The Emancipation of Mimi

Untitled

The Emancipation of Mimi is the fourteenth album by American singer-songwriter Mariah Carey. The album was released in the United States by Island Records on April 12 2005 (see 2005 in music) and, accompanied by generally positive reviews, it debuted at number one with the highest first-week sales of Carey's career. It was certified three times platinum by the RIAA, and is Carey's best-selling in the U.S. since Butterfly (1997).

The album has produced four singles — "It's Like That", which reached the top twenty of the Billboard Hot 100; "We Belong Together", her sixteenth U.S. number-one single; the number two single "Shake It Off"; and "Get Your Number" (featuring Jermaine Dupri), a top ten single in the UK. The next U.S. single from the album is "Don't Forget About Us".

Album information

The Emancipation of Mimi has been one of Carey's most well-received albums in years. While critics generally believe Daydream (1995) to be her best, they tend to agree that her two previous studio albums, Glitter (2001) and Charmbracelet (2002), were generally uninspired, and have hailed The Emancipation of Mimi as a return to form.

The album has fewer songs with rappers than do its predecessors: it only features four, of whom three sing (not rap) most of their parts. Many of the songs had rap sections cut; for example, N.O.R.E was supposed to be on "Your Girl", and Ludacris on "Stay the Night". Whereas Carey is known for her bridges and breaks, songs here like "It's Like That", "We Belong Together", "Stay the Night", "Shake It Off", and "Your Girl" lack a bridge. Carey uses non-synthesized instruments more than before; although she had previously experimented with them on songs such as "Subtle Invitation" and the single version of "Bringin' on the Heartbreak" (both from Charmbracelet), this is the first time they are so prominent on a studio album.

Although Carey has claimed for years that she is an R&B artist and almost all her singles have appeared on the Billboard R&B charts, her albums were pop/R&B hybrids. The Emancipation of Mimi, however, is heavily R&B. Unlike any of its predecessors, it does not have any true pop songs (the closest being "It's Like That"). The album focuses on several R&B-related genres, ranging from 1970s retro soul to quiet storm, gospel, and others. Although Carey's music has always had R&B influences, this album is considered to be her most R&B effort to date.

Of much debate is whether this is a concept album. Its title implies a theme of emancipation, and a dictionary definition of "emancipation" is included in the album's liner notes, but what exactly is Carey (or Mimi) emancipated from? One might expect a strong theme of female empowerment to accompany an album about emancipation, but if anything a theme of weakness can be seen in songs like "Circles" and "We Belong Together", in which Carey begs old lovers to come back and cries about them. Instead, the "emancipation" was only in the revelation of a personal nickname and the overcoming of personal drama — and the album does not really deal even with these themes.

Re-release

Although the re-release was originally supposed to be a DualDisc, plans were cancelled and it will now be re-released in the United States on November 15 2005 in two non DualDisc formats: one with four bonus tracks not on the original release, and the other with these and also a bonus DVD. The latter will be a limited edition. It has also been annnounced that the formal name of this new release is The Emancipation of Mimi: Ultra Platinum Edition.

The re-release will include three entirely new songs: "Don't Forget About Us", produced by Jermaine Dupri; "What It Look Like" also featuring Dupri; and "So Lonely" produced by Rodney Jerkins aka "Darkchild", a duet with Twista. Carey has said that "So Lonely" is the sequel to "One and Only", another track with Twista that was included on the album's original release. (Although "So Lonely" is also on Twista's latest album, MTV has reported that Carey's version of the song wil feature an additional verse). The rerelease will also contain the DJ Clue produced remix of "We Belong Together". Although the remix was released on iTunes, it has never been retailed in the U.S. as a CD.

The final tracklisting seems to have differed from previously reported and rumored reports. It had been reported by Jeramine Dupri that a charity single he had been producing to help victims of Hurricane Katrina would be included. Its reasons for exclusion are not known. The remix of "Shake It Off" was also initially reported to be on the album. Its reasons for exclusion are also not known. The struggle over the changing tracklistings can be seen as Carey reportedly wanted to include more than three new tracks on the album, but Billboard's rules limit the number of new songs on re-releases to three (the album would chart as a separate entry if more were included).

As reported above, the album will also include videos for the album's already released singles: "It's Like That", "We Belong Together", "Shake It Off", and "Get Your Number". Although Carey wanted to include the "Don't Forget About Us" video on the DVD too, it will not be ready in time for production and mastering of the DVD. However, a link will be included on the DVD-ROM portion of the DVD to access the music video.

