Mariah Carey’s Rainbow: 20th Anniversary Celebration
“This Album Chronicles My Emotional Rollercoaster Ride Of The Past Year. If You Listen Closely, There’s A Story Here With A Very Happy Ending.”
Mariah Carey’s 1999 album titled Rainbow would be somewhat of a concept album, as Carey would explore the emotional highs and lows of the preceding years through her music and relate this to the metaphor of an emerging rainbow that follows a turbulent storm. Mariah would note in an interview before the release of the album how the title would come from a series of coincidences, “I’m calling it Rainbow. I was going into the studio in L.A., and there were two really clear rainbows, one on top of the other — I’d never seen that before — and I was just having this really stressful day, which is standard for me…But it was kind of indicative of my whole struggle, which is that there is light at the end of the tunnel, which hopefully is not a freight train. This guy from the restaurant last night who barely speaks English, so there’s no way he would know, said to my manager yesterday, “Oh, I have a gift for Mariah, please give this to her.” And it was this hat that said something like, “You’re the rainbow.” Like, how did that have anything to do with anything? When I did Butterfly, everywhere I went I would see butterflies. I’d see them everywhere, whether it was a pattern on a wall, or actual butterflies; somehow they were following me.”
Hope is a central theme that permeates throughout the album and is perfectly exemplified by the metaphorical image of a Rainbow. Within the record, Carey explores multiple facets of the human condition, including despair in the sublime Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now) and confronting emotional vulnerability in Petals. While these tracks may represent tribulations akin to a battering storm, Carey brings with her the ray of light that represents hope and the promise of a better day. On Thank God I Found You, the rainbow is represented by the feeling of love and companionship with a significant other, and on the introspective Can’t Take That Away (Mariah’s Theme), it comes from the knowledge of self worth and spirit that is within. As would be established throughout the album, the notion of finding happiness in the face of struggle isn’t necessarily restricted to the conventions of a typical love story. Carey elaborates, “The album story isn’t this major declaration of my love life. Not at all. There’s actually a deeper meaning in the songs, the lyrics, and in the attitudes and themes of the music. The story lies within those elements. Not so much in the story that can easily be seen on the surface of “a collection of love songs” so to say.”
The concept of Rainbow couldn’t exist without the struggles that precede the happy ending, and Carey would have a number of experiences to draw from to inspire the emotional body of work produced. Mariah would elaborate further on the early years in her recording career, “When you’re involved in a situation where you’re really young and you’re surrounded by stronger, older, powerful people who are in cahoots with each other, you think you’re pretty powerless — but you’re not! Until someone comes along and tells you that you’re not powerless, you don’t get it unless you’re precocious and you already know. It’s not that I didn’t know what I was contributing it was just that I felt afraid, scared and insecure and frightened on a lot of levels and no one really empowered me.”
As has always been the case with Carey, the songwriter and creator, she would express her most introspective thoughts and emotions through her passion of music as she notes, “I’m a very grateful person who has a lot of love in my heart for most people. I’ve experienced a lot of pain in my life prior to getting to this place, during the road that brought me here. Even from childhood. But I’m the type of person to push past that. I channel all those negatives into positive things like my music. Putting all that into music is what’s gotten me here.” One need only to listen to tracks like Outside or Fly Like A Bird to feel the sense of catharsis that comes from Carey’s musical expression as well as the parallels that intersect into the listener’s own emotional journey. This is what makes Carey’s music so powerful and is in full display on Rainbow.
The Mariah Carey of 1999 that would create Rainbow would differ in some ways from the artist that came before. Firstly, there was newfound freedom that came with her emancipation from the direct control of her record label and separation from Tommy Mottola. Secondly, there was the ability to immerse herself into urban genres like hip-hop, which had always been a passion and motif present from her debut album, yet would now blossom and be in full display. This would culminate in the recording of Carey’s 1997 masterpiece, Butterfly. Carey would elaborate on the evolution of her image, “Before everybody was being so paranoid, saying things like, ‘wear a long dress and sing a song and be a diva because that sells.’ And it did sell, does sell and will always sell. If someone is a singer, has mass appeal and is non-threatening, that’s great. That is a part of who I am. But I’m also a person who likes to go out to clubs and have a good time. Back when I was doing those other records, I wasn’t really going out. I wasn’t allowed to do a lot of things. I couldn’t dress how I wanted to dress. That was when I first started out and was first in that whole relationship thing.”
