Mariah Carey’s film debut, Glitter, opened in theaters just 10 days after 9/11. Audiences were anything but delighted, even if it seemed like everything we needed at the time. Carey was one of the biggest stars of the 1990s, a decade when we were all much happier. The movie is a mindless romantic comedy featuring Carey’s music, and the plot is all about her character’s pursuit of her specific American dream. The theaters should’ve been packed. Instead, it was a spectacular bomb — at a time when saying “bomb” out loud would freak out anyone within earshot. Glitter opened to just $2.5 million, which even adjusted for inflation is still a broke-ass $3.7 million.
Mariah’s first number one hit was “Vision of Love” in 1990. Her last was “Thank God I Found You” in 2000. She had a number one song every year during that period. It’s a record no artist has broken. Her career streak ended with “Loverboy,” the lead single from Glitter, which peaked at number two. During the lead up to Glitter’s release, Mariah suffered a public breakdown and emotional collapse. She later revealed in a 2018 People magazine interview that she’d been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Fortunately, she did find her way back professionally and personally. She’s also earned at least $75 million from royalties to her 1994 holiday classic “All I Want For Christmas Is You.” She pockets around $3 million from the song each year. The 1990s remain good to Mimi.
You can watch the entire film Glitter below.
Labor Day has passed, and it’s time to pack up our white clothing. If you haven’t already, you should take advantage of my 40 percent off fall sale for paid subscriptions. That’s just $30 a year. Thanks to all who have upgraded to paid subscriber status recently.
This week, I wrote about the late Kevin Conroy, who played Batman in the classic animated series but was also an inspiring hero in real life.
Texas Republican Bo French became famous this week for going full racist. I know it seems as if MAGA goes full racist all the time, but this we truly out there.
There is a reason that Dr. Martin Luther King’s most famous speech is known as “I Have A Dream” and not “Go Fuck Yourselves.”
I interviewed author (and my first podcast guest) Billy Corriher about his new book, Justice for the People: The Anita Earls Story.
That’s it for this week. See you back on Monday.
I haven't thought about that movie for quite awhile. I never saw it but all I remember of it was that my oldest son's girlfriend at the time absolutely LOVED it; after they broke up, we'd all have a bit of a laugh about how he should've known how flaky she was at that point, lol!
I asked my husband what Utopia would look like to him and he said, “The 90s.”