Making of the album

While on her Charmbracelet tour in early 2004, Carey began to write her next album. As her previous mentor and boss, Lyor Cohen, had left Island/Def Jam for Warner Brothers Records, Antonio "L.A." Reid replaced him. Some critics predicted a comeback, as Reid was known as a successful mentor for Pink, Avril Lavigne, and Usher. (However, skeptics pointed out that Reid's comeback attempt for Whitney Houston with 2002's Just Whitney, Toni Braxton's More Than a Woman, and TLC's 3D had performed dismally on the charts.) Others considered Carey a has-been in the wake of the failure of her two previous albums, and some even advised her to retire.

Kanye West

For the first song, Carey turned to Kanye West. Carey had known him for years but had never collaborated with him. Her 2001 album, Glitter, had had 1980s music inappropriate for West's style, and time conflicts prevented them from working together on Charmbracelet. Carey and West began to work melodic ideas over an instrumental track by West that sampled "Betcha by Golly Wow". Carey then discovered that the song they had written was in a complex key signature and would need a lot of belting. She decided to keep the key. Carey has described the song as "much a vocal performance... but it's organic to the song and to the nature of the feeling we were going for. It's kind of like giving you an old-schoolish, Jackson 5-type vibe, so I was happy with that."

The Neptunes

Carey had also known and wanted to work with The Neptunes (Chad Hugo and Pharrell Williams), a production duo who allow artists to co-write with them but not to co-produce, for years. As they believe they have a unique balance of production that is disturbed when others try to co-produce, Carey reluctantly decided to give up her production rights for the first time (on a normal studio album song) in fourteen years and so is not credited as a producer on two songs. One of the songs spawned from this partnership was "Say Somethin'". While at the recording studio, Carey discovered that her friend Snoop Dogg (who had previously collaborated with Carey on her 2000 single "Crybaby") was working in the next room, and she invited him to rap/sing on the record.

"Say Somethin'" was originally slated to be the first single released from the album, and later the third, but Carey did not feel comfortable with the song, often describing it as "very Pharell". But she stated, "'Say Somethin' is a song that came about when I, for the first time, went to work with The Neptunes. And obviously I had never worked with Pharrell before, but it was just a really cool experience because [...] musically, [...] he's got a lot of diverse influences and it was cool that he took me to a different place than I wouldn't naturally go."

Along with "Say Somethin'", Carey and The Neptunes also worked on "To the Floor". Carey does not mention the track in her interviews except to say that rapper Nelly too was in a recording studio next to her and came over to record vocals for it. At one point, however, Carey's label, Island/Def Jam, felt differently and apparently leaked the song to the internet (despite their denial) under the name "Tonight" to gauge fans' reaction, as they thought it might be a hit. Poor critical reaction caused the song to be renamed.

Jim Wright

Carey had worked regularly with writing partners Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis since Rainbow (1999), who had a very succesful partnership with Janet Jackson. Despite poor reviews and sales of the Carey albums they had contributed, she wanted to work with them again. As no time could be arranged for the three to meet, they sent their junior partner, Jim Wright, to work with Carey.

As the junior partner of Flyte Time, Wright is usually not associated with much of the writing and creation of the works of Jam and Lewis, but he can often be seen programming, arranging, and playing instruments. He co-produced and co-wrote a few songs on Carey's previous albums with Jam and Lewis, but this was the first time he was her main creative partner.

Although Carey had previously worked with live instruments on songs such as "Subtle Invitation" (from Charmbracelet) with 7 Aurelius, she had never explored their use. With Wright, she decided to create a song with no synths but with live instruments and a very soulful organic feel. Carey has described the song: "Basically we were going for like an old-school type vibe, it's all live musicians, and I feel like it has that organic kind of feel, like basically we were going for a somewhat retro, urban record that wasn't overly produced that gave you the feeling of [...] something from maybe like the 70s, [...] very soulful kind of record and that's how I tried to produce the background vocals, to kind of give you that vibe of like just a really basic soul record."

As with "Circles", Carey recorded the track "I Wish You Knew" with live instruments, but sung off riffs of live guitars and other instruments. A "live" audience and spoken section was added to the song as Carey, who felt that the track was very similar to "Circles", wanted to evoke "old-school kind of Diana Ross moments, of like a live concert where she'll just break down a song and start talking".

