Glitter is a drama film starring Mariah Carey, produced by 20th Century Fox and Columbia Pictures and released in 2001. It centers on the life and times of a struggling singer from the early club music scene. Largely panned by critics and audiences alike, it performed poorly in theatres after it was labelled a vanity project and being an almost autobiographical account of Carey’s life. The film received five nominations (and one win: Carey, for “Worst Actress”) at the 2001 Golden Raspberry Awards, and has been considered one of the worst films ever made. As of December 17th, 2006, it was number 19 on the Internet Movie Database’s list of the worst 100 films of all time.

There were already plans for this film in 1999, when it was originally called All That Glitters. But it was not until 20 September 2001 that the film was released, by this time renamed Glitter. Based loosely on Carey’s own life, it tells the story of a mixed-race woman who is abandoned by her white father and taken from her black mother to be raised by foster parents. After years of hardship she finds fame and fortune as a 1980s pop star, then goes looking for her mother. This is the opposite of Carey’s actual life in which her parents divorced, and she left her wealthy black father, to stay with her working class, white mother.

Carey has said about the film, “It’s in the early ’80s, in the club scene of that time. I play a singer, Billie, who’s half-breed, from a white father and a black mother. Billie grows up in a foster home, because her mother abandoned her. Later on she meets a DJ and becomes a star in just one night. The point is, that all this time she waits for her mother to return. As you can see, this is far away from my reality, because I couldn’t have a closer relationship with my own mother. When she’s not with me, she calls like every five minutes.”

The reviews Glitter received were devastating and the film did very poorly in theaters. In most countries it wasn’t even released. In the U.S. it premiered only in 1,196 theaters and was the eleventh highest-grossing movie over its opening weekend, taking in $5 million. It was originally scheduled to open over Labor Day weekend, but the film was pushed back three weeks when Carey checked into a hospital for a nervous breakdown.

Carey said she looked back at that period “as something that had to happen in my life. That time period was so blown out of proportion. That movie and that soundtrack — which had some really good songs that hopefully one day I’ll get to redo — the fact it came out on September 11, people need to remember. How can we expect anything from that? I was a scapegoat in a lot of ways for talk show hosts who wanted to get away from the real stuff going on in the world. We all have to go through our tests to see how strong we are and come out on the other side.”

The accompanying soundtrack, Glitter, became Carey’s worst showing on the charts, and the lowest selling of her career to date. The record label Virgin/EMI later ended their record deal with Carey, giving her a $28 million pay-off.

The story of Billie Frank starts out several years in the past as Billie and her mother, Lillian, are seen at a nightclub, where Lillian is a performer. After a rousing performance met with little applause, Lillian tries to get the crowd excited by singing her signature tune, “Lillian’s Blues”, with young Billie accompanying her on vocals. Unfortunately, the ploy fails and Lillian is fired. Now unemployed, she resorts to asking her ex-lover, Billie’s father, for money. That night, Lillian, depressed and tired, carelessly falls asleep before putting out her cigarettes. A fire soon ensues, and the entire apartment complex has to be evacuated. Due to her actions, Billie is taken away to foster care, but Lillian promises she will get her soon.

Lillian’s promises never materialize, as years later, Billie Frank has grown up and is now a dancer at a club with her friends, Louise and Roxanne. Their actions catch the attention of Timothy Walker , and he offers a contract to the three girls as backup singers/dancers to the artist known only as Sylk. Initially, Billie refuses the offer, wanting to achieve her dreams of stardom on her own terms. However, after pestering from her friends, Billie relents, and the three are contracted to Timothy Walker.

Among the first tasks of being background singers for Sylk is the recording of the hit single, “All My Life”. At first Sylk seems to deliver a solid vocal performance, but it soon becomes apparent that she is way out of tune and that her voice is generally unpleasant. In a ploy to capitalize on the sex appeal of Sylk, but with powerful vocals, Timothy Walker then asks Billie to resing Sylk’s part. Sylk, for her own part, seems to be happy that she is being “ghosted”, but remains a bit uneasy with this notion.

