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Film soundtrack

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 US on September 11, 2001 by Virgin Records. Mixing dance pop, funk, hip hop and R&B, the album was a departure from Carey's previous releases, focusing heavily on a 80's post disco sound to accompany the film which was set in 1983. The singer collaborated with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis and DJ Clue, who also co produced the album. The album several musical acts such as Eric Benét, Ludacris, Da Brat, Busta Rhymes, Fabolous, and Ja Rule. Upon release, both the album and its accompanying film were panned by critics. Retrospective reviews, however, have been largely positive, with many saying the album was unfairly maligned. Despite this, Glitter was universally viewed as a commercial and critical failure, leading to Virgin Records dropping Carey from the label and buying her out of their $80 million contract. While the album debuted at number seven on the US Billboard 200, it marked Carey's lowest first week sales at the time. Internationally, it topped the charts in Japan and Greece. Several singles were released, including "Loverboy", which served as the lead single from the album and quickly became Carey's lowest charting lead single globally and peaked at number two on the US Billboard Hot 100. Subsequent singles failed to make much of an impact on prominent global charts. Nearly two decades after its release, Glitter began to attract wide praise from mainstream critics and has developed a cult following. On May 22, 2020, Carey announced the album's release on streaming services.

The album beings 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, the same day as the September 11 attacks, 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.

The website Metacritic, which averages professional reviews into a numerical score, assigned the album a score of 59/100, 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, alongside her second album Emotions (1991), coming in at number four. It remained in the album's chart for only eight weeks, and was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), denoting shipments of 500,000 units; and as it fell from the charts, received platinum certification, denoting shipments of 1 million in the US. As of November 2018, Nielsen SoundScan estimates sales of the Glitter album at 666,000 copies in the United States. 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.

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.

Glitter performed poorly at the box office. Following the poor sales of the album as well, Virgin invoked a clause in its contract with Carey that allowed the label to remove itself from the $100 million deal for approximately $28 million. Less than 24 hours after the settlement was made, Virgin released a statement that they had "terminated" the contract with Carey, and paid her $28 million to do so. Kara Brown of Jezebel praised Glitter and cited: "Mariah was ahead of us all and the time is now". Mike Waas of Idolator commented that Glitter was "a misunderstood [record]" and called it "the biggest pop music injustices of the 21st century". Daniel Welsh of MSN gave the album a positive feedback and felt that "the brilliance of Glitter has gone unappreciated for too long". In a later article for Complex, Michael Arceneaux described the album as "the perfect '80s tribute". In a Vulture article, Dee Lockett described this record as "undeniably ahead of its time even despite it being an homage to disco." In 2017, Everett Brothers of Billboard ranked "Lead the Way" as the second most underappreciated song of Carey's discography, while "There for Me", a B side track of "Never Too Far/Hero Medley" 2001 single, was picked as the third best song out this rate. Brothers argues that "Lead the Way" shows Carey's "strongest vocal performance of the 2000s." Rich Juzwiak of Gawker ranked "Loverboy" as the eighteenth best single of Carey's career. In 2014 article for MySpace, Steven J. Horowitz praised a remix version of "Loverboy", which was included to Glitter tracklist: "Mariah invoked the ‘80s and relatively played the background to satiating verses from hot right nows and longtime friends.". He placed this version on the 11th place of Carey's all remixes rating, while Mark Graham of VH1 ordered this remix as the thirtieth best song of her catalog. In October 2020, after 19 years, the original version of "Loverboy", with the "Firecracker" sample, was released as part of the compilation album The Rarities. In an article celebrating 20 years of Glitters release, Billboard writer Jon O'Brien stated that,"Glitter was heavily criticized at the time for overloading its ten tracks with guest rappers. DJ Clue, Busta Rhymes and Fabolous essentially relegate Carey to supporting player on a perfunctory cover of Indeep's club classic "Last Night a DJ Saved My Life," while Nate Dogg and Ja Rule compete for attention on the anachronistic turn of the century hip pop of "If We." Yet look at any given top 10 from the last decade and you could argue Carey was simply foreshadowing a time when every other hit has a featuring, vs or x credit". PopMatters writer Peter Piatkowski called it one of the "best dance pop albums of the last 20 years."

In November 2018, the album became the subject of a campaign by Carey fans as part of the build up to her fifteenth studio album, Caution. Promoted on social media with the hashtag JusticeForGlitter, the campaign resulted in the album reaching number one on the iTunes albums charts in several countries including the United States, and top 10 in several countries worldwide.

+Release dates and formats for GlitterRegionDateFormat(s)Label(s)Ref. (Reference(s)) Australia September 1, 2001 CD EMI Japan September 3, 2001 Sony Music United States September 11, 2001 Various May 22, 2020 Streaming