The Bodyguard (Original Soundtrack Album) Zip
Glitter is the soundtrack to the 2001 film of the same title and the eighth studio album by American singer-songwriter Mariah Carey. It was released on August 18, 2001, in Japan by Sony Music and in the United States on September 11, 2001, by Virgin Records. Mixing dance-pop, funk, hip hop and R&B,[2][3][4] the album was a complete musical departure from any of Carey's previous releases, focusing heavily on recreating a 1980s post-disco era to accompany the film, set in 1983. By covering or heavily sampling several older tunes and songs, Carey created Glitter as an album that would help viewers connect with the film, as well as incorporating newly written ballads. The singer collaborated with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis and DJ Clue, who co-produced the album. Musically, Glitter was structured to be a retro-influenced album and have more of a dance-oriented element. On several songs, critics noted Carey to be more sexually suggestive lyrically than before. Glitter featured several musical acts such as Eric Benét, Ludacris, Da Brat, Busta Rhymes, Fabolous, and Ja Rule.
The Bodyguard (Original Soundtrack Album) zip
Following the release of Carey's album Butterfly in 1997, she began working on a film and soundtrack project titled at that time as All That Glitters.[7] However, Columbia Records and Carey were also working on a greatest hits album to be released in time for Thanksgiving season in November 1998.[7] Carey put All That Glitters on hold and her greatest hits album #1's was released in November 1998.[7] Carey put the project on hold again to record her album Rainbow (1999). After the album ran its course, Carey wanted to finish the film and soundtrack project. But by this time, Carey and her now ex-husband Tommy Mottola, head of her record company Columbia, did not have a good working or personal relationship. Mottola wanted Carey off the label and Carey wanted to leave; however, she still owed Columbia one more album to fulfill her contract. Virgin Records stepped in and offered to pay Columbia $20 million to let Carey out of her contract early so that they could sign her for a $100 million deal.[8]
Carey signed with Virgin and aimed to complete the film and soundtrack project. As part of her contract on her $100 million five-album record deal with Virgin Records, Carey was given full creative control.[9] She opted to record an album partly mixed with 1980s influenced disco and other similar genres, in order to go with the film's setting.[9] As the release date grew nearer, the film and album title were changed from All That Glitters to Glitter.[10] In early 2001, Carey's relationship with Latin singer Luis Miguel ended, while she was busy filming Glitter and recording the soundtrack.[11][12] Due to the pressure of losing her relationship, being on a new record label, filming a movie, and recording an album, Carey began to have a nervous breakdown. She began posting a series of disturbing messages on her official website, and displayed erratic behavior while on several promotional outings.[12]
Musically, Glitter was notably different from anything Carey had ever written or recorded, drawing influence from the 1980s.[3] Due to the parent film taking place in 1983, the soundtrack harbored on recreating an older sound, while incorporating the usual pop-R&B ballads for which Carey was known.[3] While some critics favored the album's retro style, and inclusion of several sampled melodies, many felt that Glitter lacked originality, and its excess of guest artists overpowered Carey's artistry.[3][13][14] In an interview with MTV News, Carey described the album's content, as well as its influences:
To me, Glitter is one of my best albums. A lot of people got confused, not knowing whether it was a soundtrack or an album or what. There's a song called 'Lead the Way' which I did on Ally McBeal, and it's coming out in January. I sang the song on [the show]. It's one of those ballads that basically everybody that's been following my career says reminds them of a 'Vision of Love'-type record, and that's one of my favorite songs from the record. The cool thing for me is to be able to tie in 'Never Too Far' and 'Hero'. Having the Greatest Hits coming out, to be able to tie in both those records is almost like a circle.[22]
