Caution is the fifteenth studio album by American R&B singer Mariah Carey. It was released on November 16, 2018, by Epic Records. Her first studio album in four years, Carey collaborated with Ty Dolla Sign, Slick Rick, Blood Orange, and Gunna on the album's songs and worked with a variety of producers. Musically, Caution is a R&B, pop and hip hop record. The album was supported by the singles "With You" and "A No No", as well as several promotional singles. "Portrait" was released as the album's third single in May 2024 with three remixes of the song.
The album debuted at number five on the US Billboard 200, with 51,000 album-equivalent units in its first week, but performed moderately elsewhere, reaching the top-forty in Australia, Canada, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom. The album received critical acclaim, with many critics calling it Carey's most cohesive work in over a decade, and appeared on several year-end music lists of 2018. Carey embarked on the Caution World Tour in support of the album.
In January 2018, Carey confirmed that she had begun work on a new album.[11] Carey finished the album in August 2018 when she recorded the title track "Caution".[12][13] The track inspired Carey to change the record's original title Portrait to its official title Caution.[12]
Music and lyrics
Sure there are love songs and moments of inward reflection, but the majority of the tracks are kiss-offs aimed at those who have doubted her or left her scorned... While big, emotional ballads were the groundwork of Carey’s early years, there is only one truly heavy moment on the album: final song "Portrait." Following the lyrical curves, R&B coos and stellar production, it’s a starkly heavy moment that feels like a throwback to a bygone era of power ballads for vocalists of her calibre.
— Brittany Spanos, Rolling Stone
Consisting of 10 songs and two additional tracks featured exclusively on its Japanese issue, Caution is an R&B,[1][2]hip hop[5] and pop[3][4] record that incorporates elements of EDM,[14]psychedelia[15] and Latin pop.[16] Jumi Akinfenwa from Clash Magazine views the album as a "homage to the sounds prevalent at different stages of her [Mariah's] career".[17] Mike Wass from Idolator hailed it as being "the new blueprint for legacy acts" such as Carey.[18]
Writing for NOW Magazine, Kevin Hegge remarked that "despite the variety of styles, the most notable element of the album was its succinctness".[19] Hegge further juxtaposed Carey's "collaborations with a handful of hot artists and producers" with the fact that she wasn't "pandering to trends" in her music. Similarly, Andrew Unterberger from Billboard summarized Caution as being "a resolutely mid tempo album", praising the production for being "uniform but not stagnant" in its "lush chillness and steady trending".[20] Within his review, Unterberger took note of the "incredible roster of producers" credited on the album, describing them as "bending their trademark sonics" to fit into Carey's "pop-n-B comfort zone". Winston Cook-Wilson from Spin described the album's production as being the apotheosis of "trends in contemporary R&B music, absent its glitchier, experimental tendencies";[21] he did cite the track "Giving Me Life" as a notable exception to this rule.
Thematically, Caution has been described as "a concept album about relationships", featuring "songs about them falling apart, bops about new love and others that celebrate something more lasting".[22] Leah Greenblatt of Entertainment Weekly similarly interpreted the album as being "a study in various degrees of incline".[15] Nick Smith from MusicOMH felt that Carey was "at her most ethereal and reflective"[23] on Caution, commenting that its overall narrative focused on the relationship the singer has with herself.[23]
Composition
The album opens with "GTFO", described as a "ghostly, tender record with a magnetic rhythm".[24] Its EDM-influenced instrumentation is based around a sample of "Goodbye to a World" by Porter Robinson.[25] In the song, Carey focuses on the aftermath of "a doomed relationship", her vocal delivery adding "a gratifying edge to the song’s delightful kiss-off hook".[26] As noted by the critic Sal Cinquemani in a review for Slant Magazine, "beneath Mariah’s nonchalant delivery and kitschy patois... belies a heaviness that's perhaps informed by the song's apocalyptic source material".[27] "With You" is a "velvety" classic R&B/soul ballad "built from little more than gospel piano and booming 808s".[28] Its lyrics tell the story of a woman seeking safety and security in her potential partner's promises of unconditional love, with Carey viewing "romance with an open-eyed caginess".[29]
