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The Rarities
Black and white picture of Mariah Carey against a clear background with "Mariah Carey" written on top and "The Rarities" over her shoulder.
Compilation album by
Mariah Carey
ReleasedOctober 2, 2020 (2020-10-02)
Recorded1989–2020
VenueTokyo Dome
Studio
  • Beach House Studios (Bahamas)
  • Conway Recording Studios (California)
  • Crave Studios (New York)
  • Electric Lady Studios (New York City)
  • Germano Studios (New York)
  • Hit Factory (New York)
  • The Mermaid Room (New York)
  • Plant Studios (Sausalito, California)
  • Record Plant (Los Angeles)
  • Right Track Studio (New York)
  • Sanctuary Studios (Albany, New York)
  • Southside Studios (California)
  • Summertime Studio (New York)
GenreR&B[1]
Length136:25
Label
Producer
Mariah Carey chronology
Caution
(2018) 		The Rarities
(2020) 		Mariah Carey's Magical Christmas Special
(2020)
Singles from The Rarities
  1. "Save the Day"
    Released: August 21, 2020
  2. "Out Here on My Own"
    Released: September 18, 2020

The Rarities is the seventh compilation album by American singer-songwriter Mariah Carey, released on October 2, 2020, by Columbia Records and Legacy Recordings. The album coincided with Carey's 2020 memoir The Meaning of Mariah Carey, which discussed various songs on the albums, their meanings and stories. The album was released as a part of "#MC30", a promotional marking campaign which marked the 30th anniversary of Carey's self-titled debut album.

Supported by the singles "Save the Day", "Out Here on My Own" and the promotional single "Here We Go Around Again", the first of two discs on the album featured a mix of b-sides and previously unreleased material from Carey's discography. The second disc included audio from her live performance at the Tokyo Dome on March 7, 1996, during her Daydream World Tour. A Blu-ray disc featuring enhanced video footage from the concert was released exclusively in Japan. Upon release, the album received positive reviews and debuted at number 31 on the Billboard 200, while reaching the top 20 in Australia and Spain, and the top 40 in Croatia, Japan, Poland, Scotland, Switzerland and Wallonia.

Background

[edit]

To celebrate and promote the 30th anniversary of her self-titled debut studio album, Mariah Carey and her memoir The Meaning of Mariah Carey, Carey announced the release of her eighth compilation album.[2][3][4] Carey stated on Good Morning America that,

"Basically, I found stuff in my vault that I had either started to work on a long time ago and never released or that I wanted to finish mixing or do whatever. But they're songs that have previously not been released."[5]

Music and content

[edit]

The album consists of a two-disc track collection of unreleased songs, B-sides, demos and live performances.[6][7] The album begins with "Here We Go Around Again" in which Idolator writer Mike Wass stated was "hard to understand how something this effortlessly charming and catchy didn’t make the tracklist of Mariah’s debut album."[8] Carey channeled the Jackson 5 on this "buoyant bop from 1990, sounding so innocent that she can barely contain the sheer joy of relishing in her own melismatic powers."[9][8] "Can You Hear Me" was described as "a stunning ballad, and was originally penned for Emotions (1991)".[8] Carey has stated that the song was also written for Barbra Streisand.[10] The previously released B-side songs include "Do You Think of Me" which was featured on the B-side of Carey's "Dreamlover",[11][12] "Slipping Away" on the B-side of "Always Be My Baby"[13] and "Everything Fades Away" on the B-side of "Hero"[14][15] and also included as a bonus track on international editions of Carey's third studio album, Music Box (1993).[16] The three B-sides were described as "legendary within The Lambily for good reason".[8]

"All I Live For", a Music Box reject, was described as "90s R&B-lite".[8] Carey's work on "One Night" was also an "urban groove that probably scared the execs at Columbia at the time" and was "one of Mariah’s first collaborations with Jermaine Dupri, a creative relationship that would bear a lot of fruit in coming years."[8] Carey's cover of Irene Cara’s "Out Here on My Own" was described as being "heaven-sent and, thematically, it makes complete sense for [Carey]."[8] The song is a piano ballad.[9] "Loverboy" was previously released on Carey's Glitter soundtrack in 2001 and The Rarities features an original mix of the song which samples the 1978 Yellow Magic Orchestra song "Firecracker", which is said to have sparked the feud between Carey and Jennifer Lopez.[17] "I Pray" was described by The New York Post writer Chuck Arnold, as "one of the most straight-up spiritual things Carey has ever done, with a choir helping her to take it all the way to church."[9] "Cool On You" continues the R&B sound and "stems from E=MC² era and finds [Carey] in full club mode [...] It's light and feathery fun that gets stuck in your head after the very first listen."[8] "Mesmerized" is a "curiously sedate mid-tempo that was supposed to appear in The Paperboy."[8]