Heather Vaughn from The Free-Lance Star gave Glitter a positive review, complimenting both the dance-oriented tracks, as well as the ballads.[18] In reference to their weight on the album as a whole, Vaughn wrote "Sounds like Mariah's other albums, but with more of an 80s twist. The ballads really let you hear how stunning her voice actually is."[18] Los Angeles Times critic and writer Natalie Nichols gave Glitter two out of a possible four stars, writing how Carey let the album "reflect the synth-driven robo-funk of that wretched decade."[39] Nichols called the album's covers "tepid and pointless", while agreeing that Carey was overwhelmed by the many guest rappers, calling her voice "semi-disguised".[39] Rob Sheffield from Rolling Stone gave the album three out of five stars, criticizing the ballads as "big and goopy, with zero melodic or emotional punch."[40] Aside from the ballads, Sheffield felt Glitter failed to deliver the success or quality that Carey needed on her debut film and soundtrack.[40] He concluded his review of the album with a comparison to Whitney Houston's massive The Bodyguard (1992), "Mariah still hasn't found her theme song, the one people will remember her voice by. Glitter is good enough to make you hope she finds it."[40] Slant Magazine editor Sal Cinquemani awarded Glitter three out of five stars, writing "Carey's edgier tracks are inundated with so many guest artists that her sound ultimately becomes muddled; her pop tunes are so formulaic that it's difficult to distinguish one from the next."[17] USA Today's Edna Gunderson rated the album one and a half out of four stars, criticizing Carey's overall image for the project, as well as the many guest artists on the record.[41] She described Carey as "cheapening her image" and wrote "The whiff of desperation grows more pungent on 'Glitter' in Carey's gratuitous coloratura and transparent enlistment of street-cred boosters such as rappers Ja Rule and Mystikal.[41]
Following commencement for Glitter and the release of the soundtrack's lead single "Loverboy", Carey embarked on a short promotional campaign for the song and its parent album.[67] On July 19, 2001, Carey made a surprise appearance on the MTV program Total Request Live (TRL).[68] As the show's host Carson Daly began taping following a commercial break, Carey began singing "Loverboy" a cappella from behind a curtain.[69] As he questioned the audience, she came out onto the filming stage, pushing an ice cream cart while wearing a large men's shirt.[70] Seemingly anxious and exhilarated, Carey began delivering individual bars of ice cream to fans and guests on the program, while waving to the crowd down below on Times Square, and joking that the event was her "therapy".[70] Carey then walked to Daly's platform and began a striptease, in which she shed her shirt to reveal a tight yellow and green ensemble, leading him to exclaim "Mariah Carey has lost her mind!"[68] While she later revealed that Daly was aware of her presence in the building prior to her appearance, she admitted that he was meant to act surprised in order to provide a more dramatic effect for the program.[70] Carey's appearance on TRL garnered strong media attention, with many critics and newspapers citing her behavior as "troubled" and "erratic".[67]
Mariah is looking forward to being able to participate in both her album and movie projects and we are hopeful that this new soundtrack release date will allow her to do so. She has been making great recovery progress, and continues to grow stronger every day. Virgin Music Worldwide continues to give its absolute commitment and support to Mariah on every level.[74]
1992 was the year we were introduced to the everlastingly stunning soundtrack for The Bodyguard. The LP still remains one of the best-selling motion picture soundtracks in history, with almost 30 million albums sold, and features production efforts from Babyface, BeBe Winans, L.A. Reid and David Foster.
Whitney Houston's "The Bodyguard (Soundtrack)" (RCA Records) is released and takes the world by storm. The album is now the highest certified soundtrack ever at 18X multi-Platinum. Whitney Houston is also the fourth most certified female artist with 58.5 million Album Awards across ten separate records.
No Strings Attached went platinum its first day, selling 1.1 million, and ended its first week of release with 2.4 million records sold, making it the fastest selling album in the US. It was certified seven times platinum just 11 days after its release, beating out The Bodyguard soundtrack for fastest RIAA certification.
To put things in perspective: the previous record was held by the Backstreet Boys' Millennium, which sold 1.1 units in its first week of release. While projected to outsell it, or at the very least match it, absolutely no one predicted it would sell more than double the previous record. In addition, not only did NSA top Billboard's Best Selling Albums chart the week of its release, the album manged to outsell the next 23 charting albums combined.
While Celebrity did not sell as well as No Strings Attached, it also set a record of 1.8 million sold in its first week. 15 years later, Adele's third album 25 broke both No Strings Attached and Celebrity's record, sadly relegating them to second and third fastest selling album in America.
