Never underestimate the power of the Lambily. Mariah Carey's loyal fans have done the seemingly impossible by pushing the soundtrack to Glitter, the singer's ill-received 2001 movie based loosely on her own rags-to-riches life story, into the iTunes Top 10.
As of Wednesday, the album - which retails for $4.99 on iTunes - had reached No. 7 on the album charts. That puts it ahead of new releases by Lil Wayne, Ariana Grande, Travis Scott, John Legend, Drake, and Eminem. Over on the soundtracks chart, Glitter was the No. 2 album, right behind the soundtrack to A Star Is Born.
"Mariah Carey has always been ahead of her time," one fan wrote on Twitter as the news broke. "Glitter is back," Andy Cohen added. "Did it ever go?"
In the nearly two decades since Glitter's release, the musical film has earned a reputation as cult favorite among fans. But back in 2001, the Glitter was an immediate critical and commercial failure, making just $5.3 million worldwide, according to IMDB.
Part of that has to do with the fact that the movie was released on September 21, 2001 - 10 days after the terrorist attacks in New York City's World Trade Center, Washington D.C.'s Pentagon, and Pennsylvania's Somerset County. (September 11, 2001 was also the day the Glitter soundtrack came out.)
But another reason the project had problems is that it came amid a public meltdown for Carey. n July, while promoting Glitter's first single "Loverboy", Carey famously made a few erratic press appearances - including a surprise appearance on MTV's Total Request Live where she pushed an ice cream cart, launched into a rambling monologue about therapy, and yanked off her lavender T-shirt to reveal a skimpy halter and glittery shorts.
Days later, she checked herself into a hospital for both medical and psychiatric care. "She literally was on no sleep," Carey's publicist told People at the time, adding that the singer had just returned from a grueling two-week European promotional tour.
Her condition forced her to cancel all future engagements, including an MTV 20th anniversary concert and press interviews for Glitter. In a 2018 interview with People, Carey revealed that she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder around the same period.
Despite these setbacks, Carey has always bounced back. And despite everything, she's always looked back on Glitter with respect. "I really do like it," she said in 2016 on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen. "It was something I was trying to do before people were ready. Because I was like, 'This is going to be inspired by the '80s,' and people... I mean, it was released on September 11, 2001."
"The movie had so many problems," she admitted. "But now it's so kitsch, you have to just watch it for fun."
(People)
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