Before Carey and Wright called it a night, Carey devised the main melody and lyrics of the chorus of the gospel-influenced "Fly Like a Bird", while Wright laid down the song's chord structure. Carey, who asked her pastor, Clarence Keaton, to speak on the track, named the song as her favourite from the album. She believed that the song's spiritual message was "really important to include on the album", and chose it as the album's closing track because she felt "it kind of leaves you on a spiritual high moment".

Scram Jones

With some tracks finished, Carey decided to visit her friend the rapper N.O.R.E. at a recording studio. His producer Scram Jones was inconspicuously present in a corner. Scram immediately recognized an opportunity as he was relatively unknown and Carey was known for her pursuit of "hot beats". Soon, Jones and Carey got together for "Your Girl". As Jones is N.O.R.E's producer, the original version of "Your Girl" featured a rap by N.O.R.E.

An excerpt of New Zealand's R&B duo Adeaze's song was used. The original, 'A Life With You', provides the quirky ostinato vocals in the background. Rumors claim the group asked for a lot of money for the rights to their song, but their poor marketing deal has left them regretful.

Carey has described the happiness of the song: "'Your Girl' is a record that I did with Scram Jones. And [...] most of my friends who are singers really love that song, like it's one of their top favorite songs because of the style of the singing, the background vocals, and that whole thing. So it's one of those happy, uptempo records but it's still giving you kind of, very thugged out moments cause that's kinda, Scram Jones' thing."

James Poyser

As she had done with Wright, Carey wanted to explore music with R&B roots that were organic, yet soulful. She therefore collaborated with James Poyser at the piano. The two exchanged riffs until "Mine Again" was born.

Carey has spoken on the heartbreaker theme of the song: "'Mine Again' is a song that I wrote with James Poyser [...] I feel is definitely like the power ballad of this record, and I feel like it's gonna be a lot of people's favorite. Cause it's a very big vocal moment, a big vocal performance. And it's one of those kind of like, break your heart songs, make you get together with your ex-boyfriend or ex-girlfriend."

The Legendary Traxster

Carey was delighted to find a "hot beat" from The Legendary Traxster, and while recording the song "One and Only", to discover that it was originally used as a "practice track" from rapper Twista. She soon ran into Twista, who rapped/sang a vocal for the song. As the song has a different style including fast singing by Carey, she has explained: "I got the track from a really, really hot producer named Traxster, who had actually initally made that beat for Twista to rhyme on. And I didn't even know that when I got the record and I just started writing it and it happened to be in that kind of [...] fast singing, rhythmic style, [...] just naturally cause that's kind where the beat was taking me."

Swizz Beatz

Although Carey had worked briefly with Swizz Beatz previously on rapper Jay-Z's song "Things That U Do" as a featured artist, she had never worked with him on a studio album as the main artist. Now she got in the studio with him for "Secret Love". Unfortunately, the song did not make the original album cut and has only been released as a bonus track in Japan. While fans question the exclusion of this song, its pop feeling/vibe conflicts with the heavy R&B theme of the album.

Jermaine Dupri

As one of her personal best friends in real life, and a creative partner of over ten years, it would only seem natural for Carey to work with Jermaine Dupri on this album. Although the pair had written one of Carey's signature songs, 1996's "Always Be My Baby" from Daydream, their material since then seemed to be generally uninspired. Nevertheless, Carey flew down to Atlanta.

To start off their recording session for the album, Jermaine produced a instrumental track that sounded similar to Usher's "Confessions Part II". Carey was immediately impressed and began singing melodies over the beat and writing lyrics to accompany the song. Dupri then suggested for the song's hook "I gotta get away". Carey thought the song would be better with different lyrics. Suddenly the words "I gotta shake it off" materialized, for "Shake It Off". (To accompany the idea of leaving, the Calgon references were introduced.)

Carey has talked about the song's coming of age message: "Shake It Off is definitely one of my favorite songs [...] and to me it just says so much cause [...] when you're going through some drama, and you just wanna get through it, you put that song on and it just takes you out of whatever mood you're in."

In an unconventional move, Carey and Dupri decided to switch positions with a song in which he sings (and she has some spoken/rap parts). Carey heard an instrumental track Dupri had created for his forthcoming album that sampled "Just an Illusion". He asked her to sing her version of the song. Carey was a bit reluctant, as she had often been criticized for using too many samples on previous albums. She decided to sing it anyway, but it was felt that her vocals, although powerful, lacked something that Dupri's version had. Carey then decided to make the song a duet with Dupri doing the chorus and her the verse, thus creating "Get Your Number". She has said, "Get Your Number is a song yet again that I did with Jermaine Dupri... And a lot of people like it cause it's very, giving you kind of like a 'Fantasy' type-feeling."