Later at an exclusive nightclub DJed by Julian “Dice” Black, Sylk debuts “All My Life”. Dice is at first shocked, because he had previously believed that Sylk sounded different, but nevertheless goes backstage after her performance to congratulate her. It is at this moment that Sylk makes the fatal error of insulting her background singers in front of a photographer. Billie, not wanting to take the verbal abuse, then exposes Sylk as a fraud by singing “All My Life” a cappella in front of Dice.

Dice, impressed with what he has heard, tries to convince Billie to let him produce tracks for her, but she initially turns him down. When she finally relents, she raises concerns about her contract with Timothy Walker. Dice assures her that it will be no problem and goes to speak to Timothy Walker. At first, Timothy Walker and Dice act chummy like old friends, but attitudes soon turn harsh when Dice threatens to not play any more artists from Walker in his nightclub, unless Timothy surrenders the contact of Billie Frank and her friends. Timothy eventually relents, but on the provision that he be provided $100,0000.

Billie and Dice soon start working on songs with the first being the hit underground single, “I Didn’t Mean to Turn You On”. Dice also teaches Billie how to use discretion in the music business by refusing offers from smaller record labels in hopes of better ones. The plan works, as they eventually accept an offer from Guy Richardson of a major record label.

With success in their hands, Dice asks Billie out to have dinner with him. Afterwards, he asks her to come up to his apartment for a bit. Billie at first refuses, knowing that he just wants to sleep with her, but she is finally convinced to come up for a few minutes. Dice then begins to explain his life story and his musical dreams to Billie. Billie is so touched by his dreams, that she makes the first move, and they eventually end up sleeping together.

Work is soon started on Billie’s first major single, “Loverboy“. The single is a huge success, and a music video is eventually ordered to be made. The video originally features Billie, Louise and Roxanne dancing in bliss amidst glitter. However, the director of the music video, unsatisfied with the results, orders Billie to wear more revealing clothing and replaces Louise and Roxanne with a legion of professional semi-nude male dancers. When the male dancers are then ordered to dance closely to Billie, this frightens her to the point where Dice intervenes on her behalf, and the two leave the set before the music video can be finished.

Things begin to go downhill as more drama ensues, including Dice being denied permission to produce songs on Billie’s debt, including “Reflections“, a song Billie has written about her mother. Billie is soon called to perform at the USA Music Awards, where she meets singer/songwriter, Rafael, for the first time. Later at the after party, Rafael meets up with Billie again, and suggests that they write a song together. Dice, furious with being denied permission to produce and miffed by Rafael, orders Billie and her friends to leave the after party, accusing Rafael of sexual advances towards Billie. When Louise and Roxanne try to intervene, however, Dice calls Louise “fatass”, and they give Billie an ultimatum: them or Dice. But then they leave before Billie can choose. Dice tries to comfort her, but she pushes him away. Billie breaks down in tears later, but she is comforted by Dice as she laments “If you didn’t believe in me, none of this would have ever happened”.

The reconciliation is short lived as Billie soon receives a threat from Timothy Walker concerning the debt that Dice has failed to pay. Eventually, Dice returns to the apartment and Billie is furious at Dice as she thought he had handled her contract properly before. Dice, not handling the situation well, goes near the living quarters of Timothy Walker and ambushes him to the point of hospitalization. For his actions, Dice is held in police custody, prompting Billie to cancel a scheduled appearance on Saturday Night Live. Billie is furious as she had not asked for him to attack Timothy. She and Dice have a falling-out, which results in Billie, taken aback by the drama, deciding to leave Dice, staying with her estranged friends.

At first, Billie tries to deal with the pain by finally getting a chance to write with singer/songwriter, Rafael. They create the single “Want You”, which goes onto become a major hit single. However, eventually, Billie can’t deal with the breakup and deals with her emotional pain by writing a song. Dice also misses Billie, and also begins writing a song. Later, Billie sneaks into Dice’s apartment in an attempt to reconcile. He is not home, but the music he has written is. In a touching moment, Billie realizes that they wrote the same song (which came to be known as “Never Too Far“). She kisses the sheet music, leaving a lipstick imprint, which Dice later discovers.