The album also features a live rendition of the jazz ballad, "Lullaby of Birdland", in which Carey performed live at The Elusive Chanteuse Show in 2014 and was originally meant to feature on her album, Me. I Am Mariah... The Elusive Chanteuse (2014) which was then titled The Art of Letting Go.[18][19] The lead single "Save the Day" with Ms. Lauryn Hill was "as timely as a song that was written in 2011 can be" and met with mixed reviews.[8][20][21] One of the higher praised songs on the album was a 2020 re-recording of Carey's "Close My Eyes" from her album Butterfly (1997) which was described as a "real jewel in the crown" and that "few songs capture the power of the superstar’s voice and pen as well as this."[8]

The second disc of the album features a live recording of Carey's Daydream World Tour concert at the Tokyo Dome, recorded in March 1996, and includes "Emotions", "Fantasy", "One Sweet Day", "Vision of Love", "Hero" and "All I Want for Christmas Is You".[6][2][3][4]

Promotion

[edit]

"This year, [Carey has] been taking something of a victory lap with a celebration she’s calling "MC30", opening the vaults on never-before-seen video footage and an album of unreleased songs and demos called The Rarities, and she’s finally put all that legendary shade to paper with a memoir, The Meaning of Mariah Carey."

—Vulture author, Allison P. Davis.[22]

On August 19, 2020, Carey announced the pre-order of The Rarities on her social media platforms, along with its release date of October 2, 2020. She performed "Vision of Love" and "Close My Eyes" during the Good Morning America concert series.[23] On September 12, 2020,[24] a music video was released for "Save the Day" to commemorate female tennis players.[25] Upon release of the album, Carey released her full concert at the Tokyo Dome on her Vevo channel.[26] On October 23, 2020, to further promote "Save the Day", Carey released a lyric video for the song which encouraged viewers to vote as well as paying tribute to "Breonna Taylor, Congressman John Lewis, trans activist and writer Raquel Willis, Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass, and essential workers on the frontlines of the pandemic, with portraits drawn by artist Molly Crabapple."[27]

#MC30

[edit]

In the weeks leading up to the album, Carey released "digital EPs, remixes, bonus cuts, rare tracks, a cappella renditions and live performances" from her discography under the coined hashtag "#MC30".[28][29] Her first release was on July 17, 2020, where she released a digital-only EP, The Live Debut – 1990, which featured a live performance from Carey's debut showcase at New York City's Club Tatou on October 22, 1990.[30]

To further promote her 30th anniversary and the release of The Rarities, Carey released EP remixes of her songs: "There's Got to Be a Way", "Someday",[31] "Emotions", "Make It Happen",[32] "Dreamlover", "Never Forget You", "Anytime You Need a Friend",[33] "Fantasy", "One Sweet Day", "Always Be My Baby", "Underneath the Stars",[34] "Honey", "Butterfly", "The Roof", "Breakdown", "My All",[35] "Sweetheart", "I Still Believe" and "Theme from Mahogany (Do You Know Where You're Going To)".[36] She also released a Spanish EP titled Mariah en Español featuring Spanish versions of her songs "My All", "Open Arms" and "Hero".[37][36] After the release of the album, Carey picked up at where she left off on her "#MC30" campaign and released EP remixes for "Heartbreaker",[38] "Can't Take That Away (Mariah's Theme)",[39] "Thank God I Found You" and "Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)".[40][41][42]

Among music releases, Carey has also released her live video performances on her Vevo channel from BBC One's Top of the Pops along with what Billboard described as "spruced-up" versions of her album discography in vinyl format.[43] On November 13, 2020, Carey released an unreleased music video for "Underneath the Stars" filmed in 1996 and teased months earlier for "#MC30" on Carey's Instagram.[44][45] In 2021, she resumed "#MC30" releases with EP's for the songs "Through the Rain", "Boy (I Need You)", "I Only Wanted", "The One", "Bringin' On the Heartbreak",[46] "It's Like That", "We Belong Together", "Shake It Off", "Don't Forget About Us", "Say Somethin'", "Your Girl",[47] "Touch My Body", "I Stay in Love", "I'll Be Lovin' U Long Time", "I'm That Chick"[48] and "Joy to the World".[49]

Singles

[edit]

The album's lead single, "Save the Day", was released on August 21, 2020.[50] The song charted at number 12 on Billboard's US Hot R&B Songs.[51] "Out Here on My Own" was released as the second single on September 18, 2020.[52] The album's promotional single, a limited edition cassette for "Here We Go Around Again" with "Loverboy (Firecracker – Original Version)" as a B-side was released in Japan on December 11, 2020.[53][54] The double-sided single charted at number 59 in Japan for a week on December 21, 2020.[55]