The title-track "Caution" is a "sleek, pop-R&B hybrid",[22] presenting Carey "on the amber traffic light; vulnerable and tentative, yet honest and hopeful about embarking on a new journey".[23] Within the song, she considers the ephemerality of her current relationship before warning her lover to "proceed with caution", conflating the triviality of factors such as "material possessions" with her desire for her lover to "commit" to being her "everything".[30] "A No No" is a "jagged, jazzy" hip hop track which "channels the spirit...and cadences...of TLC's "No Scrubs" while Carey exterminates "snakes in the grass" before musing on "the fact that no is the same across languages" in the song's bridge.[29] The track itself notably contains a sample from "Rain Dance" by the Jeff Lorber Fusion, and "Crush on You" by Lil' Kim featuring The Notorious B.I.G. and Lil Cease.[31] "The Distance" featuring Ty Dolla Sign is described as being "sleek, slow funk", with Carey speaking out against the detractors who doubted her relationship with her lover would "go the distance", setting the song during the "warm days" and "cold nights" of "late October".[32]
"Giving Me Life", featuring Slick Rick and Blood Orange, is a psychedelia-inspired track that sees Carey admit that "a summertime love has her thinking back to being 17 and "feeling myself like I'm Norma Jeane".[33] Lasting six minutes and 8 seconds, "she entices a lover to follow her "on another tangent" within a "big, dusky [musical] landscape"[34] which eventually "dissolves into woozy, guitar-laced spaciousness"[33] towards the end of the song. "One Mo' Gen" is a "bedroom anthem" that "evokes 90's R&B without sounding dated";[35] it sees Carey "throb with desire" over her and her lover's sexual chemistry.[36] The Timbaland-produced "8th Grade" is an "old-school R&B"[35] song where Carey "coos over crisp digital fingersnaps and mentholated synths",[33] expressing an angst towards her lover's motivations.
The Gunna-assisted "Stay Long Love You" weaves "retro influences into a modern sound palette" containing heavy trap inflections, with Carey expressing desire through "a slightly quicker tempo and party vibe".[37] Album-closer "Portrait" has been described as a "slow burning and vintage Mariah ballad".[38] It sees the singer reveal "the inner emotional tension of having her own crosses to bear but wanting to keep them hidden from the world".[39]
To promote the album, Carey embarked on the 35-date Caution World Tour, visiting Europe, North America, Asia, and South America.[45]
Singles
"With You" was released as the album's lead single on October 4, 2018.[46] Its music video, directed by Sarah McColgan, premiered on October 10, 2018, on her YouTube account. The song reached number seven on the US Adult Contemporary chart, becoming her 23rd top-ten hit on the chart.[47]
"A No No", initially released as a promotional single on November 1, 2018,[48][49] was serviced to rhythmic contemporary and urban contemporary radio as the album's second single on March 4, 2019.[50] Its music video, also directed by McColgan, premiered on March 8, 2019, and featured cameos from Carey's children and her then-boyfriend Bryan Tanaka.[51] The song charted at number 17 on the US R&B Digital Songs chart.[52]
"Portrait" was released as the album's third single on May 24, 2024, as a four-track extended play, which includes a 16-minute remix of the song subtitled the "Hopeful Child Remix", after speaking about the songwriting process of the song for an episode of Audible Words + Music.[53] The song's "Hopeful Child Remix" debuted at number 44 on the US Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart, becoming her first appearance on the chart.[54]
Promotional singles
"GTFO" was released as the album's first promotional single from on September 13, 2018.[55] It peaked at number four on the US R&B Digital Songs chart.[56]
"The Distance", which features American singer Ty Dolla Sign, succeeded it as the second promotional single from the album on October 18, 2018.[57] It peaked at number thirteen on the US R&B Digital Songs chart.[56]
Other songs
"Runway", initially only available on the Japanese edition of the album, was released worldwide on June 24, 2022 for its digital re-release.[58]
At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, Caution received an average score of 82, based on nine reviews, indicating "universal acclaim", which became the highest Metascore for any of Carey's albums.[60]Maura Johnston from Pitchfork felt that the record represented a "celebration of the ultimate-diva status" of Carey's brand of music.[67] Brittany Spanos from Rolling Stone summarised the record as being "pure hip-hop-leaning pop bliss",[68] praising Carey's ability to deliver "an honest album, full of truths" through a "slow-burning R&B sound".
