Upon its release, Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel received positive reviews from music critics, who felt it was one of Carey's most consistent and interesting records.

Commercially, the album debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 with 168,000 copies sold in its first week, and peaked within the top-ten in other five countries.

To promote the album, Carey made a pre-show in Madison Square Garden in 2009, embarked on the Angels Advocate Tour (2010), and performed on several television programs, including America's Got Talent, The Oprah Winfrey Show and Today.

Another song, "Imperfect," which was written by Carey and deals with societal pressure on women to "be perfect and look a certain way," also failed to make the track listing.

Despite the majority of the project being written and produced by Carey, Tricky Stewart and The-Dream, the main goal was to avoid having a "redundant or stale" album.

A lot of the songs reflect specific, different times in my life, actual events that happened to me, some of which are from way back in the past.

The packaging includes a 34-page Elle mini-magazine which takes an exclusive in-depth look at Carey's life and career.

[12] The mini-magazine is mixed in with lyrics and other traditional liner-note materials as well as upscale ads to cut the production costs of the booklet.

[16] For Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel, Mariah Carey has collaborated primarily with the team of The-Dream and Tricky Stewart for songwriting and producing throughout the entire album.

"[22] The album starts with "Betcha Gon' Know (The Prologue)", involving Mariah finding her man cheating on her with an unclothed woman[19] and threatening to expose him on national television ("Oprah Winfrey whole segment, for real", she sings).

[21] The second track and album's lead-single "Obsessed" details anger and anxiety at being stalked,[17] with a guy who is deceptively claiming he's had sex with her.

"[18] She harbors hope for a broken relationship on "Angels Cry", with her staple high-pitched voice over piano and finger snaps,[18] singing: "I'm willing to live and die for our love/Baby we can get back that shine".

British newspaper The Daily Mirror got a preview of six tracks on the album, these being "Obsessed", "Standing O", "Candy Bling", "H.A.T.E.U."

These were followed by appearing on The Oprah Winfrey Show on September 18, where Carey gave an interview with husband Nick Cannon and sang "I Want to Know What Love Is".

[34] On November 19, 2009, she was interviewed and performed on the first show of the second series of Alan Carr's Chatty Man as well as switching on the Christmas lights at the Westfield shopping center in London.

[35] She then appeared on GMTV with Lorraine Kelly for an encore interview and performance of her album's UK lead single "I Want to Know What Love Is"[36] and later in the week on daily entertainment show This Morning.

The Angels Advocate Tour in support of the album kicked off with a pre-tour show on December 31, 2009, at Madison Square Garden with Trey Songz before officially beginning on January 2, 2010, in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

which samples Ghost Town DJs' "My Boo" and features rap verses from Big Boi (of Outkast), Gucci Mane, and OJ da Juiceman.

The purpose of the album was to ensure that Memoirs appealed to a wider audience by putting guest artists on 90% of the songs.

[49] Carey was also planning to collaborate with Westlife, which would have been exclusive to the UK version of the album and a future single release.

[56] Finally, a press release also confirmed contributions from Mary J. Blige ("It's a Wrap"), The-Dream and Ludacris ("Ribbon"),[57] Akon, K-Ci & JoJo.

Two of the planned tracks for Angels Advocate were included on the deluxe edition of Carey's fourteenth studio album Me.

Another critic pointed out that the album lacks "the pandering, heavy-handed sexuality Mariah has relied upon too heavily this decade – and in doing so, it feels age appropriate in a way she hasn't in a long time, despite a collection of silly, jumbled lyrics".

Club also gave the album a positive review with a grade of B−, commenting, "Their team-up with Carey is canny: Stewart and Nash loosen up the diva's sometimes overblown on-record persona, and in return she gives definition to some of their more meandering tunes and backdrops.

"[23] A mixed review came from Slant Magazine, in which music critic Sal Cinquemani called the album "one of her most sonically consistent".

However, finding the album "soulless", he noted that the aural similarity of the tracks led to the production sounding "cheap and same-y, lacking the fullness of her best work".

Which makes it all the more disappointing that the album's final stretch devolves into a mess of old-school Mariah rehashes that should have been left in the past.

Even when she began flirting aggressively with hip-hop in the mid-1990s she was happy to impose her titanic vocals atop even the scrappiest production... Of late though, Ms. Carey has been whispering, as if newly scared of grand gestures.

[77] It has since been certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), denoting sales and shipments equivalent to one million units.

[79] In the UK the album undersold expectations, peaking at number 23,[80] in the Christmas season despite a performance on The X Factor and visiting various morning shows.