This will be the fourth single in countries like Switzerland and Germany.

With two songs co-written and co-produced with Dupri and her album nearly complete, Carey seemed satisfied with her output. However, L.A. Reid felt something was missing; "Say Somethin'" had been picked as the album's first single, but something was not right. L.A. sent Carey back to Atlanta. She and Dupri seemed more creative than in their previous session. Unlike other producers Carey had worked with, Dupri always seen inspired by the club scene and the two of them explored the various night clubs of Atlanta to get a feel of what was current. This soon led to "It's Like That".

The song's hook, "it's like that y'all", is borrowed from a 1984 Run-D.M.C. track, "Hollis Crew", showing the influence of old school hip hop on Carey's 2005 sound. The song is filled with references to drinking and marijuana, leading some groups to criticize Carey for being a bad influence. However, she has noted such casual references are mere jokes. She has described the club vibe: "'It's Like That' is a song' that to me is [...] all about having a good time, and really just a fun, party record [...]. I just wanted a record that was really fun, really like for the clubs and just for the people who were getting ready to go out at night; one of those really let-your-hair-down, just have a good time, this is my night type of thing, like this is my song when I go out to have a good time. And that's how we came up with the song 'It's Like That', we were just having fun."

Two songs were written on Carey's second journey back to Atlanta, the second being "We Belong Together". Its creation was straightforward. Like "It's Like That", it resulted from Carey and Dupri's working together even more happily than in their first two tracks for the album. Carey has often described the song as "'Anytime You Need a Friend' meets 'Breakdown'", as the song combines the fast singing of "Breakdown" with the powerful vocals of "Anytime You Need a Friend".

Contrary to popular belief, "We Belong Together" is not about any of Carey's previously confirmed lovers (Tommy Mottola, Derek Jeter, or Luis Miguel), and neither is it about Eminem (who claims it was written about him). Instead, Carey feels the song can be seen as a universal love anthem everyone can relate to: "'We Belong Together' is my second [...] And I feel like the end result was just a really heartfelt ballad that I think people can really relate to, even though it's like a very specific story, I think that everybody can probably apply it to their own lives."

Mahogany

In press releases and interviews for the album released before it came out, Carey intrigued fans and critics by mentioning that she was working with Mahogany. Although experienced, he is relatively low profile, leaving fans and critics mystified as to what type of track he could help create. One of the results seems to be "Sprung", which in addition to R&B influences also uses robotic voices and chipmunk vocals. As the track is not traditional R&B, the song was left off the U.S. version of the album, but was a bonus track elsewhere.

Mahogany seemed to have better luck with another song he had co-written and co-produced with Carey called "When I Feel It". In press releases just weeks before the album came out, "When I Feel Like It" could be seen as track 13. Everything seemed fine until Carey and her record company were denied clearance for a sample used in the song. Although they lobbied again to have the sample cleared, this was again denied. It seems as though Carey had recorded the song with the sample, taking it for granted that the sample would be cleared (as is usual).

Unfortunately, the owner of the sample proved to be unusually stubborn. With only weeks before the album was to be released, Carey did not have time to re-record the song properly without the sample, and had no choice but to exclude it. Although it is unlikely that the song will ever be released (at least in its original form), a snippet of cell phone recording was leaked to the internet by fans in early 2005.

Young Genius

With "When I Feel It" declared illegal, Carey had to decide what track 13 would be. Like any artist, she had recorded several songs that would not make the album, but choosing one of those to replace "When I Feel It" was not easy: "Sprung" and "Secret Love" were already earmarked for bonus tracks.

Carey finally decided to include "Joy Ride". This was co-written and co-produced with Young Genius, who is only 15. Although she had been warned to stay away from Young Genius because of his youth and lack of experience, Carey could relate to him as she started writing and producing at around his age. Young Genius even created the performance track himself (something that Carey could not have done at his age).

The song was not without its problems, however. As it had been a last-minute selection to replace "When I Feel It", information had been accidentally misplaced, and the tracks of the song could only be found as mixed down to only two raw tracks. As each layer of a song should be mixed individually, Carey feared technical audio issues would arise. They did, but as the track was technically fine from the start, most people could not tell, and even audiophile fans of Carey have not complained.

