Glitter (album)

Glitter is a soundtrack album by American singer Mariah Carey, recorded for the film Glitter and released in the United States on September 11, 2001 by Virgin Records. It was a commercial failure compared to Carey's previous albums, and professional reviews either praised her for the new territories she explored (Rolling Stone declared it "a big step forward in terms of maturity for one of pop music's eternal kids" and gave it a three-star review) or criticized it as a disconcerting departure.

It was released shortly before the film Glitter, in which Carey starred, which was also a critical and commercial failure. Carey has cited the September 11, 2001 attacks as one of the reasons the album failed. In an interview, she said: "I released it around 9/11. I became a punching bag. I was so successful that they tore me down because my album was at No. 2 instead of No. 1. The media was laughing at me and attacked me." The album debuted at number seven on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart, remained in the top twenty for two weeks and on the chart for just twelve. It has been certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America and sold about four million copies worldwide, less than a million of which were in the U.S.

The lead single "Loverboy" peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and went on to become the best-selling single of 2001 in the U.S. (partly due to a price cut), but the album's follow-up singles were far less successful. However, Glitter was a number-one selling album in countries such as Japan, where it became the first international soundtrack to reach the number one position.

The song "If We" was later re-worked by Damizza and released as a single titled, "What Would You Do" with Butch Cassidy, Nate Dogg and Carey in 2004. Conflict between Damizza and Shade Sheist led Damizza to recruit Cassidy to replace Sheist on the single version. Sheist retaliated with his own remix titled "G-Mix", which is a re-worked version featuring Nune and Carey. "What Would You Do" was popular on the west coast of the U.S. (where Carey had performed it while on tour in Los Angeles), but it was a failure elsewhere in the country. The song received minimal airplay in Europe.

Track listing

1. "Loverboy" (remix) (feat. Ludacris, Shawnna, Twenty II, and Da Brat) — 4:30 (Mariah Carey, Larry Blackmon, Thomas Jenkins)
2. "Lead the Way" — 3:53 (Mariah Carey, Walter Afanasieff)
3. "If We" (Ja Rule featuring Mariah Carey and Nate Dogg) — 4:20 (Jeffrey Atkins, Mariah Carey, Nathaniel Hale, Howard Hersh, and Damion Young)
4. "Didn't Mean to Turn You On" — 4:54 (James Harris III, Terry Lewis)
5. "Don't Stop (Funkin' 4 Jamaica)" (feat. Mystikal) — 3:37 (Mariah Carey, DJ Clue, Duro, Mystikal, Tom Browne, Carrollyne Smith)
6. "All My Life" — 5:09 (Rick James)
7. "Reflections (Care Enough)" — 3:20 (Mariah Carey and Philippe Pierre)
8. "Last Night a DJ Saved My Life" (feat. Busta Rhymes, Fabolous, and DJ Clue) — 6:43 (Michael Cleveland)
9. "Want You" (feat. Eric Benet) — 4:43 (Mariah Carey, James Harris III, Terry Lewis, and James Wright)
10. "Never Too Far" — 4:21 (Mariah Carey, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis)
11. "Twister" — 2:26 (Mariah Carey, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis)
12. "Loverboy" — 3:49 (Mariah Carey, Larry Blackmon, Thomas Jenkins)