Critical reception

[edit]
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic74/100[56]
Review scores
SourceRating
AlbumismStarStarStarStar[57]
AllMusicStarStarStarHalf star[58]
NMEStarStarStar[59]
Slant MagazineStarStarStar[60]

Upon release, the compilation album received generally positive reviews. On the review aggregator website Metacritic the album has a score of a 74 out of 100 based on reviews from 6 critics.[56] Variety writer Jeremy Helligar gave the album high praise stating that, "unlike many of the pop queens that followed her up the charts, Carey can craft a hit without a cast of millions [...] and even as she switches up her emphasis from crossover pop to hip hop to adult soul, there’s a common thread of Mariah-ness running through everything."[21] He gave praise to Carey's 2020 rendition of her classic, "Close My Eyes" from her sixth studio album Butterfly stating that, "Her vocals [...] are lovely and understated, even when she’s hitting her legendary whistle notes.[21] He went on to say negatively that, "there are a few clunkers like her messy live take on the jazz classic "Lullaby of Birdland" [...] there should be a method to the madness. Unfortunately, Mariah's take on jazz chanteuse is more madness than method; suffice it to say she's no Sarah Vaughan."[21] He also criticized "Save the Day" stating that "Ms. Lauryn Hill’s vocals have been cleverly interpolated" but called it a "rare lyrical misstep" saying that "what the world needs now is something more probing and specific than another string of peace homilies."[21]

Los Angeles Times pop-music critic Mikael Wood also praised the album stating that the only negative aspect was that it did not "include anything from the out-of-print [...] alt-rock album that Carey secretly made in 1995 under the band name Chick."[20] He praised the song "Here We Go Around Again" stating that her vocals were "precise as always" and praised her writing style saying that it was "already in a tune whose darting melody evokes the comings and goings of a guy who can’t make up his mind about her."[20] Idolator writer Mike Wass also praised the album saying that "a collection of unreleased songs and B-Sides has no right being this good".[8] He stated that "The Rarities is obviously essential listening for fans, but well worth diving into for general music lovers. After all, this is an important piece of pop history."[8] NME writer Nick Levine, gave the album three out of five stars stating that the album "goes heavier on Carey's ballads than her edgier, hip-hop-influenced material of the late '90s onwards, but there's a delicious sense of revenge being served cold in the inclusion of "Loverboy" with its original sample."[59] Rated R&B writer, Keithan Samuels, gave the album honourable mention on the publication's 30 Best R&B Albums of 2020 list.[61] He stated, "Since her introduction, Carey has released songs that have shifted culture and have been the soundtrack to many of our lives [...] With The Rarities, Carey flips the script and allows the world to access the secret soundtrack that she has been curating unobtrusively."[61] In describing the album, The Cavalier Daily writer Darryle Aldridge stated that it "lets fans and critics into a glimpse of [Carey's] true self, particularly the R&B siren that masqueraded as a tight-laced girl-next-door during her reign in the ‘90s."[62] He went on to say that the album "is prime Mariah without the glitz, glamour or melodramatic flairs that shot her to fame."[62]

Commercial performance

[edit]

In the United States, The Rarities debuted and peaked at number 31 on the Billboard 200 chart with 21,000 album equivalent units, 14,800 units are pure album sales.[63][64] The album also debuted on Billboard's Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums at number 15.[65] On the UK Albums chart, the album debuted at number 44.[66] The album also debuted and peaked inside the top-twenty in Australia and Spain, the top-thirty in Japan, Scotland and Switzerland, and the top-forty in Belgium, Croatia and Poland.

Track listing

[edit]

Credits from the album's liner notes.[67][68][10]