Mariah would note how during the filming of the classic video, Honey she would come to the realisation that she was truly free to express herself visually, “The first time I can think of, and this is a great thing that actually incorporated work and fun and being free and music, was when I made the video for “Honey” (in 1997), and I went swimming in the shoes. It was just… I always wanted to have the freedom to be myself and I wasn’t in a situation where that was OK; I wasn’t allowed to because of that, uhh, first relationship. I had to overcome a lot to get through that, but that video — prior to that, I always had to settle for less than I wanted to be, and I wasn’t allowed to be who I was. And it really took a lot of courage. It wasn’t just like, “I’m gonna make a video.” It was, “I am moving on with my life, and I have to for my own self because I’m trapped in a situation.”
Not only would this freedom be present within the visual components of the Butterfly era, but also sonically as displayed on the eclectic breadth of the classic album and further explored on her next release, Rainbow. Carey had been immersed in different styles and genres of music from an early age that would influence and shape her sound as she developed as an artist. While obvious examples included the soulful Minnie Ripperton or the gospel heavy Clark Sisters, who would be a key influence on the recording of many of the early ballads, hip-hop and RNB would be just as important as Carey would incorporate the genres into her work in a more subtle manner during the early years of her career. Mariah would elaborate on how hip-hop was played in heavy rotation in her household from childhood, “I grew up in New York… and remember just listening to the same records everybody grew up listening to that couldn’t help if you listened to the radio, you heard all these incredible hip-hop records. I wanted to incorporate those beats into records that I was making because that’s what I liked. It was my personal taste.” She remarks further, “The masses were not up on hip-hop, but ever since I can remember I was into rap — like the Sugarhill Gang is one of the first records I ever bought, and then like Grandmaster Flash. I grew up with hip-hop.”
Walter Afanasieff, one of Carey’s long-time collaborators during the first decade of her career would similarly note how ingrained the artist was in urban styles like RNB, “She gets in her car, puts on her radio stations, and it’s always R&B. She knows every song, every word, every rap out there.”
Carey’s need to express all of her musical influences within her early work would be met with derision by her record label, who preferred the safe image of a pop songstress rather than a multi faceted artist foraying into various contemporary musical styles. Mariah would note how this would impact the development of her debut album, “My demos were much edgier than my albums became. I wish I could have gone back to the essence of what those records were when they were demos. Even the demos that I was working on with Ben. When it became time to work on the first album everyone was so obsessed about competing with these other records and to produce them up. Any producer I was supposed to work with had to be that much smarter than me. At that point I was so much younger than everybody else involved in putting my record together. And I felt like I was so much more in tune with what was really going on in terms of music. For me a lot of that edge was… honed. They smoothed it, honed it and toned it because it worked better for mass appeal.”
This isn’t to say that Mariah had no control over her work, as she was writing and producing from the beginning, however, a featured rap artist or even a release of the more urban sounding tracks as singles would not be supported by the record label. As she elaborates, “People just bring me down because I do a lot of press where people are like “Oh you made this radical move on Butterfly” I’m like, Well had you really listened, not that you care to listen to the different things on the first album or songs like Sent From Up Above that was much more urban, that could have been a single. I mean it could have been a single, it probably wouldn’t have done very well pop, but it would have been a decently, pretty big urban single or songs that didn’t even get to my first album because I was told they were too urban.”
Despite this, Mariah would still chart in RNB categories and influence a number of pivotal rappers and artists within the hip-hop sphere as a testament to the quality of her work. Vision Of Love, Carey’s first number one single would be particularly lauded as she notes, “Vision Of Love actually went number one RNB first and then pop, it’s not like when people say “Oh you went in this RNB direction”, Vision Of Love was this big RNB record, people who you would not expect to talk to me about that song, talk to me about that song. Snoop is in my remix video, he and I had a long discussion about that song, Jay-Z and I had a long discussion, people talk to me about how like they remember when that song came out.”
