Rainbow is the ninth album and sixth studio album by American pop/R&B singer Mariah Carey, released in the United States on 2 November 1999 (see 1999 in music) by Columbia Records. It is a collaboration-heavy album which found Carey working with a wide range of producers and artists that dominated the music scene of the late 1990s. Rolling Stone called the album “a sterling chronicle of accessible hip-hop balladeering at the close of 1999.” Guest artists included rappers Jay-Z, Da Brat, Missy Elliott, Snoop Dogg, Mystikal, Master P and singers Usher, Joe and 98 Degrees. The album was the first since Carey’s debut to not be heavily co-produced by Walter Afanasieff, Carey’s long-time collaborator who co-produced most of her signature ballads. In his place, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis were brought in. Many felt the album was a natural continuation of the R&B and hip hop sounds Carey had explored on the album Butterfly (1997).

Description

Rainbow debuted at number 2 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart in the highest first-week sales of Mariah Carey’s career up to that date, with 323,000 copies sold. It stayed in the top twenty for ten weeks and on the chart for thirty-five (making one re-entry). The album’s weekly sales peaked at 369,000 copies in its eighth week (when it was at number nine), and it was eventually certified three times platinum by the RIAA. While a commercial success, it was Carey’s first studio album since Emotions (1991) not to reach number one in the U.S. and her lowest-selling up to that point. The album was a worldwide Top 10 hit, also hitting at #1 in France and, most importantly, in the United World Chart in its two first weeks. As of 2005 Rainbow had sold 2.9 million copies in the U.S. according to Nielsen SoundScan, with an additional 0.5 million sold at Columbia House outlets and 0.44 million at BMG Music Clubs, and ten million worldwide.

Rainbow produced two number-one hits on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in “Heartbreaker” and “Thank God I Found You“. A cover version of the Phil Collins song “Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)” featuring the Irish boy band Westlife was released in the UK and became Carey’s second number-one single there, but the double A-side “Can’t Take That Away (Mariah’s Theme)“/”Crybaby” became her first single to miss the U.S. top twenty.

Track listing

1. “Heartbreaker” featuring Jay-Z – 4:46
2. “Can’t Take That Away (Mariah’s Theme)” – 4:33
3. “Bliss” – 5:44
4. “How Much” featuring Usher – 3:31
5. “After Tonight” – 4:16
6. “X-Girlfriend” – 4:00
7. “Heartbreaker” (remix) featuring Da Brat and Missy Elliott – 4:32
8. “Vulnerability (Interlude)” – 1:12
9. “Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)” – 3:25
10. “Crybaby” featuring Snoop Dogg – 5:20
11. “Did I Do That?” featuring Mystikal and Master P – 4:16
12. “Petals” – 4:23
13. “Rainbow (Interlude)” – 1:32
14. “Thank God I Found You” featuring Nas, Joe and 98 Degrees – 4:17

Taiwan Bonus Disc

1. “Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now) with Westlife

Charts