Disc 1: The Rarities
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."Here We Go Around Again" (1990; from the Mariah Carey sessions)
  • Carey
  • Margulies
3:55
2."Can You Hear Me" (1991; from the Emotions sessions)
  • Carey
4:06
3."Do You Think of Me" (1993; B-side to "Dreamlover" CD single)
  • Carey
  • Afanasieff
  • Rooney
  • Morales
4:48
4."Everything Fades Away" (1993; B-side to "Hero" CD single)
  • Carey
  • Afanasieff
  • Carey
  • Afanasieff
5:25
5."All I Live For" (1993; from the Music Box sessions)
  • Carey
  • Afanasieff
  • Carey
  • Afanasieff
3:22
6."One Night" (1995; from the Daydream sessions)
  • Carey
  • Dupri
4:41
7."Slipping Away" (1996; B-side to "Always Be My Baby" CD single)
  • Carey
  • Hall
4:31
8."Out Here on My Own" (2000; from the Glitter sessions)
Carey3:16
9."Loverboy" (Firecracker – Original Version) (2001; from the Glitter sessions)
3:14
10."I Pray" (2005)
2:53
11."Cool on You" (2007; from the E=MC² sessions)
3:11
12."Mesmerized" (2012; originally recorded for The Paperboy soundtrack)
3:22
13."Lullaby of Birdland" (Live) (2014; from the Me. I Am Mariah... The Elusive Chanteuse sessions)
3:18
14."Save the Day" (with Ms. Lauryn Hill) (2020)
3:48
15."Close My Eyes" (Acoustic) (2020)
  • Carey
  • Afanasieff
  • Carey
3:18
Total length:57:08
Disc 2 / Japanese video edition bonus Blu-ray Disc 3: Live at the Tokyo Dome[69]
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Daydream Interlude" (Fantasy Sweet Dub Mix)
1:31
2."Emotions"
4:06
3."Open Arms"
3:46
4."Forever"
  • Carey
  • Afanasieff
4:46
5."I Don't Wanna Cry"
5:54
6."Fantasy"
  • Carey
  • Hall
  • Frantz
  • Weymouth
  • Belew
  • Stanley
5:25
7."Always Be My Baby"
  • Carey
  • Dupri
  • Seal
4:38
8."One Sweet Day"
5:20
9."Underneath the Stars"
  • Carey
  • Afanasieff
4:07
10."Without You"
4:19
11."Make It Happen"
  • Carey
  • Cole
  • Clivillés
5:03
12."Just Be Good to Me"
6:37
13."Dreamlover"
  • Carey
  • Hall
3:58
14."Vision of Love"
  • Carey
  • Margulies
3:46
15."Hero"
  • Carey
  • Afanasieff
4:59
16."Anytime You Need a Friend"
  • Carey
  • Afanasieff
5:58
17."All I Want for Christmas Is You"
  • Carey
  • Afanasieff
5:04
Total length:79:17

Notes

  • ^[a] signifies a co-producer
  • ^[b] signifies a musical director

Sample credits

Charts

[edit]

References

[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

The Rarities (Mariah Carey album)

View on Grokipedia
from Grokipedia

The Rarities is a two-disc compilation album by American singer-songwriter Mariah Carey, released on October 2, 2020, by Columbia Records and Legacy Recordings, consisting of previously unreleased studio recordings, B-sides, demos, and live performances curated from her personal archives. The album's first disc features early career material, including demos from the 1990s such as "Here We Go Around Again" and "Can You Hear Me," alongside later outtakes like a collaboration with on "Saving My Feeling," reflecting Carey's songwriting evolution and vocal prowess across decades. The second disc compiles live recordings, notably a 1998 Tokyo Dome concert set with renditions of hits like "Dreamlover" and "Fantasy," showcasing her signature melismatic style and stage command. Issued to coincide with the 30th anniversary of Carey's debut and alongside her memoir , the collection highlights archival depth rather than new material, appealing primarily to dedicated fans despite modest commercial performance, debuting at number 28 on the with 21,500 equivalent units in its first week. Critics noted its value in demonstrating consistent quality in Carey's vault material, though it lacks transformative "lost classics," underscoring her enduring influence on pop and R&B without major breakthroughs or controversies.

Background and Development

Conception and Announcement

The conception of The Rarities emerged in 2020 as Mariah Carey sought to compile a career-spanning selection of obscure recordings to complement the promotion of her memoir, The Meaning of Mariah Carey, set for release on September 29, 2020, and to mark the 30th anniversary of her self-titled debut album from 1990. The project focused on vaulted demos, B-sides, and unreleased tracks primarily from the 1990s and early 2000s, periods during which Carey personally curated material that had remained inaccessible to the public. This initiative allowed her to highlight artistic explorations often sidelined by label priorities under Columbia Records, where commercial imperatives frequently overrode experimental directions in her early career. Carey announced the album on August 19, 2020, through social media posts emphasizing her direct involvement in selecting "personal favorites from her vault" specifically for fans who had long requested such rarities, including live archival audio. The announcement positioned The Rarities as a deliberate act of narrative reclamation, enabling Carey to share tracks suppressed by prior industry constraints and to underscore her songwriting depth beyond mainstream hits. By framing the release around fan demand and personal oversight, the project reflected Carey's shift toward greater artistic autonomy following her departure from Columbia in 2001.