To say that Carey abruptly began exploring hip-hop on Butterfly would be a disservice to her earlier work, which most definitely contained elements of the genre. Such examples include Carey’s genius use of the Blind Alley drum loop sampled on hip-hop artist Big Daddy Kane’s Aint No Half Steppin’ to form the percussive foundation of Dreamlover (Co-produced by Dave Hall), or the urban remixes of ballads such as Jermaine Dupris’ interpretation of the Music Box track, Never Forget You. Mariah would recollect on the importance of the use of the loop in Dreamlover, “I think that it was Q-Tip — he said this to me in ’97 — that I was really the catalyst for so many of these artists who are now trying to infuse [songs with hip-hop]. It was just digging in the crates with Dave Hall and coming up with, “Hey, let’s use this loop!” And from then on, I did it anytime I could. The next was “Fantasy,” which was a groundbreaking moment for me, the ability to be able to work with Puffy.”
The most overt example of this bridge into hip-hop up until this time would come in 1995 when Carey would ask rapper Ol’ Dirty Bastard (Member of The Wu-Tang Clan) to contribute a rap to a remix of her legendary smash hit, Fantasy from the album, Daydream. The track (once again co-produced by Dave Hall) already had a sparse, urban element to it with the composition being based primarily on a sample of the 1982 track, Genius Of Love by Tom Tom Club, which had been sampled heavily in the RNB/hip-hop space by artists such as Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.
Mariah would note the record label’s reaction when she proposed working with ODB, “It wasn’t the record company who suggested I work with ODB, They were like, ‘Who?’ They said, ‘Rap is a fad. Why do you want to associate yourself with this?’, and that certain people — I’m talking about big stars, multi-millionaire people who started out as rappers-slash-producers — would be ‘working at McDonald’s next year.”
Mariah was well aware of who she wanted to collaborate with as she was a big fan of Wu Tang Clan. She notes, “I listen to this kind of music all the time. It wasn’t like I said, ‘Tell me, who does good remixes?’ or ‘Who’s the hot rapper of the moment?’ I knew what I wanted to do and who I wanted to do it with.” Record producer Cory Rooney would similarly recollect, “She loved his records, period — all the Wu-Tang stuff. We would ride around in her limo, and she’d have a little pink boombox, listening to friggin’ ODB records.”
Despite this lack of encouragement by the record label, Carey would follow her artistic compass and record a sublime remix of Fantasy, featuring a rap by ODB and produced by Sean Combs (Puff Daddy). Combs would recollect on the candid conversation he would have with Mariah in the studio and her vast knowledge of a variety of artists, “She talked about Wu-Tang and Notorious B.I.G. and Mobb Deep — everybody who’s hot. It was like talking to one of my friends. And she knows the importance of mixes, so [in the studio with her] you feel like you’re with an artist who appreciates your work — an artist who wants to come up with something with you.”
Both the original and Bad Boy remix of Fantasy would storm the charts and the song would become only the second track in history to debut at number one on the Billboard Charts. More importantly, however, is the influence this collaboration would have on the shaping of pop music moving forward with Carey being a pioneer, bridging rap and urban musical styles with pop music and creating this unlikely yet pivotal fusion. Mariah would elaborate, “Fantasy’ in 1996 was a classic moment in music and I’m saying that in a humble way because people have told me, in terms of the pioneering fusion of hip hop and the song, it was groundbreaking because there was me having huge success in the pop charts and there was Ol’ Dirty Bastard, who was in the hottest, grimiest rap group … It became the norm for R&B stars to combine melodies with rapped verses after me. Other people have pointed out that it was me who established R&B and hip hop as the sound of pop.”
This was the most successful artist of the 1990’s bringing hip-hop directly into the safe, sanitised sphere of pop music. The composition would be de-constructed to the bare minimum, taking the gloss out of the original and adding grit, further exemplified by ODB’s rap. Former correspondent for MTV Mark Norris would declare, “The ‘Fantasy’ remix set the template for what pop has become. “It’s almost a given now that pop songs will have a hip-hop element to them. Those two elements are almost a requirement to get on pop radio today.”
Similarly accomplished hip-hop artist Da Brat would exclaim, “All the new R&B and younger pop artists should worship the ground Mariah walks on because she paved the way in so many different ways by trying different things that the world didn’t necessarily agree with… The whole hip-hop community and R&B world — we loved it, finally we had somebody to take us over to the pop side. It was just incredible.”