Their 2001 PopOdyssey tour, which had them touring football stadiums, had them flying out over their audience on zip wires and riding mechanical bulls for "Space Cowboy" and fighting off a evil wizard for "The Game Is Over". JC even sings the first verse of "Space Cowboy" upside down as they zip down.
The opening sequence had them fooling the audience into thinking that they would appear in the robes from the No Strings Attached tour only for the robes to disappear and the massive pyramid in the middle of the stadium opening up to reveal the band.
During "No Strings Attached" on their 2002 Celebrity tour, they would roll out a rig of ropes with just two safety loops for their arms, and launched themselves swinging over the audience. Without harnesses.
Their 2013 reunion at the VMAs. While it was shorter than fans would have liked, it was awesome enough to prompt Lady Gaga to jump out of her seat and flail around excitedly while Taylor Swift started crying Tears of Joy. Their reunion led to a huge sales spike on iTunes, with several of their albums suddenly charting on the best sellers list. Their Greatest Hits album rocketed up to No. 18, while No Strings Attached reached No. 29. While they didn't chart as impressively, their self-titled ranked at No. 61 and Celebrity reached No. 100. They received similar sales spikes at Amazon, with Greatest Hits and No Strings Attached reaching No. 10 and No. 11 respectively on the "Movers & Shakers" chart.
Their memorable 2000 VMA performance, best known for the iconic TV heads during the "Bye Bye Bye" section of the medley. The segment where Joey appears to be out of breath just seems like a Funny Moment, but that was purposefully put in to show they were singing live rather than lip-syncing like some accused them of doing at their last VMA appearance.
Their 2001 VMA performance featured a dance performance from Michael Jackson himself. The same year they were invited to perform for Michael Jackson's 30th Anniversary Concert, singing "Dancing Machine" along side Michael and the briefly reunited Jackson 5.
If that wasn't enough, they also had the honor of inducting the King of Pop into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
They were invited to sing the national anthem at the 2000 World Series, which they performed a cappella. They were booed until they started to sing, at which the crowd then fell silent and then started raucously cheering when the song was finished. Even more impressive, during an appearance on Rosie O'Donnell's talk show they mentioned that there was a 2 second delay on their ear monitors, meaning throughout the entire performance they couldn't tell if they were all singing in time.
They can play instruments, they just choose not to. Their tribute to the 60s and wholesale Shout-Out to That Thing You Do! had JC and Chris on vocals with Chris on guitar, Justin on bass, Joey on drums, and Lance on keyboards. One clip of them on MTV had Justin and Lance messing around with a piano, but it's clear from other angles that Lance is the one actually playing, while Justin was just tapping away at a key or two.
They were the first and only all-white group to be on BET's 106 & Park, with "Pop", "Gone", and "Girlfriend" getting regular rotations on the show.
Their joint performance with Aerosmith for the Super Bowl XXXV Half Time Show in 2001, especially the "Walk This Way" finale when they were joined by Britney Spears, Mary J. Blige, and Nelly. The performance is generally considered as one of the best half time shows of all time, typically ranked in the top 10.
They not only performed for the 2002 Olympic Concert Series, but were invited to sing the National Anthem for the closing ceremony.
Their a cappella tribute to The Bee Gees at the 2003 Grammys garnered a standing ovation from the audience, especially from the remaining Gibbs and Maurice's widow.
These rearrangements of "Bye Bye Bye" and "It's Gonna Be Me" prove that, though it was something they were known for, they didn't need an elaborate production to put on a good show.
Their cover of Janet Jackson's "That's The Way Love Goes", especially since they recorded the song and filmed a video for it in one day. Somewhat related, their first single, "I Want You Back", was also recorded in one day.
When asked to do an impromptu version of their cover of "More Than A Feeling", they initially hemmed and hawed as they had not performed the song in a long time and claimed they were rusty. They nailed it a cappella.
The fact that Lance was able to complete Star City's rigorous cosmonaut training, despite not being able to go in space and that it made him the butt of many jokes, is pretty astounding in itself since he had no prior experience. He's also claimed it was easier to train for that than his stint on Dancing With The Stars. Even more impressive is the fact that he had to condense a full years worth of training into a little less than 6 months due to prior commitments to *NSYNC.
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