Track Selection Rationale

Mariah Carey personally selected the tracks for The Rarities, drawing from her personal vault of unreleased demos, B-sides, and rare recordings spanning 1990 to 2020 to emphasize material overlooked during her commercial peak. This curation prioritized pieces with historical value, such as "Here We Go Around Again," the opening track from her original 1990 demo tape, which captured her nascent songwriting and vocal range but was excluded from her debut album to align with label visions. Similarly, B-sides like "Do You Think of Me" from the Music Box (1993) sessions and "Slipping Away" from the Daydream (1995) era were chosen for their vocal showcases and enduring fan appeal, having served as non-single attachments to releases like "Dreamlover" and "Always Be My Baby." These selections highlight phases where executive preferences favored pop ballads over Carey's preferred urban-leaning or introspective compositions. The inclusion of full-length audio from her March 7, 1996, Tokyo Dome concert further illustrates this intent, presenting unedited live renditions from her Daydream World Tour to demonstrate vocal prowess in a pre-divorce context marked by relative artistic constraint under Columbia Records. Tracks like "Everything Fades Away," a 1993 B-side to "Hero," were revived to spotlight emotionally raw demos dismissed by labels for lacking broad appeal, revealing stifled experiments in hip-hop and grunge-infused styles amid demands for hit-driven output. By focusing on such rarities over alternate commercial mixes—some omitted due to unresolved sampling rights or fidelity concerns—Carey aimed to reclaim narrative control, presenting a fuller portrait of her evolution beyond chart successes.

Production Details

Original Recording Sessions

The original recording sessions for tracks later compiled on The Rarities originated from exploratory, often ad-hoc collaborations spanning primarily the 1990s, with producers such as and contributing to early material in New York studios. In February 1990, Carey participated in initial sessions yielding unreleased and B-side demos like "There's Got to Be a Way," co-written with Wake and co-produced by him alongside Walden, predating her debut album's emphasis on ballads and incorporating uptempo R&B elements. These New York-based efforts, including work at facilities like Ben Margulies's studio, captured nascent demos that highlighted Carey's compositional range before commercial hits solidified her image. Mid-1990s sessions shifted toward hip-hop fusions, reflecting Carey's interest in urban sounds amid Daydream (1995) preparations, with unreleased tracks like "One Night" recorded alongside in New York venues such as . These experiments blended pop with hip-hop influences, contrasting her label's ballad-centric strategy and demonstrating versatility in discarded material recorded across New York and . Columbia Records frequently vetoed non-ballad output to prioritize market viability, as evidenced by the 1995 shelving of Carey's secret grunge project Someone's Ugly Daughter—recorded pseudonymously as Chick during Daydream sessions—which was blocked despite its completion, underscoring creative constraints on edgier pursuits. Later ad-hoc attempts, such as the 2004 jazz cover "Lullaby of Birdland," further illustrated her genre-spanning vocal experiments beyond pop norms.

Compilation and Remastering Process

coordinated the compilation of The Rarities in 2020, drawing from Mariah Carey's archival vault to assemble a selection of previously unreleased studio material and live recordings. Carey personally curated the tracks, prioritizing pieces with personal significance from her career spanning 1990 to 2020, including demos, B-sides, and rarities tied to her memoir . The album adopts a dual-disc structure, with Disc 1 dedicated to 15 studio tracks such as "Here We Go Around Again" (1990 demo) and "Everything Fades Away" (1993), and Disc 2 featuring the complete audio from her March 7, 1996, performance at during the . This format separates the archival studio content from the unedited live set, which had not been commercially released in full prior to 2020. Mastering engineer Mark Wilder processed the disparate recordings for the October 2, 2020, release, adapting vintage tapes and mixes for contemporary digital and vinyl formats while maintaining their historical fidelity. The approach favored archival preservation, incorporating original production elements like period-specific mixes by engineers such as Brian Garten and Dana Jon Chappelle, without introducing modern overdubs or heavy to the core material.

Musical Composition and Content

Unreleased and B-Side Tracks

Disc 1 of The Rarities contains 15 tracks consisting of unreleased studio recordings, demos, and B-sides recorded between 1990 and 2020, with 12 previously unreleased and three B-sides originally issued with singles from the 1990s. The material originates from sessions across Carey's early pop-oriented albums, mid-career R&B explorations, and later experimental work, demonstrating stylistic diversity from acoustic ballads to rhythm-driven pieces. For instance, "Here We Go Around Again," tracked in 1990 during debut album sessions, features upbeat pop elements with layered harmonies, while "Sleigh Ride," a 1994 holiday outtake, incorporates light jazz-inflected arrangements. Tracks like "Slipping Away," a 1996 B-side to "" co-written and produced by Carey with Dave Hall, exemplify R&B styling with hip-hop soul edges through mid-tempo grooves and subtle rap-influenced beats characteristic of Hall's production approach. In contrast, "Do You Think of Me" (1993 B-side to "Dreamlover") and "Everything Fades Away" (1993 B-side to "Never Forget You") lean into smoother with synth-driven melodies and emotional vocal runs. Themes of romantic longing and relational fragility recur, as in "Slipping Away"'s depicting a fading partnership ("You're slipping away from the life and the love we made"), alongside motifs of inner strength in pieces like "Can You Hear Me" (1991 demo). The acoustic rendition of "Close My Eyes," newly recorded in 2020 but drawing from 1997 Butterfly-era lyrics, employs sparse guitar and production to emphasize introspective themes of childhood burdens and resilience ("I was a wayward child / With the weight of the world that I held deep inside"). This raw format exposes Carey's multi-octave range and capabilities without the dense orchestration of her commercial releases, underscoring the discography's depth of unpolished vocal experiments from sparse synth backings in early demos to fuller ensemble textures in later outtakes like "All I Live For" (circa 1998). Such variety highlights archival material that extends beyond standard balladry into genre-blending efforts, revealing untapped studio explorations.

