 Prior to the its release , the album 's working title had been That Chick , taken from a song on the album with a similar name , " I 'm That Chick " . As the release date drew near , the title was changed to E = MC ² , in reference to Carey 's previous album , The Emancipation of Mimi ( 2005 ) . The title signifies " ( E ) Emancipation ( = ) of ( MC ) Mariah Carey ( ² ) to the second power " . It is a word play on Albert Einstein 's famous mass – energy equivalence formula and has been dubbed as the sequel and improved counterpart to The Emancipation of Mimi . In his review of the album , Alex Macpherson from The Guardian described his thoughts on its title , as well as its meaning : 
