 Billboard editor Michael <unk> praised Carey 's return to her core audience . He said that although Carey might have alienated her hip @-@ hop followers from her previous three albums , her older fans from the 1990s would be more receptive to the material and her new image . Kelefa Sanneh from The New York Times wrote that the album " is generally pleasant , although it 's not always exciting , and a few of the collaborations go awry " . He called Carey 's voice " invariably astonishing " , and said that " she can hit high notes that barely sound human " , praised her versatility , and wrote that she " also knows how to make a hip @-@ hop hit by holding back and letting the beat shine . " <unk> Browne of New York slated the album 's whimsical <unk> and <unk> keyboards , and wrote , " Was Charmbracelet recorded in a <unk> shop ? This instrument needs to be stopped . " 