Live Recordings from Tokyo Dome

The live recordings included in The Rarities consist of the complete audio from Mariah Carey's debut performance in at on March 7, 1996, as part of her supporting the 1995 album Daydream. This event drew a sold-out audience of around 50,000, reflecting strong early international demand in , where the venue hosted three consecutive shows totaling approximately 150,000 attendees. The full-length capture preserves the concert's energy, including extended vocal improvisations and crowd responses, without significant post-production alterations beyond basic mastering for release. The setlist opened with the "Daydream Interlude (Fantasy Sweet Dub Mix)" and featured a sequence of hits such as "Emotions," "Fantasy," "Always Be My Baby," "One Sweet Day," and "Underneath the Stars," alongside covers like "Open Arms" and deeper cuts including "Forever" and "I Don't Wanna Cry." These performances emphasized Carey's vocal range and stamina, with notable scatting and ad-libbed whistle notes during transitions, particularly in tracks like "Fantasy," demonstrating real-time technical execution unassisted by digital pitch correction, which was not prevalent in live arena recordings of the era. Audience interaction was prominent, with Carey engaging fans through call-and-response segments and multilingual acknowledgments, underscoring the recordings' role in evidencing her command of large-scale live environments. Sourced from professional on-site audio, the tracks highlight Carey's improvisational strengths relative to studio counterparts, where vocal layers are fixed, allowing for spontaneous extensions that extended songs by several minutes—such as elongated outros in "Fantasy" blending dub mixes with live scats. The minimal maintained archival , capturing unpolished elements like brief stage banter and applause fades, which affirm the event's authenticity and the era's reliance on raw live prowess over enhanced production. This inclusion illustrates the depth of her Japanese fanbase, which propelled sold-out tours and positioned her as a global draw prior to broader commercial peaks.

Release and Promotion

Marketing and Formats

The Rarities was released on October 2, 2020, by and in digital download and formats, with a four-LP vinyl edition made available via Mariah Carey's official webstore on December 11, 2020. A limited-edition , bundled with the CD, Carey's memoir , and a commemorative , was offered to encourage collector interest and tie into her broader catalog reissues. Marketing efforts centered on direct-to-fan communication through Carey's platforms, where she announced the album on August 19, 2020, framing it explicitly as a "thank you" to supporters for their longstanding loyalty. This approach prioritized organic fan-driven buzz over conventional media blitzes or celebrity collaborations, aligning with the compilation's archival nature and appeal to dedicated listeners rediscovering her early work via streaming services. Pre-orders were promoted through her webstore to foster immediate engagement, emphasizing accessibility across digital platforms to broaden reach beyond physical collectors.

Singles and Media Tie-Ins

"Save the Day", featuring guest vocals from , served as the lead single from The Rarities, released digitally on August 21, 2020, ahead of the album's October launch. The track, a previously unreleased 1990s recording, samples the ' "Killing Me Softly with His Song" and was accompanied by a directed by Joseph Kahn, utilizing archival footage to evoke Carey's early career. "", a cover from the Fame soundtrack recorded for the 1991 film , followed as a single on September 25, 2020. "Here We Go Around Again", a demo from Carey's debut era, was issued as a promotional single in on December 11, 2020, supported by a lyric video uploaded to on October 4, 2020. Unlike traditional singles, these releases received no significant radio airplay or commercial marketing push, instead gaining traction through fan-driven shares and streaming platforms. Promotion emphasized media tie-ins with Carey's memoir The Meaning of Mariah Carey, published September 29, 2020, where she detailed the origins of several vaulted tracks, including the collaborative context of "Save the Day" with Hill during the mid-1990s. In contemporaneous interviews, such as on and , Carey elaborated on the personal anecdotes behind selections like early demos and B-sides, linking them to memoir excerpts for deeper narrative context. The constrained physical promotion, shifting focus to virtual appearances and online content, eschewing live tours or in-person events.