Billie Frank (Mariah Carey) performing “Never Too Far”.

Dice then plans to reconcile with Billie, even with the intention of seeing her sold out performance in Madison Square Garden, but it never comes to be, as he is soon shot to death by Timothy Walker in revenge. The news soon reaches Billie’s management and support crew who then see a report of on it television. As they wonder how to break the news to Billie, she walks in and is duly shocked. Since Billie cannot cancel the sold-out concert, she somberly walks into the crowd, who have been festively grooving along to an instrumental track of “Loverboy” performed by Billie’s dancers. Billie is in no mood for lighthearted songs, and commands the band to stop playing “Loverboy” when she reaches the stage. Billie then warns the crowd never to take life for granted, before launching into her performance of “Never Too Far”.

After her concert has ended, Billie can be seen in a limo reading a note that Dice had left her before his death. In it, he tells he loves her, that he had planned to see her perform, and that he located Billie’s mother. Without rest, the limo drives Billie to a secluded location where she is reunited with her mother, and they both cry in each other’s arms.

Cast

Comparisons between Mariah Carey and Billie Frank

Although Carey has publicly denied similarities between the character, Billie Frank, and her real life and times, many similarities and differences have been pointed out by the public:

Similarities

• Carey and Billie both had troubled childhoods.
• Carey and Billie both have black and white ancestry.
• Carey and Billie both had emotionally abusive and controlling lovers.
• Carey and Billie both started out in the music industry as backup singers for already established artists.
• Carey and Billie both are fond of cats (mentioned in Mariah Carey by biographer Marc Shapiro).

Differences

• Although Carey and Billie both are biracial, in real life Carey’s mother is white (Irish), and her father is afro-latino (Afro-Venezuelan). In the film, Billie’s mother is afro-latino, and her father is white.
• Although Carey and Billie both had emotionally abusive and controlling lovers, Carey’s lover was a record executive (namely Tommy Mottola, who is still alive today), while Billie’s lover was a record producer (namely Dice, who was shot to death).

Popularity: 3% [?]

Glitter is a soundtrack album and the seventh studio album by American singer-songwriter Mariah Carey, recorded for the film Glitter and released by Virgin Records in the United States on 11 September 2001. It was a commercial failure compared to Carey’s previous albums, and professional reviews either praised her for the new territories she explored (Rolling Stone declared it “a big step forward in terms of maturity for one of pop music’s eternal kids … [it] sure beats the hell out of Moulin Rouge’s “Lady Marmalade“” and gave it a three-star review) or criticized it as a disconcerting departure. Reviews by Amazon.com and Yahoo.Launch.com praised Glitter as one of Carey’s best efforts.

Description

As a concept album of the sounds of the early 1980s, Glitter features contributions from dominant figures of the period: Rick James wrote “All My Life”, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis reworked their song “Didn’t Mean to Turn You On” and wrote with Carey the retro track “Want You”, while Cameo are featured on lead single “Loverboy”. The album also includes collaboratons with rappers Busta Rhymes, Mystikal, Da Brat, Ludacris, Fabolous, Shawnna, 22, Ja Rule, Nate Dogg, Cameo and R&B singer Eric Benét.

Chart performance and singles

It was released shortly before the film Glitter, in which Carey starred, which was a critical and commercial failure. Carey has cited the September 11, 2001 attacks as one of the reasons the album failed. In an interview she said, “I released it around 9/11. The talk shows needed something to distract from 9/11. I became a punching bag. I was so successful that they tore me down because my album was at number two instead of number one [a reference to the peak position of "Loverboy", and not actually to the album]. The media was laughing at me and attacked me.” In reality, the album debuted at number seven on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart, becoming Carey’s lowest peaking album at this point and remained in the top twenty for two weeks and on the chart for just twelve; it spent less time on the charts than some of her albums spent in the Top Ten alone. It has sold about 2.5 million copies worldwide, however, only 611,259 has been sold in the U.S as of 4 March 2006. – meaning that of the 1 million copies shipped (the necessary amount to be certified platinum), almost 400,000 went unpurchased. However, Glitter was a number-one selling album in countries such as Japan, where it became the first international soundtrack to reach the number one position. It also reached pole position in Greece, Korea (where it is already certified gold), Singapore (double platinum), Taiwan, and Hong Kong, while it debuted in the Top Ten in the Philippines (#3), Spain (#3, gold), Canada (#4, platinum), France (#5, gold), Italy (#5), Germany (#7), United Kingdom (#10), Ireland (#84), and Switzerland (#10).