It wasn’t just the hip-hop collaborations or features that would influence the genre or emerging artists in that field, but even Carey’s signature ballads. Mariah would recollect on a conversation she would have with Jay Z, “We were talking about a feature in Vibe about Tupac. There’s a quote in there from one of the guys in Digital Underground who said he used to tell Tupac to turn off his tape of ‘Vision of Love’ and Sade songs and Tupac would say, ‘You don’t understand.’… Jay-Z told me that it’s all relative. That just because you don’t make the music yourself doesn’t mean it doesn’t mean something to people who don’t appear to dig it. He told me he was doing a bid and used to listen to ‘Vision of Love’ all the time, that others in there would say, ‘That’s the jam, that’s special’.”
By September of 1997, Carey would release her magnum opus, Butterfly, an album defined by emancipation, freedom and the ability for Carey to fully emerge herself in whatever genre or style inspired her, without rules. There were still the sublime ballads that would culminate from her work with long-term collaborator Walter Afanasieff on tracks like My All and Whenever You Call, but Carey would also work with Combs on Honey, and Missy Elliott on Babydoll, displaying her need to constantly explore and evolve as an artist. Once again, Mariah would demonstrate an impeccable ability at incorporating samples into her work in an interesting and eclectic manner as evident on tracks like The Roof and Honey. To add to this, Wish and Krayzie Bone of Bone Thugs-N-Harmony would contribute some rap verses on the sublime Breakdown. Butterfly sounds like an album made by an artist with artistic and creative freedom while also symbolising a clear evolution in Carey’s career. As she notes, “Everybody made a big deal about when Butterfly came out that it was so different or it was going in a different direction, it wasn’t. It was a natural evolution of me as an artist and what I always wanted to do, which is work with different types of producers and work with different types of artists. That’s just natural. Why should I stay in one vein for the rest of my life? I’ll always do a song like Hero or Vision Of Love, that’s always, That’s me. But I still want to be able to do like Breakdown with Bone Thugs N Harmony or Fantasy with ODB, whatever.”
There was still a conscious part on the record label to release singles that appealed more so to the pop market despite the strong content and RNB heavy nature of the album, as Mariah notes, “I don’t think I got that criticism from critics who understand the subtleties of doing a record like Breakdown with Bone Thugs-N-Harmony and me adapting to their style and who pretty intricate that was and how innovative a move that was. Even though they did not promote that single very much, there were two songs released from that album, seven months apart. That will always hurt me, because to me, that album had a lot of my heart and soul in it, but you know what, my first single was a number one RNB song, so I can’t say that. I know there was a conscious decision to go more pop after that.” Alongside the David Morales house mixes, Carey would continue to express her hip-hop sensibilities through remixes with other urban producers. Tracks like Always Be My Baby (Mr Dupri Mix) and My All/Stay Awhile(Produced by Jermaine Dupri alongside Mariah) would be re-interpreted to feature a much grittier sonic landscape alongside sampled beats, guest rappers, interpolations of other tracks and Carey’s re-recording of her vocals. Though featured rap artists on a pop track have become a regular and predictable staple of recent top 40 music, Carey was a pioneer that would bring this fusion to the forefront of pop and RNB decades ago and the importance of this can not be under-stated. While guest rappers and immersions into hip-hop styles would often be relegated to remixes during the previous eras, this precedent would end with the release of Rainbow and the album’s first single, Heartbreaker two years later.
By 1999, Carey had established herself as one of the biggest selling artists of the decade within popular music, and with this eventually came autonomy for her to make her own creative decisions regarding her image and sound. Mariah would note in a promotional interview for Rainbow, “It used to be that every little thing I did was a major group discussion. Now I do what I want and what I think is right for me. Sony have found themselves in a position of having to trust my judgment because up to this point in my career my instincts have been pretty much on.” This isn’t to say that there was no friction between Carey and her label, with the artist particularly dismayed by their efforts promoting Butterfly. Furthermore the unorthodox situation in which Carey’s personal and professional life intersected would lead to a convoluted relationship with the label, as she elaborates, “My situation is far more complex and unique because of the personal aspect of what it used to be so I have to do what I do and do it to be best of my ability. I know there’s a lot people up there who still work very, very hard for me and I still have a good relationship with, so I do what I do and trust my instincts and my desire to have fun and express myself on a song like ‘Petals’ or ‘Can’t Take That Away’.”