Reviewing the album for AllMusic, Andy Kellman wrote that Carey's [themes of] "flirtatious enticement, celebration, reminiscence, perseverance, rejection" were "highly energized".[69]MusicOMH gave it a score of all five stars and stated: "[Carey] is vulnerable and tentative, yet honest and hopeful about embarking on a new journey".[70] Spencer Kornhaber from The Atlantic stated that the album "shores up the idea of Carey the wit, the craftswoman, and the game player".[71]
The album also appeared on several year-end lists.[72] Bianca Gracie from Billboard stated that the record signposted Carey as "a crafty songwriter and inimitable singer".[73] Ranking atop Paper magazine's year-end list, Michael Love Michael commented on the significance of Caution's "tales of passion and peace" in a "politically fraught 2018",[74] describing its ability to "resonate with women everywhere" through "the graceful pain of lived experience" as "a quiet, but nonetheless radical beauty". At the end of 2019, Caution appeared on Rated R&B's "50 Best R&B Albums of The Decade (2010s)" list.[75]
Caution opened at number five on the US Billboard 200 with 51,000 album-equivalent units, which included 43,000 pure album sales, becoming Carey's eighteenth top-ten album in the United States, but garnered her lowest first-week sales for a studio album to date.[85] Additionally, Caution debuted at number one on the US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, her eighth number-one album on the chart.[86] It also debuted at number one on the US Top R&B Albums chart, becoming her second number-one album on the chart, with her first being Me. I Am Mariah... The Elusive Chanteuse (2014).[87] Carey became the first artist in history to replace herself at number one on the Top R&B Albums chart, with Caution placing at number eight on the chart and her holiday album, Merry Christmas, reaching the top spot.[88]
Outside the US, the album debuted and peaked at number 40 on the UK Albums Chart.[89] The album became Carey's tenth number-one album on the UK R&B Albums chart, debuting at the top spot of the chart, replacing Eminem's Kamikaze for one week, and being replaced by that album on its second week.[90] On Australia's ARIA Albums Chart, it entered and peaked at number 15, and peaked inside the top-twenty in Canada, Croatia, and Spain; the top-thirty in Japan, Greece and Portugal; and the top-forty in Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and Switzerland.
^ abGamboa, Glenn (November 14, 2018). "Caution review". Newsday. Archived from the original on June 24, 2019. Retrieved November 15, 2018. "Caution" is packed with midtempo R&B ballads that don't stray too far from the successful form of "We Belong Together" that reinstated her at the top of the charts
^ abcSpanos, Brittany; Sheffield, Rob (December 14, 2018). "20 Best Pop Albums of 2018". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on May 7, 2019. Retrieved December 19, 2018.
^ abKornhaber, Spencer (November 16, 2018). "Mariah Carey on the Warpath". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on May 27, 2019. Retrieved June 7, 2019.
^Caution, archived from the original on June 8, 2019, retrieved June 7, 2019
^Kornhaber, Hannah Giorgis, Spencer (December 20, 2018). "The 27 Best Music Moments of 2018". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on May 25, 2019. Retrieved June 8, 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^Kornhaber, Spencer (November 16, 2018). "Mariah Carey on the Warpath". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on May 27, 2019. Retrieved May 27, 2019.
^"The 50 best albums of 2018". FACT Magazine: Music News, New Music. December 13, 2018. Archived from the original on December 14, 2018. Retrieved December 19, 2018.
^"ARIA Australian Top 50 Urban Albums"(PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association. November 26, 2018. Archived(PDF) from the original on November 28, 2018. Retrieved November 28, 2018.
^"Czech Albums – Top 100". ČNS IFPI. Note: On the chart page, select 47.Týden 2018 on the field besides the words "CZ – ALBUMS – TOP 100" to retrieve the correct chart. Retrieved November 27, 2018.
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