Exactly one month ago, superstar Mariah Carey released her 12th studio album ‘Memoirs of An Imperfect Angel’ with a far from fantastic debut on the Billboard charts. Not only did the record fail to capture the top spot, but it spawned the lowest first week sales of her career with only 168, 000 units sold. To date, the album has managed to sell only a dismal 275, 000 copies.
This is beyond random. ‘Obsessed’ is a certified platinum hit (which I’m sure made a certain other poster on this site gag) and the album got way better reviews than the lukewarm ‘E=MC²’. Add that to strong material and impressive live vocal performances, many thought the album would have been a huge hit.
I sense the real downfall of the album came with the choice of ‘I Want To Know What Love Is’ as the “first” single (o please). The label thought it would be a guaranteed ‘stone-groove smash hit wonder’. However, just because critics favour a track does not mean that the DJ’s or radio will support it. The same thing happened with the garbage that was ‘Bye Bye’.
It’s a fact that Mariah herself was pushing for ‘H.A.T.E.U’ to be released instead, voicing her annoyance almost every time she sang ‘I Want To Know What Love Is’ in concert. No wonder there have been murmurings of her planning to leave Def Jam for a while now. I’d imagine an artist of Mariah’s caliber does not like to be told what to do in the vein a random R&B chick would, especially when they are proven right. Whether this album will even go Gold remains to be seen…