The song is about human sexual behavior, and unlike most of the other tracks on the album, is believed to be inspired by real life: Carey's own "rides" from her rumored boyfriend, Mark Sudack. Carey has said that: "it's a ballad and it's kind of like one of those, they call it the baby-making song of the record. I don't use that terminology, but they can call it the baby-making song if they want!"

R. Kelly

Although Carey sings and produces nearly all of her songs, this is not widely recognized. Even when she tells people personally, she is still often not believed. As a result, she has great respect for other singer/songwriter/producers like Beyoncé and R. Kelly, and contacted Kelly to co-write and co-produce songs with her. The two of them bounced around some ideas, but after a while realized that they were incompatible; their sessions were fruitless. Thus no work by Kelly is believed to exist on this album.

Promotion

The failure of Carey's previous two albums had been partly attributed to inadequate promotional tours. With this in mind, Carey changed her personal manager to Benny Medina and hired Marvet Britto as her new publicist. Whereas the campaign for her previous studio album concentrated on her alleged nervous breakdown, the marketing for The Emancipation of Mimi attempted to arouse curiosity about the album's title. Carey said that the word "emancipation" referred to the freedom from her ex-husband, Tommy Mottola, which contrasted with the promotion for her three previous studio albums since her divorce, as she had never previously spoken in great detail about it (though a gag order had prevented her from talking about the marriage for a few years). Carey also explained that "Mimi" is a nickname previously used only by close friends and relatives, adding that she wanted the title of the album to be "representative of where I'm at as an artist.... This is the fun side, the real me, and not the image and the baggage that comes with the whole 'Mariah Carey' thing". On the radio show The Wendy Williams Experience, however, her former best female friend Brenda K. Starr claimed that "Mimi" was a fake nickname and that Carey was surrounded by phonies.

Promotion for the album began outside of north America, during which she performed "It's Like That" on several European shows, including the UK chart programme Top of the Pops. Later, she made guest appearances on U.S. radio and television shows such as The Oprah Winfrey Show and The Wendy Williams Experience. U.S. promotion of the album intensified in the run-up to its release, and included a performance on VH1's Save the Music Concert, as well as a high-profile mini-concert on the daytime television show Good Morning America, for which part of Times Square in New York City was closed off. On The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Carey gained additional publicity due to the lesbian undertones expressed by host Ellen DeGeneres. She also surprised viewers when she appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, having once vowed never again to go on the show after Leno joked about her personal and career struggles. Carey performed in the UK at Live 8 on July 2 2005, after which sales of "We Belong Together" and the album increased. She cancelled the remainder of her UK schedule after "We Belong Together" failed to reach number-one, though later apologised. A wardrobe malfunction during a concert in Germany generated further publicity for Carey and the album.

Album packaging and design

File:Limited edition.jpg

Limited edition cover artwork.

The packaging and design of some of Carey's previous albums such as Rainbow, in which she can be seen jumping in her underwear and lying in a bed in an erotic fashion, had led some critics to label her a "slut". In contrast, the design for the Charmbracelet album did not show Carey's figure at all. For The Emancipation of Mimi, Carey contacted the studio of Markus Klinko, intending the album's artwork to retain her sex appeal but present a more sophisicated image.

At a fan meet-and-greet before the album's release, one fan commented that Carey, whose skin appeared darker than normal on its cover, looked like R&B singer Beyoncé Knowles on the cover. Carey did not want the public to think that she was trying to copy Knowles, and a limited edition digipak of the album was ordered. For its cover, an image of Carey from the original album photoshoot was used, but more close up than the previous cover, and with her natural skin. The digipak also used a new style of pressing to give the physical case a unique glare. Unlike the original album (with a booklet insert), the digipak's insert is a poster showing the original album cover.

Chart performance

Album

In its first week of release, The Emancipation of Mimi sold 403,755 copies in the U.S. (according to Nielsen SoundScan), the highest first-week sales of Carey's career. It debuted at number-one on the U.S. Billboard 200 albums chart, becoming Carey's fifth number-one album and her third album to debut at number one. Week-to-week decreases in sales of the album were small, and there were occasional increases. It remained in the top five of the chart for twenty-two weeks (and the top ten for an additional week), briefly returning to number one in its eighth week of release. After twenty-seven weeks of release, it remains in the top twenty of the Billboard 200. On the World Top 50 Chart, the album debuted at number eighteen, and ascended to number-one in its third week (with roughly 617,900 copies sold during that week), where it stayed for two weeks. It spent a total of twenty-two weeks in the top ten of the chart, and has sold approximately 6,619,900 copies to date. It also reached number two on the Canadian charts.

