“I could not have written this album — which I truly love — without having gone through those hard times. That was the case with my first album, and Butterfly, and a few of my other albums. Sometimes, the greatest art comes from pain. It would be nice to not have to go through that, but I’m growing to accept that life is full of bumps in the road. The gratifying part is when you can come out on the other side tougher and wiser — and with some great songs, “I started writing and recording the songs that would later go on this album before I had a deal. I needed to be absorbed in the process of making music purely for the sake of expressing myself for a while. There were no deadlines, no pressures. I made music as a means of centering myself after all of the drama I’d endured. I found incredible inner peace and clarity in the creation of these songs.”

Charmbracelet is the ninth studio album by Mariah Carey, released in North America on December 3, 2002, through MonarC Entertainment and Island Def Jam. The album was Carey’s first release since her breakdown following the release of her film Glitter (2001) and its accompanying soundtrack album. Critics described Charmbracelet as one of Carey’s most personal records, following 1997’s Butterfly. Throughout the project, she collaborated with several musicians, including Jermaine Dupri, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, 7 Aurelius and Dre & Vidal.

According to Carey, love is the album’s main theme, and the songs combine introspective and personal themes with celebration and fun. The album contains a mixture of R&B beats, and the songs incorporate elements of other genres, such as gospel and soul. Compared to Glitter, which featured a variety of sampled melodies from the 1980s, Charmbracelet has a softer hip hop and R&B sound to it. Cam’ron, Jay-Z and Freeway also appear on the album.

The album debuted at number three on the US Billboard 200 chart, and sold 241,000 copies in its first week. Internationally, the album reached the top-ten in Japan and Switzerland, peaked inside the top-forty in seven other countries, and has sold over three million copies worldwide. Three singles were released to promote the album. The lead single, “Through the Rain” reached number one in Spain and peaked inside the top-ten in Canada, Switzerland, Sweden, Italy and the United Kingdom. In the US, it topped the Hot Dance Club Play chart, but stalled at number 81 on the Billboard Hot 100.

To promote the album, Carey embarked on the Charmbracelet World Tour (2003-2004) and performed on televised programs such as the 30th Annual American Music Awards, Today, The View, the Soul Train Music Awards and The Oprah Winfrey Show. Internationally, she traveled to several countries to promote the record, including a performance on the Brazilian program Fantástico, in addition to several acoustic performances and interviews on MTV Europe and MTV UK.

Tracklisting