• Record Label: Island
  • Release Date: Apr 15, 2008
Metascore
64

Generally favorable reviews - based on 19 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 19
  2. Negative: 1 out of 19
  1. The result is a largely enjoyable mix of flirtatious club jams, midtempo love songs, and emotional ballads anchored by hip hop beats that hansomely showcase the singer's powerful vocal range. [18 Apr 2008, p.63]
  2. The production is glossed to within an inch of its life, the mood is cheerfully upbeat--or 'festive' as Carey might put it herself--and the entire confection rings out with bold, sassy, brutally executed intent.
  3. She is on fine vocal form throughout E=MC2, whether belting out massive ballads ('Thanx 4 Nothin') or layering her voice into a swooning bank of a hundred Mariahs ('I'll Be Lovin' U Long Time').
  4. Carey's made a pop album with equal parts levity and gravity.
  5. 80
    E=MC2 is Carey's most-fun album, and her best.
  6. Nov 19, 2018
    75
    It's skillful and winsome enough that the other hits it spins off will stay pleasant, if not revelatory.
  7. As sequels go, E=MC2 is better than most, boasting a higher, and more consistent, quotient of slinky, dance-floor charm and stronger ballads than "Mimi."
  8. It's still very much a Mariah album--and a very slick and stylish one--with all the sweetness and swagger that entails.
  9. New Musical Express (NME)
    70
    A strident, self-assured album.
  10. It’s all pretty cohesive, yet the album relies too heavily on its slick production and lyrical arrangements.
  11. Nearly every song confines Carey to four-note verses, offering little room for her glorious range, and the six ballads are drenched in yearbook-quote lyrics that never quite work themselves into the froth of "The Emancipation of Mimi."
  12. Like so much of "Emancipation" and E=MC2, which is a virtual replica of its predecessor in almost every way, 'Touch My Body' is all about sound, rhythm, and texture and not so much about song, something that helps sustain Mariah Carey's run at the top the charts, but something that also pushes melodic hooks, and in the process singing, into the background.
  13. That leaves the expected collection of highly buffed beats, a dozen producers deep, which occasionally generates material that ranks with Mariah's best.
  14. There is some insubstantial filler here, but more often than not, E = MC2 hits the mark.
  15. E=MC2 is a little better--the songwriting is more consistent, the feel a bit more natural--but it too lacks a ruling temperament or artistic vision.
  16. It is in the same vein [as "The Emancipation of Mimi"], but much less good.
  17. At the end of the day, however, E=MC2 is nothing more than a shallow imitation of its predecessor, the unexciting kid cousin of an arena-sized R&B watermark.
  18. Uncut
    40
    Adhering to commercially fixated standards of production line R&B, E=MC2 charms soon melt away. [Aug 2008, p.87]
  19. Even the fun disco of 'I’m That Chick' is too little, too late for E=MC²--an album that proves just how easy it is for a well-funded virtuoso and the world’s best hitmakers to create a steaming pile of shit.
User Score
5.8

Mixed or average reviews- based on 382 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Negative: 98 out of 382
  1. Feb 18, 2021
    5
    So, yes, definitely this album is a breath of fresh air after Mariah's last projects, since it brings a bigger pop influence, making the albumSo, yes, definitely this album is a breath of fresh air after Mariah's last projects, since it brings a bigger pop influence, making the album more pleasant to listen to, but it still has too many ordinary songs, that nothing add to the singer's discography. "I Stay In Love" is, without a shadow of a doubt, the highlight of the album. Full Review »
  2. Nov 4, 2022
    6
    The Follow up to the hugely successful "Emancipation" Mariah finds a mellow R&B Groove and doesn't stray to far from the formula, although theThe Follow up to the hugely successful "Emancipation" Mariah finds a mellow R&B Groove and doesn't stray to far from the formula, although the Auto-Tune especially in a few of the opening tracks becomes an annoyance they are still at least perfectly calculated tracks to keep our interest. Full Review »
  3. Nov 10, 2015
    10
    album with great commercial potential as well as mixtures one Mariá more fri and classy, dipping into R & B and hip hop if not for thealbum with great commercial potential as well as mixtures one Mariá more fri and classy, dipping into R & B and hip hop if not for the mismanagement of his label would have been higher than the last. Full Review »