20 Years On, The Emancipation of Mimi Remains Mariah Carey's Magnum Opus
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You can be on top of the world—or in the case of Mariah Carey, be a globally renowned, Grammy-winning singer and songwriter with millions of records sold—and sometimes the universe will still find a way to count you out.
The superstar has never shied away from acknowledging the personal or professional woes that have happened in her life, whether it was less-than-stellar reviews for 2001's Glitter or her 2002 studio album, Charmbracelet. She's detailed them all ad nauseam in her 2020 memoir, The Meaning of Mariah Carey, and in interviews over the years. Sometimes setbacks light a fire within us. Sometimes setbacks force us to creatively recalibrate. Sometimes, if you're Mariah Carey at least, setbacks inspire what eventually becomes career-defining work. Enter The Emancipation of Mimi, Carey's 10th studio album—a stellar feat of lyrical prowess and pristine R&B production—which celebrates its 20th anniversary this week. The singer herself describes creating the project as a 'freeing kind of moment.'
'Well, [the record came out] following a couple of moments that weren't that successful for me—like, I loved Charmbracelet, that's one of my favorite albums—but you can't make something sell a certain amount or have the label do the right thing about it to make it successful,' Carey shares with Harper's Bazaar. 'When we got into making The Emancipation of Mimi, it was just like a breath of fresh air...it really was good.'
Emancipation just may be Carey's most thorough piece of musical storytelling she's ever created. Looking back 20 years on, Emancipation remains a body of work that symbolizes the life of a woman liberated from the constraints of critique. In 2005, Carey had nothing to lose—so why not make the music that has always existed within her? She famously recorded the bulk of the album on the island of Capri with its original edition being filled to the brim with collaborations with R&B and hip-hop heavyweights like her longtime producing partner Jermaine Dupri along with Pharrell, Snoop Dogg, Twista, Nelly, and the late Fatman Scoop. Thanks to an all-star cohort of directors that included Brett Ratner, Jake Nava, and Paul Hunter, each of the era's accompanying music videos resembled mini movies with leading men to match; Eric Roberts, Wentworth Miller, and Michael Ealy all made impressionable cameos.
The album also has one of the strongest home run opening sequences in modern music: 'It's Like That' became an instant club hit that birthed hilariously shady one-liners like 'Them chickens is ash and I'm lotion' while 'We Belong Together' went on to top the Billboard charts for 14 non-consecutive weeks and later was named Song of the Decade. (When I mention to Carey that I don't think they even anoint songs that honor anymore, she laughs.) 'Shake It Off' remains to this day the ultimate no-fucks-given breakup anthem for many a millennial. Every now and then an X user hoping to go viral will post "When I say the song 'Shake It Off,'' what artist do yall think of first????' and like clockwork a loyal lamb will dutifully respond, 'Mariah Carey. Please do not piss me off.'
To celebrate the album's milestone, the superstar is releasing The Emancipation of Mimi (20th Anniversary Edition), a special 45 track 5LP re-release. Available on May 30, 2025 and compiled by Carey herself, the marquee offering will combine tracks from the original record as well as singles from the Ultra Platinum Edition along with dozens of bonus tracks, dance remixes, instrumentals, acappella edits, and more. Fans will also be treated to a new remix of 'Don't Forget About Us' produced by Kaytranada, which is available to purchase and stream today.
'[This album really] seems to span across different age groups, even if fans were super young when it came out,' says Carey. 'I'll be performing some of these songs from Mimi and seeing people really knowing all the words— it's always so nice.' The singer also admits she's seen the countless TikToks of people spreading the gospel of the album's enduring impact. 'Some of them are pretty funny,' she admits.
The record not only symbolized a creative awakening for Carey musically, but stylistically as well. The outfits from that era of her artistry were just as memorable as the songs in some aspects. Similar to when the singer switched up her style for the release of Butterfly (coinciding with a well publicized divorce), Emancipation embraced all of Carey's aesthetic staples. She wore camo capris and a side-slung studded trucker hat in the 'Shake It Off' video and a rhinestone Tory Burch tunic while belting a run for the ages in 'We Belong Together.' The late André Leon Talley styled the songstress now and then throughout that period and even made an appearance in the music video for 'Say Somethin,'" which featured her on Parisian shopping spree with a pre-Louis Vuitton boss Pharrell.
'It was really about breaking free of things that I would have done in the past,' she says of her 2005 style. 'Whether it was wearing the DSQUARED2 dress from the 'It's Like That' video or the orange Roberto Cavalli [cutout] dress to [VH1 Save the Music Benefit]. There was the Vera Wang wedding dress for the 'We Belong Together' video too...everything I was wearing was all different but also [at the same time] all fun.'
Even today, Carey is still surprised by the album's enduring impact and how much it's grown alongside her over the years, speaking to it's overall timelessness. In a way, The Emancipation of Mimi is still guiding the singer.
'It was just one of those things where you find yourself working on something and you find it to be really special. It's a project one day and then come the next day it's the project,' she says. 'I think [the album is] still teaching me that music is long lasting and that you can really be your true self through it. In terms of what that says about me and my work...I hope people remember it and love it. [Making this album] got me through some moments that weren't so great by really living through the music.'
Looking back at the cultural impact of The Emancipation of Mimi, does Mariah Carey believe in the concept of a magnum opus? And is Mimi hers?
'I love when there's a big magnum opus, but this is one of those things where [over time] it's kind of just grown with me,' she says. "And I love that.'$249.98 at urbanlegends.com
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