For the album Mariah worked with Timbaland, longtime collaborators Jermaine Dupri and Walter Afanasieff, but the lion's share of the album's tracks were co-written by The-Dream and Christopher "Tricky" Stewart, who, in addition to writing E=MC2 lead single "Touch My Body," are responsible for some of the best pop songs on the radio in the last few years. But that presence on the album is unlikely to supplant Mariah Carey's own, very distinctive personality.
Producer The Dream wrote about the process, "I think it’s about just writing an album that includes the focus of all the hits that she’s had. She can’t take a loss; she has to do everything to the T. So it’s basically like we’re trying to make a greatest hits album without using the greatest hits." A tall order for anyone, but when you have the most number one singles of any solo artist in American history, then it seems a little easier to fill.
Brandweek magazine has reported that Carey's upcoming CD, Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel, will feature a 34-page insert in the CD booklet that is a collaboration with Elle magazine and which will include ads from upscale brands like Elizabeth Arden, Angel Champagne, Carmen Steffens, Le Métier de Beauté and the Bahamas Board of Tourism.
In addition to the ads, the mini-magazine will feature stories about the singer with titles such as "VIP Access to Her Sexy Love Life," "Amazing Closet" and "Recording Rituals" written and designed by the Elle team and mixed in with lyrics and other traditional liner-note materials. A spokesperson for Carey's label, Island/Def Jam, confirmed the report.
The ad-supported booklets — which will also be available in a digital format for downloaders — will appear in the first 1 million U.S. copies of the CD and the first 500,000 overseas, and if the experiment is well-received, even bigger branding deals could be in the works for upcoming CDs from Rihanna, Bon Jovi, Kanye West and other IDJ acts, according to the magazine.
A condensed version of the booklet, without the music-specific material, will be inserted into 500,000 subscription copies of Elle's October issue.
Scheduled Release September 28, 2009
Recorded Jan — Aug 2009 Genre Pop, R&B Label Island Producer Mariah Carey (executive)
L. A. Reid (co-executive)
Bryan-Michael Cox, Christopher "Tricky" Stewart, Jermaine Dupri, The-Dream, James "Big Jim" Wright, Timbaland, Carlos McKinney
First Single from Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel
"Obsessed"
Released: June 16, 2009
"Obsessed" is a song performed by American R&B singer Mariah Carey, from her 12th studio album, Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel.The song produced and written by Carey, The-Dream and Christopher "Tricky" Stewart was released to US radio on June 16, 2009 as the first single from the album which is scheduled for a September 29, 2009 release.
In July the single debuted at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 making it Carey's highest chart debut since 1998. So far the single has reached number 15 in Canada, 18 in Australia and 16 in Japan with further releases scheduled in August 2009. It was performed live for the first time on the August 5, 2009 episode of America's Got Talent.
Second Single from Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel
"I Want to Know What Love Is"
Released: September 29, 2009
"I Want to Know What Love Is" was covered by American singer Mariah Carey and will be released in September as the second single from her twelfth studio album, Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel (2009). The song was originally written by Mick Jones and performed by British-American rock band Foreigner in 1984.