The release of Rainbow would come at a pivotal point in Carey’s relationship with Columbia/Sony as she would begin to seek a detachment from the label due to her changing circumstances, she recollects, “In all honesty, it was like I have one more album here and I want to move on, because my personal life has changed. It was difficult for me to still be in the system, but it was a great outlet for me to go into the studio and write a song like Petals.”
In A Perfect World
Human Beings Would Co-Exist Harmoniously
Like A Rainbow
A Multitude Of Colours
Each Layer Vibrant And Clear By Itself
But In Unison…
Boundless, Breathtaking, Celestial…
The concept of Rainbow goes beyond the metaphor of promised salvation in the face of conflict and tribulations; it also represents Carey as a complete artist in all her musical shades and colours. If the previous album is likened to a wondrous butterfly emerging from it’s cocoon, Rainbow is a display of it’s colourful wings in the form of the various influences and passions that would shape Mariah, as both a genuine lover of music and an artist.
As Carey would note,“To me that’s what the whole idea of Rainbow is. I’m a mixture and a multitude of colours and things and that’s what this album is and it would be great if everybody could exist happily like that…It reflects an album by an artist who has a lot of different ideas — and a lot of different ways of expressing them.”
Mariah’s need to continue to evolve and explore as an artist meant that she would also begin to collaborate with new producers and musicians she had not worked with previously, or to a small extent.
Most notably, this would be the first album that would not feature any collaboration with Walter Afanasieff, who would begin working with Mariah in 1990. While the RNB and dance heavy tracks were primarily worked on by Carey and various other producers throughout the years, including David Cole, Robert Clivillés, Dave Hall and a number of others, ballads were where Mariah and Walter would truly connect and create incredible music.
As an indication of Carey’s freedom and eclecticism, she would divert in an opposite direction from the sounds produced by herself with Afanasieff and turn to legendary production duo Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis to collaborate on the ballads for Rainbow. As Carey would bring with her an already rich and diverse catalogue, Jam would note how the initial talks of collaboration began, “It wasn’t like Janet [Jackson], where we all grew up together. Mariah had done her own thing and had been very involved with the arranging and production of her records, so we respected that and said, ‘What can we do for you?’ She would fly into town for five or six hours. She’d get on a plane and fly to whatever was the next thing she was doing.”
Mariah would elaborate on how Jam & Lewis were able to bring a different element to the tracks, “I’m actually glad I got the chance to work with Jimmy (Jam) & Terry (Lewis) and David (Foster) because they added a different dimension musically. A ballad track in the old days would become too grandiose but these guys kept it musical and big but still rooted in R&B. They got the subtlety of what I wanted to do. There was no ego about it. It was all musical love which is great and a terrific environment in which to create music. I’ve felt for a long time that on cross-over ballads I’ve recorded there was always this desire to achieve the same feel that was created for cross-over hits like ‘On Bended Knee’ (Boys II Men) which came out around the ‘One Sweet Day’ time.”
Jam & Lewis would co-produce almost every ballad on the album (a conscious attempt on Mariah’s part), including the triumphant Can’t Take That Away (Mariah’s Theme), the sensual slow-jam Bliss and Carey’s electrifying cover of Phil Collins’ Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now.) Jimmy Jam would note the parallels between Carey’s and his own approach to incorporating various genres in the creative process, “We have R&B sensibilities because that’s our love, but we also have pop sensibilities because we grew up in Minnesota, where, at the time we were growing up, there really was no black radio. Mariah’s very much the same way. She has an appreciation for pop music, but she also has a love for R&B. And a lot of her influences are R&B.” The pair’s professional relationship with Carey would begin with Rainbow but would extend into future projects, including the soundtrack to Glitter and Charmbracelet.
Apart from collaborating with the funk/RNB pioneers, Carey would also collaborate with legendary songwriter Diane Warren as well as accomplished Canadian musician, David Foster on the album. While Warren had made a living writing some of the most iconic songs of all time for other artists, Carey who valued autonomy as a songwriter first and foremost and would not be content simply singing a song written by Warren alone. As Mariah would once exclaim, “Even from the beginning, I said, ‘If you want to put me with people to write with and collaborate, that’s fine, but don’t try to force me to record someone else’s song.’ I’m not saying I’m friggin’ William Shakespeare. But even writing a melody, it’s a release. And I really have a need to express myself.”
