How did Mariah go from ha best album, critically acclaim master piece to one of the WORST albums in her discography that's critically panned in a span of two years Lambs, please provide receipts
Some people do too much on Rainbow. It does have some great songs, like Crybaby and Heartbreaker.
Ultimately I think the Butterfly era was so huge and Mariah was run so rugged that Rainbow inevitably suffered in the rush to get another album out of the door. Don't forget that she managed to fit in #1's (including I Still Believe) in between.
Mariah made Rainbow very quickly in order to finish her contract with Sony & her ex-husband Tommy Mottola (who would attempt to sabotage her career later on) as soon as possible.
It was a "get out of her contract album". It was never suppose to happen, but she didn't want Glitter released under Sony so she made the album in 3 months. It was literally just thrown together.
Her first real follow-up album she took time on after Butterfly was Charmbracelet, the fact she went from that to that is
Half of Rainbow is AMAZING. Heartbreaker, Bliss, Petals, Crybaby and Mariah's Theme >>>>>>>>>>>>>
The other half, minus the interludes and that awful cover, are pretty run of the mill late 90's r&b, which felt bandwagon-ish for Mariah, but I guess she was trying to capture the young demographic. X Girlfriend is lowkey a bop though.
The fact that it feels less creative than her previous album is probably down to exhaustion (yearly releases for 9 years) and severe label issues
same reason Beyoncé went from b'day to iasf. same reason madonna went from confessions to hard candy. same reason Rihanna went from rated r to loud.
They wanted to appeal to a young audience, be more radio friendly, be more accessible, etc. Sometimes it works (iasf, loud) and sometimes it doesn't (rainbow, hard candy).
It was a "get out of her contract album". It was never suppose to happen, but she didn't want Glitter released under Sony so she made the album in 3 months. It was literally just thrown together.
Her first real follow-up album she took time on after Butterfly was Charmbracelet, the fact she went from that to that is
Rainbow was such a huge step back. Butterfly was Mariah at her most sensual and mature and womanly. It was such a cohesive album with a point to make. Rainbow has absolutely no center. It just veers wildly from one idea to the next and you can't draw a line through it at all. The hip-hop of this album (How Much, Did You Do It, etc.) can't even live in the same neighborhood as Breakdown or The Roof. Heartbreaker is fun if the weakest of her 90s first singles, Petals can stand up to the Butterfly material, Against All Odds is a vocal beast. But Can't Take That Away, After Tonight, these are rehashes of ideas that were better the first time around.
Even though Butterfly was a shift in image and sound for Mariah, it still holds together very well with her first four albums, there's an arc there. Rainbow is just in another place and ended the decade on a sour note.
Rainbow was such a huge step back. Butterfly was Mariah at her most sensual and mature and womanly. It was such a cohesive album with a point to make. Rainbow has absolutely no center. It just veers wildly from one idea to the next and you can't draw a line through it at all. The hip-hop of this album (How Much, Did You Do It, etc.) can't even live in the same neighborhood as Breakdown or The Roof. Heartbreaker is fun if the weakest of her 90s first singles, Petals can stand up to the Butterfly material, Against All Odds is a vocal beast. But Can't Take That Away, After Tonight, these are rehashes of ideas that were better the first time around.
Even though Butterfly was a shift in image and sound for Mariah, it still holds together very well with her first four albums, there's an arc there. Rainbow is just in another place and ended the decade on a sour note.
I came here just to say it was a huge step back but you just ended this thread!
Lambs, please provide receipts 