Role in #MC30 Anniversary Celebrations

The Rarities served as a flagship release within 's #MC30 campaign, launched on July 17, 2020, to commemorate the 30th anniversary of her debut album Mariah Carey from June 1990. The project involved Carey personally handpicking unreleased recordings, B-sides, and live tracks from her private archives for inclusion, underscoring her control over the curation process in contrast to earlier label-dominated retrospectives. Accompanying the album's October 2, 2020, issuance were concurrent drops such as the full archival concert from 1996 and initial vinyl reissues of her catalog, forming a multifaceted rollout of preserved material. The #MC30 effort extended beyond The Rarities through structured weekly Friday unveilings of digital EPs, , bonus tracks, versions, and rare footage, which continued into 2021 following a short November 2020 pause, with examples including remix collections for albums like E=MC² in February 2021. This artist-led approach prioritized direct access to archival rarities for her core fanbase, the Lambily, via platforms like her official store and social channels, cultivating sustained engagement through exclusive content rather than reliance on external media narratives. By vaulting personally overseen selections, the campaign highlighted Carey's reclamation of narrative authority over her catalog's hidden elements, diverging from prior industry-controlled compilations.

Critical and Public Reception

Positive Assessments

NPR critic Cyrena Touros described The Rarities as an "indispensable addition to the Carey catalog," praising its illumination of pop music's evolution through tracks featuring hazy production and sighing vocals that demonstrate Carey's genre fluency and shift toward urban R&B aesthetics. Specific unreleased cuts like the 1995 B-side "Slipping Away" were highlighted for showcasing "every and vocal effect at her disposal," with "astonishing, nearly 3D heft" juxtaposed against a hard-knocking beat, underscoring her vocal innovation even in discarded material. The album's second disc, capturing Carey's 1996 concert, was lauded for revealing her voice at its "full richness and fluidity," representing a peak of vocal authority during her early fame. Albumism's Tarynn Law commended the collection for testifying to the "power and permanence of her songcraft," offering a unique window into nuanced creative processes and abiding passions that affirm the enduring quality of her output. Reviewers noted the rarities' revelation of Carey's depth, with emphasizing how the compilation documents her influence and artistic development since her debut, presenting an alternate timeline of prime B-sides that outshine typical album cuts. This persistence in unearthing experimental and live elements was framed as a in legacy building, highlighting resilience against past industry constraints that stifled fuller releases of such material.

Criticisms and Shortcomings

Critics have argued that The Rarities falls short in revealing deeper layers of Mariah Carey's artistic evolution, providing scant insight into her experimental tendencies or personal decision-making during key recording sessions. In a review rated 3.0 out of 5, Slant Magazine's Alexa Camp noted the album's failure to offer substantial "peeks inside her brain," particularly disappointing given its tie-in with Carey's memoir , which promised archival revelations. Camp critiqued the curation of early tracks from Carey's 1990 debut sessions, such as "Here We Go Around Again" and "Can You Hear Me," as delivering "little insight into Mariah the burgeoning " and steering toward conventional, middle-of-the-road territory rather than showcasing nascent eccentricities. She further highlighted missteps in selections like the jazz-inflected material, which came across as iffy or mediocre when removed from nostalgic haze, underscoring an uneven quality that prioritized familiarity over bold unreleased experiments. New additions, including "Save the Day" and an acoustic rendition of "Close My Eyes," exposed a "thinness" in Carey's vocals, diminishing the perceived authenticity and archival completeness of the compilation. Among fans, discussions revealed frustrations with the tracklist's omissions and inclusions, particularly the prominence of over-familiar B-sides that some viewed as lacking novelty, alongside debates over alternate versions and the variable appeal of disc 1's unreleased cuts. users in fan communities described certain first-disc tracks as mediocre, questioning why deeper vault material was not prioritized, which fueled perceptions of incomplete curation despite the album's intent to unearth rarities.

Commercial Performance

Sales and Certifications

The Rarities achieved modest commercial performance upon its release on , , debuting with 21,500 equivalent units in the United States during its first week, including 14,800 in pure (traditional purchases and track equivalent albums). These figures reflect the 's appeal as a niche compilation of unreleased tracks and B-sides, primarily attracting Carey's core fanbase rather than achieving widespread mainstream akin to her blockbuster . By mid-2025, the album had garnered approximately 47.4 million total streams on , underscoring sustained digital consumption driven by catalog interest and anniversary promotions, though this falls short of Carey's highest-streaming releases like #1's or . Global sales data remains sparse, with estimates suggesting limited physical and download units outside the U.S., consistent with the project's targeted archival nature. No certifications from the RIAA or international bodies such as the BPI or IFPI have been awarded to The Rarities as of October 2025, distinguishing it from Carey's multi-platinum compilations and highlighting its status as a fan-oriented release without broad commercial thresholds met.

