Tim

I was right about Carly, Brooke and Jason. One screamed, one struggled and one ruled in a very quiet way.

It's very poppy. It's like Glitter with a brain and a heart. I think it should be good. 'Long Time' is a definite highlight so far.

I got a sample. I took on the chucklers! I also got the Mimi tour DVD from HMV which was the same price.

It got an A grade from Entertainment Weekly Daydream. Butterfly. Rainbow. Glitter. No, those aren't the names of Barbie's pet ponies, they're the ridiculously saccharine titles of Mariah Carey's albums from 1995 to 2001. So when she called her 10th studio CD The Emancipation of Mimi three years ago, it was clear that she intended to drop the cutesy shtick, let down her weave, and start getting real. It was a clever move. Emancipation was the lucky strike that updated Carey's sound with bass-heavy flavor and reversed the downward spiral of her sales. Now, with E=MC2 — another bold title — she's out to prove that her comeback was no fluke. Of course, it's doubtful that Carey is a secret admirer of Einstein's theory of relativity, but one thing's for sure: The golden-throated diva has discovered a formula that works. Not unlike Emancipation, E=MC2 finds Carey stacking the deck with the hottest producers and guest artists in urban music (Jermaine Dupri, StarGate, T-Pain, Damian Marley, Young Jeezy). The result is a largely enjoyable mix of flirtatious club jams, midtempo love songs, and emotional ballads anchored by hip-hop beats that handsomely showcase the singer's powerful vocal chops. Ever the party girl, Carey opens the album with the sleek and seductive ''Migrate,'' where she imagines getting buzzed on pinot grigio during a night out with the ladies. Other dance-floor anthems include ''I'll Be Lovin' U Long Time'' and ''O.O.C.,'' which, for all of their pop polish, never lose their soulful spirit. But it's not all about velvet ropes and playful come-ons; notably, Carey suffers from a major love hangover on ''Side Effects,'' a synthy cautionary tale about an abusive relationship. ''Wakin' up scared some nights still dreaming 'bout the violent times,'' she sings with outspoken intensity. And yet Carey remains a romantic at heart. With the ballads ''Love Story'' and ''Last Kiss,'' she reunites with Dupri to recapture the passionate splendor of 2005's ''We Belong Together.'' It's unfortunate, then, that E=MC2 closes with its only missteps, the somber elegy ''Bye Bye'' — an odd choice for the follow-up single to the cheeky hit ''Touch My Body'' — and the preachy gospel hymn ''I Wish You Well'' (this CD's version of Emancipation's ''Fly Like a Bird''). Still, for an artist whose career was all but dead four years ago, Carey is wise to play it safe by building on the finest elements of her last CD. Were it not for the final two tracks, she could've gotten away with calling this album Treasure. A-

The version I got from iTunes has The Dream on as well. It's not the same as the Rick Ross remix on YouTube.

The reviews of that performance have been great too. Even from MTV and Entertainment Weekly who are usually a bit sniffy about the old girl.

There was such pessimism in this thread. She was great and I thought she would be. To be honest, I think she'd just have skipped it unless she knew it would be great - and was going to put the work in. There wasn't much need to go on the show three times in a week to lip-sync.

I should update this now people are getting voted off Carly and David A will do those songs above. I will sigh a lot Syesha will do When You Believe because in her head she's better than Mariah & Whitney put together Brooke will flounder, doing Love Takes Time or something else too big Jason will do something like My All in an acoustic way. It could be good Kristy will do something like My All in a country way. It could be good but chances are slimmer David C will be too cool for the whole thing. And be punished!

I bought a physical copy today to help things along. The 2-disc one is only 99p. Fantastic. Oh and the remix with Rick Ross is very, very good. I bought that too. I think I prefer it to the album version.

March 1985. 'You Spin Me Round' by Dead or Alive. And I love that song too.

Don't be silly. She's beaten her once.

(I thought we could delete posts. How odd.)

Quite. The people who've downloaded the leaks are a mix of (1) fans who can't wait and will buy anyway (2) people who download everything anyway and wouldn't have bought it or any other album anyway.

Mimi entered at 7 and hung around for ages. I think she's attracted some new fans so I reckon a top 5 debut. The album will have a second wind at some stage too. And US #1 with quite wonderful sales. Perhaps half a million? That would be great.

I'm avoiding the leaks. I'm going old school - the album will go in my cd changer on Monday BUT the CD will not change for months because it is new Mariah. I want it to be good. I can cope with Mimi part 2 because part 1 was so good. (The same way I coped with Daydream which was a better Music Box part 2 but could not cope with a Charmbracelet part 2.)

Low top ten. Far and away my favourite song on the album - and favourite Kylie song since 'Red Blooded Woman - but it's the third single so I see it charting a few places lower than the other 'X' tracks. Shame.

#6 is a triumph. I didn't think it would go top ten for a while. Then the midweek #9 did not exactly destroy this fear. But - ah - #6 is not a scrape but instead a glorious thrusting into the top ten.

I loved it too. She was a lot of fun and the hosts were really respectful (mentioning record sales etc.) but also could take the p*** a bit. And the snippets sounded promising too. My only problem: has she no straight fans in this country?

Different record. That was for the number of #1s, not the number of weeks at #1

Yep. They were counted as long as a physical version was available - had been since Amarillo-time earlier that year. You remember - she would have been #1 if it were a physical-only chart but because of downloads, she was #2. This was fair but sad.

She wasn't a download artist enough to beat the very dead 2Pac and the very gay Sir Elton :(

I imagine they are. I dislike Radio 1. "What a b**ch" etc. "It's not like 80 million is a big difference" etc. I think that this was fantastic. And Reggie is a fool.

Is there a tracklisting for the singles? One version is only 99p on the website

Thank God. I was worried when it didn't make the top 75 this week.

About 600k? Kelly would know for sure