Mariah Carey: Rainbow (25th Anniversary Expanded Edition) (Columbia/Legacy) - review | Under the Radar Magazine Under the Radar | Music Blog for the Indie Music Magazine
Saturday, February 8th, 2025  

Mariah Carey

Rainbow (25th Anniversary Expanded Edition)

Columbia/Legacy

Jan 16, 2025 Web Exclusive

By the release of Rainbow in 1999, Mariah Carey had charted a winning path to success on her own terms. Following the commercial and critical triumph of 1995’s incredible “Fantasy (Bad Boy)” remix featuring Ol’ Dirty Bastard, melding Carey’s otherworldly vocals with the electricity of a hyperactive hip-hop feature or a silky R&B groove was near-certain to yield impressive results. Importantly, that remix came about at Carey’s insistence against an unenthusiastic management team, and her new creative lane represented a satisfying underdog victory.

It’s energizing 25 years later to hear Carey basking in the successes of her own fought-for artistic freedom on Rainbow. She sounds unshakeable on tracks like “How Much”—a kinetic R&B duet with fellow powerhouse vocalist Usher—or on the elastic, TLC-inspired “X-Girlfriend,” where a self-assured Carey sounds equally dismissive and sympathetic to a lover’s previous partner (“you’ve gotta leave him / I know that hurts”).

Still, Rainbow, and its reissue’s bonus material (a scattered assortment of remixes, live recordings and bonus tracks), is often marred by a disorientating asymmetry. Sun-kissed R&B is wedged uncomfortably next to exhaustive ballads. The album struggles to finesse Carey’s many vocal talents into a cohesive few. There are certainly gems sewn into the record’s fabric, but awkward pacing means that Rainbow doesn’t shine to the potential that Mariah Carey, at the height of her powers by the late ’90s, was likely capable of. (www.mariahcarey.com)

Author rating: 6.5/10

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Average reader rating: 2/10



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