Chart Positions

The Rarities debuted and peaked at number 31 on the chart for the week dated October 24, 2020. It simultaneously reached number 3 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.
Chart (2020)Peak position
Albums (ARIA)18
Japan Albums ()24
Albums (OCC)37
(PROMUSICAE)12
Albums (OCC)44
The album's performance reflected modest commercial entry amid a rarities-focused release, with no notable year-end chart inclusions reported across major territories.

Track Listing and Credits

Standard Edition Tracks

Disc 1: Studio Rarities This disc compiles 15 tracks of unreleased demos, B-sides, session outtakes, and alternate versions recorded between 1990 and 2020.
No.TitleDurationOrigin
1Here We Go Around Again3:551990 demo; written by , Ben Margulies
2Can You Hear Me4:061991 recording; written by ,
3Do You Think of Me4:481993 B-side to "Dreamlover"; written by , , Mark C. Rooney, Mark Morales
4Everything Fades Away5:251993 B-side to "Hero" from sessions; written by ,
5All I Live For3:22Unreleased from sessions; written by ,
6One Night4:41Unreleased from Daydream era; written by ,
7Slipping Away4:31B-side to "Always Be My Baby"; written by , Dave Hall
8Out Here on My Own3:16Cover from sessions; written by ,
9Loverboy (Firecracker - Original Version)3:14Alternate from sessions; written by ,
10I Pray2:532005 outtake originally for Lina Robbins; written by , Kenneth Crouch
11Cool On You3:11Unreleased from E=MC² sessions; written by , , Manuel Seal Jr., Johnta Austin
12Mesmerized3:22Outtake for soundtrack; written by , Loris Holland
13Lullaby of Birdland (Live)3:18Live recording from 2014 Tour; written by ,
14Save the Day (featuring Ms. )3:50New recording from early 2010s; written by , , James Wright, Charles Fox,
15Close My Eyes (Acoustic)3:18Acoustic version from era; written by ,
Disc 2: Live at the Tokyo Dome This disc presents 17 tracks from Carey's March 7, 1996, concert at Tokyo Dome during the Daydream World Tour, capturing the setlist in performance order.
No.TitleDurationWriters
1Daydream Interlude (Fantasy Sweet Dub Mix)1:31Mariah Carey, Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth, Dave Hall et al.
2Emotions4:06Mariah Carey, David Cole, Robert Clivillés
3Open Arms3:46Steve Perry, Jonathan Cain
4Forever4:46Mariah Carey, Walter Afanasieff
5I Don't Wanna Cry5:54Mariah Carey, Narada Michael Walden
6Fantasy5:25Mariah Carey, Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth, Dave Hall et al.
7Always Be My Baby4:38Mariah Carey, Jermaine Dupri, Manuel Seal
8One Sweet Day (with Boyz II Men)5:20Mariah Carey, Michael McCary et al.
9Underneath the Stars4:07Mariah Carey, Walter Afanasieff
10Without You4:19William Peter Ham, Tom Evans
11Make It Happen5:03Mariah Carey, David Cole, Robert Clivillés
12Just Be Good to Me6:37James Harris III, Terry Lewis
13Dreamlover3:58Mariah Carey, Dave Hall
14Vision of Love3:46Mariah Carey, Ben Margulies
15Hero4:59Mariah Carey, Walter Afanasieff
16Anytime You Need a Friend5:58Mariah Carey, Walter Afanasieff
17All I Want for Christmas Is You5:04Mariah Carey, Walter Afanasieff

Personnel and Production Credits

Mariah Carey served as for The Rarities, overseeing the compilation of archival tracks spanning 1990 to 2020, while contributing as lead vocalist, co-writer, and co-producer on numerous selections from her early career demos and B-sides. Her involvement underscores her foundational role in the original recordings, often collaborating closely with lesser-known partners like Ben Margulies on initial compositions such as "Here We Go Around Again." Archival producers featured across tracks include , who co-produced and arranged several 1990s-era pieces like "Everything Fades Away" with engineers such as Dana Jon Chappelle handling recording; , responsible for arrangements on "One Night" with mixing by and Phil Tan; and Babyface, who produced rarities including "Melt Away." Backing vocalists on various studio tracks encompass , Melonie Daniels, and Shanrae Price, with mix engineers like Brian Garten credited on selections such as "All I Live For." The live recordings from Mariah Carey's March 7, 1996, performance at during the feature her supported by a touring band including bassist , along with backing vocalists Cheree Price, Cindy Mizelle, , and Melonie Daniels. For the compilation's release, the material was mastered by Mark Wilder to preserve and enhance the original audio fidelity.
RoleKey Personnel
Executive Producer
Mastering EngineerMark Wilder
A&R team
PhotographersMarkus Klinko &

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