Reflections (Care Enough)
| "Reflections (Care Enough)" | ||||||||||
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 | ||||||||||
| Single by Mariah Carey | ||||||||||
| from the album Glitter | ||||||||||
| Released | December 15, 2001[1] | |||||||||
| Format | CD single | |||||||||
| Genre | ||||||||||
| Length | 3:23 | |||||||||
| Label | Virgin | |||||||||
| Writer(s) | Mariah Carey, Philippe Pierre | |||||||||
| Producer(s) | Mariah Carey, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis | |||||||||
| Mariah Carey singles chronology | ||||||||||
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"Reflections (Care Enough)" is a song written and produced by American singer Mariah Carey and Philippe Pierre for Carey's first soundtrack album, Glitter. It was released on December 15, 2001, as the fourth and final single from the soundtrack and her second record label Virgin Records America. The ballad has Carey, in character as Billie Frank in the film Glitter, reflecting on how her mother didn't "care enough" for her. The song is also featured on Carey's 2009 compilation album, The Ballads.
Information
"Reflections (Care Enough)" was released as the album's fourth single in late 2001, but wasn't promoted in the United States. Because of contractual obligations, Sony Music Entertainment, Carey's former record label and the international distributor of the Glitter soundtrack released a CD single for "Reflections (Care Enough)" only in Japan.
A clip from the film Glitter in which Carey (as Billie Frank) performs the song in her apartment right after her character finishes writing it (the song is Frank's first attempt at songwriting) was used in Asia as a teaser for the film.
Composition
"Reflections (Care Enough)" was written by Carey and Philippe Pierre.[2] Lyrically, the song'a protagonist "laments the end of a relationship", while confronting her mother regarding her early abandonment.[2] Additionally, during its bridge, Carey "eerily" refers to abortion, "You could have had the decency / To give me up / Before you gave me life", as an option over abandoning the child.[2]
Critical reception
Bowling Green Daily News editor Chuck Campbell wrote that Mariah dishes out the "anonymous and unobjectionable ballad."[3] David Browne of Entertainment Weekly wrote a mixed review: "She laments the end of a relationship several times, most believably on Reflections (Care Enough) -- typical Ma-riah schlock sung with crushed-flower loneliness."[4] Slant Magazine's Sal Cinquemani disagreed: "Reflections (Care Enough)" tells the tale of an estranged mother figure and its sparse arrangement recalls the simple beauty of Carey's early balladry. The song's bridge is bizarre, though".[5] In a review for the album in The Free Lance–Star, a writer outed the song's first verse "A displeased little girl / Wept years in silence / And whispers wishes you'd materialize / She pressed on night and day / To keep on living / And tried so many ways / To keep her soul alive" as his favorite lyric from Glitter, and described it as an "emotional and heart-wrenching ballad".[2]
Live performance
Carey performed the song on her CBS Christmas special At Home for the Holidays with Mariah Carey, which aired on December 21, 2001. In the live performance, Carey sang a different lyric in the bridge. While the track sings "you could have had the decency to give me up before you gave me life", Carey sings "...give me up the day you gave me life" in order to avoid referencing abortion.[6] Mark Sachs from Los Angeles Times noted the performance as a "high point" from the show.[7]
Formats and track listings
- CD single
- "Reflections (Care Enough)"
- "Reflections (Care Enough)" (Instrumental)
References
- ↑ "Reflections (Care Enough)". MTV News. MTV Networks. Retrieved December 27, 2011.
- 1 2 3 4 Vaughn, Heather (2001-11-13). "Mariah Carey's Newest 'Glitter'". The Free Lance–Star. Retrieved 2011-02-05.
- ↑ https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=-AIdAAAAIBAJ&sjid=H5gEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6523,3102689&dq=mariah+carey+lead-the-way&hl=en
- ↑ Entertainment Weekly http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,255084,00.html. Missing or empty
|title=(help) - ↑ http://www.slantmagazine.com/music/review/mariah-carey-glitter
- ↑ "At Home for the Holidays with Mariah Carey". At Home for the Holiday. Series 3. December 21, 2001. 60 minutes in. CBS.
- ↑ Sachs, Mark (December 21, 2001). "Mariah Carey's Adoption Special Tugs the Holiday Heartstrings". Los Angeles Times.
