The Emancipation of Mimi

该专辑发行于2005.11.15,终极白金版中附赠了了几首原专辑中并未发行的单曲，Don't Forget About Us"; "What It Look Like"; "So Lonely (One & Only Part II)"; "We Belong Together" ，同时包括赠送的DVD包括几首MV"It's Like That," "We Belong Together," "Shake It Off," 以及从未公开的"Get Your Number"。

和以往一样，Mariah本人参与了专辑全部歌曲的创作和制作，并请来了众多重量级的制作人，还邀来天王级饶舌歌手Snoop Dogg，Nelly等友情献声，制作阵容可谓豪华！

专辑的第一支主打歌曲，"It's Like That"，推出4周在没有销售没有MV的情况下仅仅靠点播就强势登上公告牌杂志Top 20。而单曲MV，更是请来尖峰时刻的导演Brett Ratner执导，MV中还有很多大牌客串，包括金牌制作人J.D.，R&B天王Brian Mcknight，电视秀Saturday Night Live的主持Ana Gasteyer等，值得一提的是，已经息影多年的Eric Roberts（大嘴美女Julia Roberts的胞兄）担当了MV的男主角，相当值得期待！

专辑的名称中的Mimi，是Mariah Carey的妮称，Mariah解释说这样是为了更贴近歌迷，而Emancipation就预示着Mariah Carey又一次的飞跃和释放。

正如这张专辑的名称，"Mimi的解放"(Mimi是Mariah Carey名字的昵称)这张专辑里，Mariah Carey与前几张专辑一样亲自参与了每一首单曲的创作，她为这些单曲填上了极其能够代表个人心态的歌词，音乐上也努力的希望把Mariah Carey和她那招牌式的嗓音释放出来，更重要的是在这张重磅打造的专辑里的每个细节都有着顶尖的高手来协助制作，美国流行乐金牌制作组合The Neptunes担任了多首主要单曲的制作人，Jermaine Dupri不仅担任制作人，还亲自献声于"Get Your Number"，同时在专辑中献声的还有Snoop Dogg、Twista、Nelly等在各路说唱音乐里威震一方的大腕。担任制作人的还有在格莱美奖上风光无限的Kanye West。

不过，假如专辑中的某些歌曲Beyonce来表演比较合适的话，Mariah Carey来表演就不一定很合适，甚至是有些令人难以接受的。虽然在歌曲内容上，与Mariah Carey很贴近，但是在音乐上却离人们广泛认可的印象中的Mariah Carey有些距离。也许完美的Mariah Carey带给人的印象太深，也许顶尖制作人们打造的带有更多黑人音乐特点的某些单曲与Mariah Carey的演唱风格还确有些不协调，总之，这张专辑没有带给人们更多的经典Mariah Carey式的经典单曲，但可以肯定的是，《The Emancipation Of Mimi》已经足以帮助Mariah Carey走出了事业的低谷，已经从低谷中得到"解放"的Mariah Carey的下一张专辑更加值得期待。

另两版封面大图:





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The Emancipation of Mimi is the tenth studio album by American singer and songwriter Mariah Carey, released in the United States on April 12, 2005, through Island Records. Following the relatively poor critical and commercial reception to her albums Glitter (2001) and Charmbracelet (2002), The Emancipation of Mimi was considered Carey's "comeback album" by critics and became her highest-selling release in the US in a decade. In composing the album, the singer collaborated with many songwriters and producers throughout 2004, including Jermaine Dupri, Snoop Dogg, Twista, Nelly, Pharrell Williams and James "Big Jim" Wright, many of whom appeared as featured guests on select tracks.

Carey opted to use her personal nickname 'Mimi' in the title, revealing a more intimate side of the singer, as seen in the album's declarative theme of emancipation from her personal and commercial setbacks. Although it has similar vocal production to her previous works and an inclination towards her signature ballads, the album encompasses dance-oriented and uptempo styles in keeping with its celebratory motif. Critics noted the theme of independence and lack of restraint, dubbing the album a "party" record. In contrast to the pop and adult contemporary music styles that framed her previous releases, The Emancipation of Mimi showcases a wider range of genres, exploring R&B-related styles, such as 1970s retro gospel and soul.

