Mariah Carey has long been a diva of the music scene and we’ve been only too happy to let her be there, as long as she used to thrill us with that awesome voice of hers. Sadly, all good things must come to pass.
"Glitter" has to be one of the worst albums ever by Mariah. Not only does she sound tired and disinterested, the songs themselves are awful. There is some attempt at experimentation - using rap stars alongside her vocals - but that just made me cringe all the more. As far as the actual numbers go, the much-touted "Loverboy" is quite disheartening from an artist of Mariah’s calibre. Then you have "Last Night A DJ Saved My Life", which is as stupid and incongrous a song as I’ve ever heard. This is followed by "Don’t Stop", another rap/funk mixture which just belittles Mariah’s voice.
"Never Too Far" and "If We" are probably the only songs in which she sounds close to her awesome best, as witnessed in the classic "Hero". But even with her voice, how can you pardon the lyrics and genreal overall sound of this album? You can’t.
This article was first published on08 Oct 2001.