towards famous people because maybe they'll get it. Would I go out with Joe Schmo? Yes, if Joe Schmo would come and talk to me," Mariah says with a laugh. "And had a job." Glamour

"I'm not Little Miss Priss. Well, I am in my own way, like the fact I can count the number of men I've been with in my life on one hand. I was with Tommy, I was with Derek and I was with Luis. I didn't date anybody else." Glamour

COLLEAGUES' QUOTES

Lyor Cohen, Island/Def Jam President/CEO: "Despite offers from many of our competitors, we are delighted that Mariah has chosen Island as the place to begin the next phase of her unprecedented career, The hallmark of Island Records has always been to take the current model of bringing music to the fans, turning it on its head, and redefining it for a new generation."

7 Aurelius: "She's an amazing writer," he said. "We did three or four songs in three or four days. The way we was doing it, I had [a horn section] down there along with me. We had the whole room set up with candles, some nice wine — [it was] a very good vibe. It was completely stripped down, like 'Mariah Carey Unplugged.' She stripped herself down to her talent. She was really trusting of me and my vision, and I was trusting of who she was."

Joe Elliott, Def Leppard: "I think she's done a very good job [with "Bringin' on the Heartbreak]. It's faithful to the arrangement, but not done like a rock song. Her astonishing vocal gymnastics towards the end ... make Minnie Riperton sound like Tom Waits."

Mary J Blige "[Mariah] was going through a lot in her life... I don't care what people go through. I'm not gonna turn my back on anyone because of what someone else says. The press really knows how to beat you up and make you look bad in front of everyone."

Toni Braxton: "I like the things that Irv Gotti is doing with hip-hop tracks and R&B with Ashanti. To be honest, Mariah Carey really pioneered that. All people wanted to talk about was her shorty-short shorts, but forget the chances she took. Mariah with ODB...what was she thinking? When I heard it, I said, 'I get it, Mariah. Hands up, girl!'"

TV APPEARANCES