Billboard review
Mariah Carey has endured a lifetime of woes in the past couple years, from the embarrassing (albeit lucrative) buyout of her Virgin contract to a high-profile spate of personal emotional turmoil that landed her in a hospital-and all over the tabloids. The autobiographical "Through the Rain", a song that sings the praises of inner strength (from the "Hero" songbook), is certainly an important release for the singer/songwriter, marking her bow for Island Def Jam. It also reveals the all-important decision to return, at least for this single, to a more musical mind-set after an increasingly frequent bent toward letting rappers dominate what became a series of irritating, disjointed jams.
But while "Rain" is pretty melodically, it is mighty restrained in both production and performance, bordering on tepid, with only a keyboard and Carey singing in a girly whisper through all but its final peak moments. It's hard to figure out exactly what purpose super-producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis serve. With so much riding on the success of this record, it's more a sedated Version 2 of past accomplishments than a new high. For an artist of Carey's stature, we hoped for better. (Billboard)
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