In the U.S., The Emancipation of Mimi has outlasted albums released at around the same time and even later, many of which had left the top fifty while Mimi was still in the top five. It reached number-one positions on Billboard magazine's R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart (for five weeks) and the Comprehensive Albums chart (for two weeks), and number three on the Internet Albums chart. Nielsen SoundScan figures reported that 3,563,241 copies of the album had been sold as of October 18, 2005, making it one of the biggest-selling albums of the year in the U.S. It has surpassed the sales of other successful albums by female artists in 2005, including Gwen Stefani's Love. Angel. Music. Baby. and Kelly Clarkson's Breakaway. It is Carey's most successful studio album in the U.S. since Butterfly (1997), which sold over 3.7 million copies.

Singles

• "It's Like That" was the first single from the album. It is generally thought of as Carey's comeback single, reaching number sixteen in the U.S., four in the U.K., and nine in Australia. Although the sixteen peak may seem a bit low for a comeback single, it was a big improvement over Carey's singles from her previous two albums, some of which had even failed to chart.
• "We Belong Together" was the second single from the album. It was one of Carey's biggest hits in years and the biggest song of 2005. It also became one of the biggest songs ever, staying at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for fourteen weeks, and breaking airplay records.
• "Shake It Off" is the third U.S. single. In only its seventh week of release, it reached number two. It reached number one in BDS airplay and officially peaked at number two on the billboard Hot 100 singles chart.
• "Don't Forget About Us" is the next U.S single. It is not on the album, but will be included on the re-release of the Emancipation of Mimi.
• "Fly Like a Bird" was solicited to gospel radio across the U.S., but none picked it up, and the single flopped on that format.
• "Say Somethin'" is the thrice aborted single. It was originally supposed to be the first single, the third U.S. single, and the third U.K. single, but plans for its release were thwarted each time.
• "Mine Again" has not been released as a single in the U.S., but it has charted on the U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks, peaking at seventy-three.

Track listing

U.S. edition

Released on April 12 2005. All songs co-written and co-produced by Mariah Carey, names of other writers and/or producers are in brackets.

1. "It's Like That" (Jermaine Dupri, Manuel Seal, Johnta Austin) –3:23
2. "We Belong Together" (Dupri, Seal, Johnta Austin) –3:21
3. "Shake It Off" (Dupri, Bryan Michael Cox, Austin) –3:52
4. "Mine Again" (James Poyser) – 4:01
5. "Say Somethin'" feat. Snoop Dogg (Pharrell Williams, Chad Hugo, Snoop Dogg) –3:44
6. "Stay the Night" (Kanye West) –3:57
7. "Get Your Number" feat. Jermaine Dupri (Dupri, Cox) –3:15
8. "One and Only" feat. Twista (The Legendary Traxster) –3:14
9. "Circles" (James Wright) –3:30
10. "Your Girl" (Scram Jones) –2:46
11. "I Wish You Knew" (Wright) –3:34
12. "To the Floor" feat. Nelly (Williams, Hugo, Nelly) –3:27
13. "Joy Ride" (Young Genius) –4:03
14. "Fly Like a Bird" (Wright) –3:53

The Emancipation of Mimi: Ultra Platinum Edition Tracklisting

CD

1. It's Like That
2. We Belong Together
3. Shake It Off
4. Mine Again
5. Say Somethin' - (with Snoop Dogg)
6. Stay The Night
7. Get Your Number - (with Jermaine Dupri)
8. One And Only - (with Twista)
9. Circles
10. Your Girl
11. I Wish You Knew
12. To The Floor - (with Nelly)
13. Joy Ride
14. Fly Like A Bird
15. Don't Forget About Us
16. Makin' It Last All Night (What I Do) featuring Jermaine Dupri
17. So Lonely
18. We Belong Together - Remix featuring Jadakiss amd Styles P.

DVD

1. It's Like That video
2. We Belong Together video
3. Shake It Off video
4. Get Your Number video

International edition

Released on April 4 2005.

15 "Sprung" (Mahogany) –3:26

Japanese edition

Released on March 30 2005.

15 "Sprung" (Mahogany) –3:26

16 "Secret Love" –3:09

External links

• Mariah Carey — The Emancipation Of Mimi lyrics