Mariah Carey "Memoirs Of An Imperfect Angel (2CD Limited Edition, Enhanced CD, USA, Island Records, B0013226-02)"

Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel is the twelfth studio album by American singer-songwriter Mariah Carey. It was released on September 29, 2009 in the United States, by Island Records, Def Jam Recordings and The Island Def Jam Music Group. After promotion for her previous album, E=MC² (2008) ended, Carey began to work on a new album, producing songs with Terius "The-Dream" Nash and Christopher "Tricky" Stewart.

Six singles were released to promote the album. The lead single, "Obsessed", became the album's most successful song, peaking at number seven on the Billboard Hot 100, and reaching the top twenty in Japan, Canada and Australia and the top ten in Italy and France. The second single, "I Want to Know What Love Is", reached number 60 on the Billboard Hot 100, and topped the Brasil Hot 100 Airplay chart for 27 non-consecutive weeks. Other singles released were "H.A.T.E.U.", "Up Out My Face", and "Angels Cry", with the last two being originally intended for the subsequently-cancelled remix album, Angels Advocate. "It's a Wrap" was released as the album's sixth single in 2023 after going viral on video sharing platform TikTok.

Upon its release, Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel received positive reviews from music critics, who felt it was one of Carey's most consistent and interesting records. Commercially, the album debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 with 168,000 copies sold in its first week, and peaked within the top-ten in other five countries. To promote the album, Carey made a pre-show in Madison Square Garden in 2009, embarked on the Angels Advocate Tour (2010), and performed on several television programs, including America's Got Talent, The Oprah Winfrey Show and Today.

In early 2009, singer and songwriter The-Dream stated that he and Carey had already begun working on her next studio album: "I think it's about just writing an album that includes the focus of all the hits that she's had. She can't take a loss; she has to do everything to the T. So it's basically like we're trying to make a greatest hits album without using the greatest hits". In February 2009, The-Dream told to MySpace Music that he and Carey had finished seven songs for the album.

In May, Carey revealed that she was calling the album Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel because it was going to be "very personal and dedicated to the fans". She says that she chose to use three images for the cover art because "there are a lot of different emotions and stories revealed on this album". Carey also stated that she loves "the whole album" and she's "completely immersed in it". On June 16, Carey said on Twitter that there will be "big ballads" on the album. Carey also said that she "tried to make something for all who love Butterfly, and even older albums". For the first time in her career, Carey worked with American Grammy Award-winning hip-hop and R&B record-producer Timbaland. They worked on a number of tracks, but none were included on the album. Another song, "Imperfect," which was written by Carey and deals with societal pressure on women to "be perfect and look a certain way," also failed to make the track listing. In an interview with BET, Carey said that she worked with Jermaine Dupri, but none of his songs are on the album. Despite the majority of the project being written and produced by Carey, Tricky Stewart and The-Dream, the main goal was to avoid having a "redundant or stale" album. In an interview with Elle Carey described the sound of her new album: "Each song is its own snapshot of a moment in a story. But overall, the vibe is R&B hip-hop with a lot of slow jams. [...] Each song has its own mood; some flow seamlessly into each other, and that was the purpose, and others are very different. The album has a sense of humor, [you can hear me laughing out loud at certain points], but it also has deep and introspective moments."

During an interview with music retailer Amazon.com, Carey revealed her inspiration and motivation for the album. "Each song tells its own story. Each one is like an intimate conversation or entry in a private diary. A lot of the songs reflect specific, different times in my life, actual events that happened to me, some of which are from way back in the past. Others were inspired by movies or from a friend of mine that may have told me their story. People can listen to it and pick out certain songs that mean something to them – women especially. It's about women's empowerment and overcoming certain things. It's fun too though. It's got a little bit of something for everybody".

Amazon.com revealed that the physical release of the album would come as a 3-panel softpack as opposed to the usual plastic CD casing. This was due to the inclusion of two discs, the first housed the album itself whilst the second housed an enhanced CD featuring the music video for lead single "Obsessed" as well as the video for "Obsessed" (official remix featuring Gucci Mane) and three other remixes. The packaging includes a 34-page Elle mini-magazine which takes an exclusive in-depth look at Carey's life and career. The mini-magazine is mixed in with lyrics and other traditional liner-note materials as well as upscale ads to cut the production costs of the booklet. The ad-supported booklets – available in a digital format for downloaders – appeared in the first one million US copies of the CD and the first 500,000 overseas.

It was also revealed that a limited edition collectors' version of the album would be released on October 20, 2009. It features the album and its bonus disc on both standard CDs and limited edition white vinyl LPs plus six rare lithographs, the limited edition Elle mini-magazine, a signature butterfly band and exclusively designed collector's box packaging.

The album debuted in the US at number three on the Billboard 200. It opened with first week sales of 168,000 units. The album was certified Gold on December 14, 2009, denoting shipments of 500,000 units, but it became Carey's lowest-selling album since Glitter in 2001. The album topped the R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. As of November 2018, the album has sold 555,000 copies in the US. It has since been certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), denoting sales and shipments equivalent to one million units. In Canada the album debuted at number 5 on the Canadian Albums Chart. The album reached #101 in the 2009 year-end Billboard 200 albums chart. In Japan the album reached #9. In the UK the album undersold expectations, peaking at number 23, in the Christmas season despite a performance on The X Factor and visiting various morning shows. Despite this, it received a Silver certification for shipments of 60,000. It peaked at number eight on the UK R&B Albums Chart.

Track listing

Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel  

1. "Betcha Gon' Know (The Prologue)" 4:00
2. "Obsessed" 4:02
3. "H.A.T.E.U." 4:28
4. "Candy Bling" 4:03
5. "Ribbon" 4:21
6. "Inseparable" 3:34
7. "Standing O"  4:00
8. "It's a Wrap" 3:59
9. "Up Out My Face" 3:41
10. "Up Out My Face (The Reprise)" 0:51
11. "More than Just Friends"   3:37
12. "The Impossible" 4:00
13. "The Impossible (The Reprise)" 2:26
14. "Angel (The Prelude)" 1:04
15. "Angels Cry" 4:02
16. "Languishing (The Interlude)" 2:34
17. "I Want to Know What Love Is" 3:27

Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel – CD and digital release (bonus disc)

1. "Obsessed" (Cahill Radio Mix) 3:21
2. "Obsessed" (Seamus Haji & Paul Emanuel Radio Edit) 3:12
3. "Obsessed" (Jump Smokers Radio Edit) 3:20
4. "Obsessed" (Friscia and Lamboy Radio Mix) 4:11

Packaged in a 3-panel softpack with a 36 page Elle mini-magazine dedicated entirely to Mariah.

Track 4 contains interpolations from the composition "Back in the day" written by Ahmad Lewis, Stefan Gordy and John Klemmer.

Track 6 contains interpolations of the composition "Time after time" written by Robert Hyman and Cyndi Lauper.

Track 8 contains elements from "I belong to you" and a sample of the recording of "I belong to you" as performed by Love Unlimited Orchestra.

Track 11 contains interpolations of "One more chance/Stay with me (Remix) written by Sean Combs, Chris Wallace, Rashad Smith, Mark Debarge and Etterlene Jordan.

Tracks 12 and 13 contain interpolations from "Forever my lady" written by Albert Brown and Donald Degrate.