Mariah Carey: Charmbracelet Album Review (2002)

Welcome back everyone, today we are going to continue with Mariah Carey’s album cycle with her nineth album Charmbraclet. Yeah, the Glitter era was a disaster. After Glitter, her contract with Virgin was bought out for $28 million. Mariah would sign another deal with Island. Instead of tapping in to modern trends, Mariah decided to tap in to some of her deeper works. So what the people think, this was Mariah’s most personal album to date. Let’s look.

Mariah Carey "Charmbracelet"

1.       Through The Rain: The leadoff single for this project and it’s probably the least known leadoff single up to this point. And am I the only one that’s reminded of Mariah’s Theme from Rainbow. It’s an inspiration song that shined the light on her tumultuous 2001. Honestly, Mariah has done this better (again Mariah’s theme), but the song is still good but it doesn’t go beyond that. (GOOD)

2.       Boy (I Need You): The first thing that comes to mind was the Oh Boy sample by Cam’Ron. For me, I never was the biggest fan of Cam’Ron nor Dipset so I knew I wasn’t going to like this. For one, it relies to much on the sample. You Cam’Ron could remixed this himself and call it the Maraih Remix. Two Mariah’s vocal performance, it feels like she not giving her best and it’s more doing a favor for Cam’Ron. In other words, it’s a lousy Mariah Carey song (BAD)

3.       The One: Jermaine Dupri returns for this one, and one things Jermaine knows how to do is bring out the best out of Mariah. Well, I’m not sure about this one. He starts the song off with a spoken interlude as he dedicates this song to anyone who has been hurt by past relationships. Mariah is one of those who has been hurt in past relationships. She’s tired of playing in this game but she believes that this one could be the one. I don’t know feel like this song could be on Mimi and it feels like this song is a therapy session. Not a bad idea, but I’m just lukewarm on this as a whole. Okay at best (DECENT)

4.       Yours: This one does have something going on mostly on production which was done by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, like most of this album. However, this one feels very Janet Jackson esqe of this era. Not a bad thing, Janet was still popular in that era. This is a song that has me feeling nothing. Even the content isn’t interesting. Just leaves me empty and not in a good way (DECENT)

5.       You Got Me: Back with the hip-hop collabs and this one features Freeway & Jay-Z, the former I am not familiar with. This is another semi-dud here. Freeway just decides to drop Mariah references then he say he’s like honey and she’s Winne The Pooh, corny. And Jay-Z, he said his love will stick like Velcro (all the Jay-Z fans, he was taking the time recovering from getting ethered). Let me say this, what made Heartbreaker (the previous Hov & Mimi collab) work was the chemistry. This time there’s little to none. And I’m not the fan of the chorus. In other words, not saying this is bad but it’s not memorable (DECENT)

6.       I Only Wanted: At this point I am still looking for a song to stick for me. And this one might be one of the first. One of the reasons is that this feels as such is because it feels like an old school Mariah song (My All-esc again). For the first time, Mariah is able to shine vocally as up to this point she has been using the whisper tone. Two, she only wanted her man to stay that’s what she wanted. Is it better than My All, no, but there is quality to this, so I’ll take this. (GOOD)

7.       Clown: And this brings us to Clown. Everyone should know that this is a diss track towards Eminem. I mentioned this on my Mariah bio that the two had a kinship but it soured. Eminem decided to diss Mariah on the song “Superman”. Mariah decided it was time to clap back. Well, Mariah talked about their first encounter and how it shouldn’t have became more of that. Mariah is kind of pressed because she drops the F-bomb during her first verse. She also calls Eminem a novelty act that’s not going to stick and mention Without Me because what happens when the star of the show goes down. But there’s one tiny problem with this song. Mariah vocals as she using the whisper tone yet again. Maybe it’s me because I rarely hear diss songs where it isn’t rapper v rapper. In all, I appreciate the effort but this could’ve been better. Just saying. (DECENT)

8.       My Saving Grace: Mariah haven’t tapped into gospel elements in a minute and this might be the best song on the album. Sure, the gospel songs aren’t for me but it’s the most vocally sane she’s been on this album. Content is self-explanatory and while this is interpolating this toward Jesus Christ and the non-religious folks would interpolate as their significant other but Mariah made sure that it’s about the Lord on the last line. And while this might not be a song I’ll go back to often but if I am feeling discouraged I wouldn’t oppose. Just goes to show you that there is no shame on calling on His name. (AMAZING)

9.       You Had Your Chance: First thing that comes to mind was the Nuthin But a G Thang sample. And once again the sample is doing all the work. There isn’t much else to this, you’ll only remember the song for what is sample and I’ll close on this. Who told Mariah to whistle register on the notable keys. Other than that, there’s nothing to this. Move on (DECENT)

10.   Lullaby: For a song called lullaby I expect to be put to sleep to this. But it’s doesn’t. This song is about Derek Jeter how I know this was in the second verse she mentions “The Roof” which was about Derek Jeter. Can’t confirmed if they were together at the time.  This song is kinda of a pivot. The production is able to match the whisper singing even if the song is five minutes long. I wouldn’t call it great but I think there’s enough quality to make this good. (GOOD)

11.   Irresistible (Westside Connection): First thing that comes to mind was the Ice Cube sample. Like with the previous west coast songs she put up to this point, they do little to elevate even if I think this is the best of the bunch, mostly for WC even if Ice Cube’s verse is very stiff. But once again, the song does little to excite good on the ears, but not much else countering it. (DECENT)

12.   Subtle Invitation: Twelve songs in and I found little that stuck around. But this is one of the few that stuck for me. One of the questions I asked myself, why is the song called subtle invitation even if those words are never said in the song? In the chorus, she saying if your girl becomes the heartbreaker of mistreating you, Mariah will invite you to the Mariah experience. The most memorable part of this song is the traditional R&B production, old school and authentic. There might not be much to go back to but this song might be the one. Go revisit this (AMAZING)

13.   Bringin' On The Heartbreak: Our cover song of the day comes from Def Leppard, Mariah must have a thing for rock songs. The original that I never heard of till now, I find very interesting. Mariah cover, I’m okay with this too because she made this her own even if I’m reminded of American Idol with this song. I can hear this cover being sung on that show. Does this song overshadow the original? Yes to an extent but I do think both are good, I’ll take it (GOOD)

14.   Sunflowers For Alfred Roy: This song talks about her father. He passed during the making of this album. I mentioned this many times that Mariah had a strained relationship with her father and was unsure that she had contact with him during his final days. But in this song, Mariah makes peace, sure she was bitter in the past but realized that it was pointless to hold grudges. Song itself, I wouldn’t put this in Dance with My Father Territory, but it’s heartfelt. I considered this a good closer (AMAZING)

15.   Through The Rain (Remix): That’s what I would’ve said if Mariah tack on the remix. And while I loved hearing Joe voice again but it didn’t do much. Stick to the Original (DECENT)

Final Thoughts: Let me say this, with every Mariah review I have done and yet to do, I have been familiar with at least one track. This was the first time I wasn’t familiar with any songs from this album. Throughout this process I figured out my biggest problem with this album. Every song on this album would be fillers on any other Mariah albums (with exceptions). So with that being said 6/10 for Charmbraclet, there wasn’t much here for me just average. Next album, Emancipation of Mimi, Mariah's comeback album.

Best Songs: My Saving Grace, Subtle Invitation, Sunflowers for Alfred Roy

Worst Songs: Boy (I Need You) (ft. Cam’Ron)

6/10