Carey would collaborate with Warren on the writing of Can’t Take That Away (Mariah’s Theme) and After Tonight alongside Foster. Mariah would elaborate on working with Diane in more detail, “We have our own different styles, Her thing is sometimes the exact opposite of what I do and I’m forced into a position of having to say, ‘No Diane, I hate that stuff, it’s just not me!’ She gets really obsessive over her music and her lyrics and again, from time to time I’ll be forced to tell her, ‘No Diane, we just said that word two lines ago, we can’t use it again.’ However, Diane and I have a good relationship so I can be completely honest with her. She’s very cool, funny, talented and unique.” Warren would similarly note Carey’s work ethic and constant pursuit of creating the best work possible, “She works really hard, No matter what she’s done, there’s a hunger there. She doesn’t have to prove herself, but she feels like she does.”
Alongside working with various other producers including DJ Clue?, Brian Michael Cox and Jermaine Dupri, Mariah would also include a number of featured artists on the album, predominately RNB and urban acts. Usher would appear on the kinetic, How Much, Missy Elliott and Da Brat would lend their talents on the Desert Storm remix of Heartbreaker and Snoop Dog would appear on the sublime jam, Crybaby. Carey would note how the sharp contrast between genres on the album was simply a reflection of her eclectic taste in music and continued artistic experimentation. She elaborates, “Fortunately I think, I hope, that people understand that this is the music that I love and I love all types of music and I’ve tried to integrate a lot of different things on this album. I’ve a lot of collaborations on it, but that’s not me trying to become hip to the scene…I co-produce all my own work. I work with a producer in the studio when I’m singing, but that’s it. Prince is saying to me that he can teach me how to operate the studio entirely. I know how to punch-in vocals if I was producing for someone else, but I don’t know how to do if for myself. Anyway, co-producing is the only way I could incorporate all the styles I wanted to work with on this LP.”
Despite the fact that Carey would collaborate with a number of producers on the project, each with their own particular style and strength, the artist would have full creative control over her work, lending to an organic and seamless amalgamation of different genres and sounds. Producer Brian Michael Cox would elaborate, “Mariah Carey’s album is consistent because of Mariah. But you might have an artist, sometimes, where that’s a problem. I think all new artists should have no more than two or three producers at most, because otherwise the sound can get kind of convoluted. Occasionally you do have someone like Chris Brown, someone who has a clear view of what they want to be, but that’s rare. In the case of Mariah, or Mary J. Blige or Toni Braxton, they pretty much dictate the consistency.” Carey similarly notes, “Let’s say there’s another singer who’s not a writer or a producer and sang with all the people I’ve worked with on the album, and worked with all the styles I have on the album — it would sound like it didn’t fit. I know how to merge the sounds because the sounds are in me. That’s the whole rainbow — the different colours of music, the music that I like, the colours of my voice; it has racial connotations for me. A blend.”
Not only would Rainbow be a showcase of Carey’s eclectic musical interests, but it would also demonstrate her supreme versatility as a vocalist as she explores different ranges and styles, all with incredible technique. Between emoting sheer heartbreak and despair on Against All Odds, seductive sensuality on Bliss or unguarded vulnerability and strength on Petals, Rainbow is a testament to the multiple facets of Carey’s vocal instrument. Mariah would note the parallels between her performance on Rainbow and her debut album as well as her evolving range, “I think that on this album it’s the closest to how my voice was on the first album in terms of range… except that I have more deep tones at this point… There’s a lot of different colours and textures of my voice, different collaborations, different influences and I try to incorporate them all and try and make them work within one setting, basically. I think that there’s a lot of different moods as well.”
When tracing the development of Rainbow, it’s interesting to note that the album would be birthed from the remnants of a different project all together. In 1999, Mariah was in the midst of working on a film entitled All That Glitters to which she would have a starring role, while also writing songs for what would be the accompanying soundtrack. Though filming was due to begin in 1999, development would be postponed due to issues with the script. (The film and criminally under-rated soundtrack would eventually be released in 2001, entitled Glitter.) One of the tracks Carey had partly written for the indefinitely delayed soundtrack was the blissful pop classic Heartbreaker. Mariah would elaborate in a 2000 interview, “Heartbreaker was initially a song that I wrote for All That Glitters which starts filming in the Spring which was supposed to start filming last summer but there were problems with the script…. I had banked everything on, “This is when I’ll have my summer single out and then the movie”, like my usual recording schedule but it didn’t work out that way.”
