“Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel,” the much-hyped and twice-delayed upcoming studio album from Mariah Carey, has been dubbed somewhat of a potential dud by detractors, based on the single “Obsessed” and the slow promotion for it. All doubts can now be cast aside, as a preview of the entire album has been made available online, over at Amazon.com Germany.

The album is still scheduled for release for September 29 and, as anyone can easily imagine, the preview comes as a means of helping fans decide towards buying it once it goes on sale. Early reviews of it (the preview, that is, but, implicitly, the album as well) indicate that, no matter what critics said about Mariah “losing it,” she has a sure hit on her hands. Now, all that remains is to wait patiently for the material to reach fans.

Initial speculation about “Memoirs” had it that it was postponed to avoid going neck and neck with Whitney Houston’s “I Look to You” comeback album, which seems to have generated more media attention than Mariah’s effort. Word in the industry also had it that, aside from some issues with her PR agency, Mariah was feeling not very confident of the album, so it was ultimately her that urged the label to push back the release date so as to avoid said competition with Whitney.

Of course, none of this was ever confirmed, since that would have been similar to Mariah admitting defeat even before putting up a fight. Plus, these are details that the public never hears of, it is being said. Nevertheless, judging from what fans are saying on dedicated forums, all these rumors seem now farther from the truth than ever: Mariah is back and she will literally set the charts on fire once “Memoirs” drops.

“As for the album, I’m realllly loving ‘Candy Bling,’ ‘Ribbon,’ ‘Up Out My Face,’ and ‘H.A.T.E.U’ right now.....I can’t wait to hear the whole thing! I’m loving the interludes too, very old skoooooool Mariah. Kinda like an updated ‘Butterfly’ in a sense.” Mikey writes on That Grape Juice. He’s not the only one to think this, as most posters on the music-oriented e-zine vouch they’re completely taken by surprise by how original the concept of the album is and its brilliant realization.

For a first listen of “Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel,” a prerequisite to choosing to believe whether the album will be successful or not, please see here.