Contemporarily, commercial comebacks don’t come any bigger than Mariah Carey‘s trailblazing return to supremacy with ‘The Emancipation of Mimi.’
A legendary body of work that is now celebrating its 15th anniversary.
Prior to its release on April 12th 2005, the diva’s career was on uncertain terrain.
The tanking of 2001’s ‘Glitter’ effectively KO’d her colossal Virgin Records deal and 2002 follow-up ‘Charmbracelet’ (her first release for Island Def Jam) did not deliver commercially — despite favourable reviews and media omnipresence on the promo trail.
Fortunately for the songbird, the latter LP – her first under the tutelage of LA Reid – would prove to be the calm before the seismic storm.
For, following the one-two punch thrown by ‘Emancipation’s preceding singles ‘It’s Like That’ and ‘We Belong Together,’ Mariah would go on to ignite one of the hottest streaks of her illustrious career. And blaze her way to the top of the Pop cultural landscape.
With ‘Mimi,’ the star earned her 16th and 17th #1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, was certified 6x Platinum in the US (pure sales), and sold 12 million copies of the album worldwide. Very much a Tina Turner ‘What’s Love Got To Do With It’ moment for the 00s. And arguably a story and level of success that has yet to be seen since.
In salute of the set’s landmark anniversary, which notably comes months after Carey’s 19th #1 and weeks after her 50th birthday, That Grape Juice have tallied our top tracks from ‘The Emancipation Of Mimi.’
Check out the list below…
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