Lead single “Loverboy” peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and went on to become the best-selling single of 2001 in the U.S. (partly because of a huge price cut), but follow-up singles “Never Too Far” and “Don’t Stop (Funkin’ 4 Jamaica)” failed to chart in the U.S. A music video was filmed for “Last Night a DJ Saved My Life“, but it was inmediately shelved after Virgin Records dropped Carey. “Reflections (Care Enough)” and “Lead the Way” were issued as radio singles outside the U.S. though copies of the single for “Reflections (Care Enough)” appear rarely in some US stores, and copies of both songs respectively, appear for sale on eBay constantly.

The song “If We” was later re-worked by Damizza and released as a single titled “What Would You Do” with Butch Cassidy, Nate Dogg and Carey in 2004 (see 2004 in music). Conflict between Damizza and Shade Sheist led Damizza to recruit Cassidy to replace Sheist on the single version. Sheist retaliated with his own remix titled “G-Mix”, which is a re-worked version featuring Nune and Carey. “What Would You Do” was popular on the west coast of the U.S. and Carey even performed it while on tour in Los Angeles, but it was a failure elsewhere in the country. The song received minimal airplay in Europe.

Track listing

1. “Loverboy” (remix) featuring Ludacris, Shawnna, 22 and Da Brat – 4:30
2. “Lead the Way” – 3:53
3. “If We” featuring Ja Rule and Nate Dogg – 4:20
4. “Didn’t Mean to Turn You On” – 4:54
5. “Don’t Stop (Funkin’ 4 Jamaica)” featuring Mystikal – 3:37
6. “All My Life” – 5:09
7. “Reflections (Care Enough)” – 3:20
8. “Last Night a DJ Saved My Life” featuring Busta Rhymes and Fabolous – 6:43
9. “Want You” featuring Eric Benet – 4:43
10. “Never Too Far” – 4:21
11. “Twister” – 2:26
12. “Loverboy” featuring Cameo – 3:49

Tracks in Relation to the “Glitter” Movie

1. “Loverboy”: The main character, Billie Frank’s, mainstream breakthrough single. At first, it is overloaded with effects, before it is toned down to sound more like how it appears on the album.
2. “Lead the Way”: Played during the ending credits and when Billie first kisses Dice, Billie’s producer and boyfriend.
3. “Didn’t Mean to Turn You On”: The first song Billie makes with Dice; it becomes an underground hit and Billie performs it at the USA Music Awards.
4. “Don’t Stop (Funkin’ 4 Jamaica)”: Bridge is performed by Billie during a freestyle at Dice’s club.
5. “All My Life”: A song made by the fictional pop star Sylk in which Billie first is hired to sing back-up vocals for. After the producer of the song heard how well Billie could sing, they got her to sing the song and release it under Sylk’s name. However, after a performance where Sylk gets Billie to ‘ghost’ the song and she takes full credit for singing the song, Billie gets angry and shows Dice that she was the real singer of the song.
6. “Reflections (Care Enough)”: A song Billie writes about her mother. However, the record company did not approve of the ‘woe is me’ attempt that she made.
7. “Last Night a DJ Saved my Life”: Played at a club; intro bassline and drums only.
8. “Want You”: Billie records this song with fictional RNB singer Rafael; it becomes a hit.
9. “Never Too Far”: A song Billie and Dice both write at the end of the movie regarding their break-up. She sings the song at her sold-out show in Madison Gardens Square after Dice dies.
10. “Twister”: Played when Billie was taken away from her mother in the beginning of the movie.

Charts

Popularity: 3% [?]