While the track was still in it’s infancy, Carey would begin working with hip-hop artist DJ Clue? on various hooks and melodies. On one particular occasion, a friend of Carey’s would suggest that she write lyrics to a remix Clue had been working on for another artist. Mariah elaborates, “So I had Heartbreaker half written and Clue had given me the track, he actually had it with someone else for a remix… he was gonna use that for a remix for Mase… my friend Tracy was like, “You should play that for Mariah because that’s really her bag.” Actually the remix was of a song that they looped… So people now associate me with that, and this is Attack Of The Name Game and so I heard it and I was like “Yeah course I could write over it.”
Clue would similarly recollect, “Heartbreaker” was the first one we did — we had a mutual friend who loved some Stacy Lattisaw, “Attack of the Name Game.” I used to listen to it when I was young. I sampled it, and put the idea together. Once I played it for Mariah, she loved it. That’s where “Heartbreaker” came from.” Mariah would note that collaborations with Clue often began in a similar vein, “If I’m working with someone like DJ Clue who’s really a DJ, he just gives me a track and I take it and I write and I bring it back and we finish it together.” She recollects further, “Being a DJ, he has a lot of different ideas for making atmospheric stuff on mix tapes.”
Clue would use the sample of Stacy Lattishaw’s quirky 1982 funk cut, Attack Of The Name Game as the foundation of the composition with the infectious bass and synth lines included. Over this, Mariah would write the rest of the lyrics, featuring an incredibly catchy hook and chorus. Carey would elaborate on the lyrical inspiration for the song, “It was from the standpoint of girls who keep going back to that same guy and they can’t help themselves. They know they’re going to get hurt. I’ve been one of those girls, so I know there’s a lot of them out there.”
The track would recall elements from Carey’s 1993 classic, Dreamlover with its use of a sample as the foundation of the composition and the melody, however this is not to say that Heartbreaker is simply a carbon copy. As Mariah would note, these tracks are simply a reflection of her writing style, “They are all in the same vein because I wrote them. When I was looking for someone to co write with me on that song, I couldn’t find anybody because I was like, it’s my own style that I’m emulating, it’s not like it’s some other style.”
Clue would note just how immersed Carey would be in creating the track and her supreme ability at creating instantly recognisable and catchy melodies, “That’s one thing about working with MC — if you’re doing the music, she lets you do what you do. She doesn’t try to tell you what to do. She’s all ears. [The hook] was all her.”
Mariah would recollect on the difficult nature of writing parts of the track, namely the ad-libs due to the complex nature of the sample, “We couldn’t breakdown that other loop because you couldn’t isolate those sounds because you couldn’t recreate those keyboard sounds when we played them, we had to keep the loop continuous. That’s why it was even harder to write because it’s a two bar loop so I had really be creative with the sections and what they were going to be and the ad –libs and Clue with his ad-libs and all that stuff.” Trey Lorenz who had worked with Carey since before the release of her debut album would also contribute background vocals to the track.
As the song was continuing to be developed, Clue would suggest that rapper and friend Jay-Z contribute to the track. He notes, “I told her, “I’m going to call Jay-Z and get him to put a verse on it.” I went and sat with Jay, and played him the record. He liked the idea. It was a perfect marriage at the time.” Jay would meet with Mariah prior to recording his part and the pair would discuss working on the track while sharing mutual appreciation and admiration of each other’s work. Carey would elaborate, “We were at Mr Chow’s in New York — this is before everybody in the world knew who he was. But lovers of hip-hop knew who he was, and were very in awe of him, his talent, where he came from, his whole story and everything. So we talked that night and ended up collaborating.”
Jay-Z would come into the studio and record a rap section during the bridge complimenting the light nature of the track. Carey would recollect on the impressive manner in which Jay would record his part, “When he came in and he did his thing it was like, wow. He wrote nothing down, he did off the top of his head. He was like going off of my lyrics and what I was saying… He would forget what he said but he wouldn’t write it down but he just did it all off the top of his head.” Mariah would further elaborate on her admiration for Jay-Z’s craft, “It’s fun when you can find people you can relate to and that you respect. Jay-Z is somebody I admire as writer and as an artist. We could be sitting in the studio and he would freestyle a rhyme that would be incredible just off the top of his head. He dosen’t need pen and paper. I equate that to a singer who can pick up the mike and riff and ad-lib over a song and take you to a totally new place.”
