Upon release of the album, Carey released her full concert at the Tokyo Dome on her Vevo channel. On September 12, 2020, a music video was released for " Save the Day" to commemorate female tennis players. She performed " Vision of Love" and " Close My Eyes" during the Good Morning America concert series. On August 19, 2020, Carey announced the pre-order of The Rarities on her social media platforms, along with its release date of October 2, 2020. One of the higher praised songs on the album was a 2020 re-recording of Carey's " Close My Eyes" from her album Butterfly (1997) which is described as a "real jewel in the crown" and that "few songs capture the power of the superstar’s voice and pen as well as this." Promotion Lauryn Hill was "as timely as a song that was written in 2011 can be" and met with mixed reviews. The Elusive Chanteuse (2014) which was then titled The Art of Letting Go.
"I Pray" was described by The New York Post writer Chuck Arnold, as "one of the most straight-up spiritual things Carey has ever done, with a choir helping her to take it all the way to church." "Cool On You" continues the R&B sound and "stems from E=MC² era and finds in full club mode It's light and feathery fun that gets stuck in your head after the very first listen." "Mesmerized" is a "curiously sedate mid-tempo that was supposed to appear in The Paperboy." Īlong with the live performance at the Dome, the album also features a live rendition of the jazz ballad, " Lullaby of Birdland", in which Carey performed live at The Elusive Chanteuse Show in 2014 and was originally meant to feature on her album, Me. " Loverboy" was previously released on Carey's Glitter soundtrack in 2001 and The Rarities features an original mix of the song which samples the 1978 Yellow Magic Orchestra song " Firecracker", which is said to have sparked the feud between Carey and Jennifer Lopez. Carey's work on "One Night" was also an "urban groove that probably scared the execs at Columbia at the time" and was "one of Mariah’s first collaborations with Jermaine Dupri, a creative relationship that would bear a lot of fruit in coming years." Carey's cover of Irene Cara’s " Out Here on My Own" was described as being "heaven-sent and, thematically, it makes complete sense for. "All I Live For", a Music Box reject, was described as "90s R&B-lite". The three B-sides were described as "legendary within The Lambily for good reason". The previously released B-side songs include "Do You Think of Me" which was featured on the B-side of Carey's " Dreamlover", "Slipping Away" on the B-side of " Always Be My Baby" and "Everything Fades Away" on the B-side of " Hero" and also included as a bonus track on international editions of Carey's third studio album, Music Box (1993). Carey has stated that the song was also written for Barbra Streisand to sing. The album begins with " Here We Go Around Again" in which Idolator writer Mike Wass stated was "hard to understand how something this effortlessly charming and catchy didn’t make the tracklist of Mariah’s debut album." Carey channeled the Jackson 5 on this "buoyant bop from 1990, sounding so innocent that she can barely contain the sheer joy of relishing in her own melismatic powers." "Can You Hear Me" was described as "a stunning ballad originally penned for Emotions (1991)". The album also features Carey's Daydream World Tour concert at the Tokyo Dome, recorded in March 1996, which includes live renditions from her hits, including " Emotions", " Fantasy", " One Sweet Day", " Vision of Love", " Hero", " All I Want for Christmas Is You", among others. The album consists of a 15-track collection of unreleased songs, B-sides, demos and live performances. But they're songs that have previously not been released." "Basically, I found stuff in my vault that I had either started to work on a long time ago and never released or that I wanted to finish mixing or do whatever. Carey stated on Good Morning America that, To celebrate and promote the 30th anniversary of her self-titled debut studio album, Mariah Carey and her memoir The Meaning of Mariah Carey, Carey announced the release of her eighth compilation album.
"This year, been taking something of a victory lap with a celebration she’s calling "MC30", opening the vaults on never-before-seen video footage and an album of unreleased songs and demos called The Rarities, and she’s finally put all that legendary shade to paper with a memoir, The Meaning of Mariah Carey."