The Emancipation of Mimi received generally positive reviews; critics billed it as Carey's best vocal performance in years and an improvement from Charmbracelet. The album debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 with the highest first-week sales of Carey's career at the time. It entered in the top five on the albums charts in Argentina, Canada, Denmark, France, and Japan, as well as on the European chart. The Emancipation of Mimi was the best-selling album of 2005 in the US, and the second-best seller worldwide. By April 2008, it had sold more than 12 million copies.

Carey achieved international success with the first two singles from the album. "It's Like That" became one of her highest-charting songs in years, reaching the top twenty in several countries. "We Belong Together" accumulated 14 weeks at number one in the US, and was later hailed "song of the decade" by Billboard. It reached number one in Australia, number two in New Zealand, and achieved top-five positions in several European countries. To promote the album, Carey performed at the 48th Grammy Awards and the American Music Awards of 2005. In 2006, she embarked on her sixth concert tour, The Adventures of Mimi. (wiki)

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by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

The titular "Mimi" of The Emancipation of Mimi is, by all accounts, an alter ego of Mariah, a persona that captures Carey's true feelings and emotions. In case you didn't know what "emancipation" means, Mariah helpfully provides a dictionary definition of the word in the opening pages of the liner notes for her eighth proper album: it means "to free from restraint, control, oppression, or the power of another" or "to free from any controlling influence" or "to free somebody from restrictions or conventions." So, on The Emancipation of Mimi, Mariah frees herself from the constraints of being herself, revealing herself to be -- well, somebody that looks startlingly like Beyoncé, if the cover art is any indication. Mimi, or at least the sound of her emancipation, sounds remarkably like Beyoncé, too, working a similarly sultry, low-key, polished club groove. And that's the main story of The Emancipation of Mimi: since the reserved, tasteful adult contemporary pop of 2002's Charmbracelet failed to revive her career, she's done a 180 and returned to R&B, in hopes that maybe this will create some excitement. It's not a bad idea, particularly because Mariah could use any change at this point, and it's not executed all that badly either, as all 14 tracks -- heavy on mid-tempo cuts and big ballads, with a few harder dance tunes featuring big-name guest rappers scattered along the way -- all follow the same deliberately smoky, late-night template. While the Neptunes provide the best dance cut here with "Say Somethin'" (featuring a cameo by Snoop Dogg), especially welcome are some nice old-school '70s smooth soul flourishes, best heard on James Poyser's deliciously sleek "Mine Again" and such "Big Jim" Wright productions as "I Wish You Knew" and "Fly Like a Bird." As good as those Wright-helmed cuts are, they are also the times that the mixes slip and don't hide the flaws in Mariah's voice, and it sounds as airy, thin, and damaged as it did on Charmbracelet, where her ragged vocals dealt a fatal blow to an already weak album. Here, apart from those Wright tracks, the producers camouflage her voice in a number of ways, usually involving putting the groove and the sound of the production in front of the vocals. While the tunes aren't always memorable, it does make for a consistent album, one that's head and shoulders above the other LPs she's released in the 2000s, even if it doesn't compare with her glory days of the '90s. Ironically enough, a big reason why The Emancipation of Mimi doesn't sound as good as those '90s albums is that Mariah never sounds like herself on this record. When she's not sounding like Beyoncé, she sounds desperate to be part of the waning bling era, dropping product placements for Bacardi, Calgon, and Louis Vuitton, or bragging about her house in Capri and her own G4, all of which sounds a little tired and awkward coming from a 35-year-old woman in her 15th year of superstardom. Disregarding these two rather sizeable problems, The Emancipation of Mimi still works, at least as a slick, highly crafted piece of dance-pop -- it might not be as hip as it thinks it is, nor is it as catchy as it should be, but it's smooth and listenable, which is enough to have it qualify as a relative comeback for "Mimi" Carey.