Published on Sep 16, 1997
With 81 million albums sold, she ain’t broke (either way). So
it’s natural you see a lot of the old stuff on “the new one”; think
of
Butterfly as a new and improved
Daydream, with thinly disguised samples from the packs of
bubblegum that preceded.
The title track is another trademark torch song for Carey. It
begins and ends like “Hero”; the middle is a mix of “Til The End Of
Time” and “I Am Free”. The message of emancipation might reflect
her recent separation (not divorce) from Tommy Mottola and is a
little too open for speculation. And like “Hero”, it probably would
make a better impression on a live stage (do I hear a live video
coming up?).
“The Roof” and “Fourth Of July” both come from the same part of
Carey’s brain-soul “Underneath The Stars” came from. This single
has been reviewed by “The Daily Vault” (waaaaay back when we had
two hits a day) and I can’t say anything has changed; Cory Rooney
brings some better background which is something
Daydream seriously lacked.
“My All” is a mellow “I Don’t Wanna Cry” but doesn’t work well
in the studio; neither did “Looking In” on the last album, but it
managed to garner some adamant supporters regardless. “Outside”
also smacks of “Looking In”, but only through subject matter
(outside, looking in. It’s a song about fame’s consequences). Its
play is also very weird; I’m still trying to decipher her full
meaning (something I never had to do with a Carey song before).
“The Beautiful Ones”, a remake of then-Prince’s song, features
the one-hit-wonder R&B group Dru Hill. It’s a little unfair to
use the same background then-Prince used then, but what I feel is
what I feel; it’s better than the then-Prince version. The soulful
exchange is less grating than “One Sweet Day” had been, though less
spiritual.
The collaborations “Honey”, “Babydoll” and “Breakdown” all
satisfyingly smack of enough Carey. “Honey”, despite Puff Daddy’s
sample-happy style, lets Carey cavort her vocals in a little-used
low-head voice range. “Babydoll” isn’t as weird as everyone dreaded
it to be and it displays Cory Rooney’s finger in the production pie
very prominently. “Breakdown” has Carey rapping like a female
member of Bone Thugs and Harmony and I wish Krayzie Bone and Wish
Bone did more than just the bridge section.
The best track, however, is “Close My Eyes” simply because the
rest of the songs have been done already (“Fly Away [Butterfly
Reprise]”)? Ever heard of the Morales remixes of “Always Be My
Baby”? This track, with lyrics of self-discovery, catches Carey in
a rarely contemplative mood which had been attempted earlier only
in “Do You Think Of Me”. “I was a wayward child / with the weight
of the world / that I held deep inside / life was a winding road /
and I learned many things / little ones shouldn’t know”.
She chose not to give up too much control (most of the songs are
either produced or co-produced by her, and she is amongst the rare
singer-songwriters in the R&B genre). I had hoped for a lot
more experiment with some hard-core hip-hop but, as pop-rooted as
the album is, at least these results are not half-baked. Mariah
Carey’s sixth LP in her seventh professional year may not have her
as free as the title suggests but in the end, that certain magic
(and Sony marketing skills) has prevailed to sweep fans up and have
them asking for more.