As the song was nearing completion, there was a clear excitement in the studio regarding the potential release of the track as Carey would recollect, “Jay-Z and all those guys were in the studio going, ‘This [song] is hot. You should put this out now,’” recalls Carey. “I was like, ‘They’re right. I have to get it out. It’s a summer record. I should, I should, I should.’”
Heartbreaker would be the catalyst that would lead to the beginning of the Rainbow recording sessions as Mariah would decide to create an entire album to follow the release of this very promising single. In terms of the content, Carey would debate whether to incorporate tracks worked on during the early Glitter soundtrack sessions or instead go in a different direction and record new songs. She elaborates, “I was like, OK, if I’m going to do this, I’m either going to use some of the songs from the soundtrack, or do a completely different album, I just did a completely different album.”
While Glitter would be inspired by sounds of the 1980’s, Rainbow would be primarily immersed in contemporary RNB as well as an assortment of ballads and hip-hop inspired jams. In contrast with previous projects which spanned far longer recording sessions, Rainbow would be recorded in it’s entirety within only three months, as Carey would relocate to Capri to record most of the vocals for the album, free from distraction and the stress of her label. While she would usually create her compositions in New York or other various studios in the US, Carey would often relocate to another location to record her vocals. She notes, “I like recording and writing here, (New York) I like to do my tracks here because you get a different vibe, but then I take them and do my vocals else-where. I just realise it’s so much quicker and easier cos New York is just not conducive to work for me because everyone would be like “Let’s go out”, everyone would come by the studio and my pagers going off every two seconds.”
Mariah would recollect in a promotional interview for the album why she would choose the Italian island to record her vocals for Rainbow, “I went there because I would never have got it done in this period of time, My pager, my phone would have been going off, people would have been coming down to talk to me. Capri was so clear and beautiful for my voice. It really helped me be in great vocal shape. I needed to be out of the pollution. I basically slept in the studio. I had a bed and breakfast in a separate part and then I’d go and record, then sometimes go for a sleep on a boat, swim for a few hours. It was a great combination of work and relaxing.’ Post- Rainbow, Carey would record an assortment of her vocals for a variety of other albums in Capri, including E=MC2 and The Emancipation Of Mimi.
Much of the recording sessions for Rainbow would focus on developing Heartbreaker and the assortment of remixes that would accompany the track. Of the many, the most notable would be the Desert Storm remix featured on the album and a house mix entitled “Heartbreaker/If You Should Ever Be Lonely” (Junior’s Club Mix) which would be featured as a bonus track on the single. DJ Clue? would produce the Desert Storm remix alongside Carey, which would also feature a sample as the prominent element of the composition. Mariah would decide to go in a different direction entirely from the Stacy Lattishaw sample of the original and incorporate the bass, drums and synth line from Snopp Dogg’s 1993 track, Ain’t No Fun (If The Homies Can’t Have None) into the remix. The result is a crisper, grittier and more urban sounding track compared to the original. To compliment this composition, Missy Elliott and Da Brat (who had previously featured on the remix of Always Be My Baby and Honey) would contribute a number of rap verses throughout the song. Clue would elaborate on the recording of the Desert Storm mix, “With the remix, I was just trying to think of a record that everyone liked, across the country — whether they were East Coast or West Coast. Obviously it was a West Coast sample, so to give it more of an East Coast feel, I added the little intro. It was more like a hip-hop beat intro, a little more hardcore. I just wanted to give it that vibe. Then I switched it over to the Snoop sample. Da Brat did her part in the studio with us, Missy wasn’t there.”
Carey’s approach to the remix as an art form is quite unique in the sense that she fully immerses herself in creating these alternate mixes in the same way she would an original studio track. To Mariah, it’s an opportunity to reconstruct various elements of the composition, whether it be a melody or background vocals, or even write new lyrics. Carey elaborates, “It’s become one of my trademarks to revisit my songs when we do remixes. To me, it’s not good enough to just let someone go into the studio and add some beats or samples to my songs. Inevitably, I wind up re-writing a lot of the song or rearranging the vocals and melodies. It’s a fun exercise in that it allows me to rethink the song and add some more ideas.”
Carey would add new lyrics and background vocals to the Desert Storm remix as well as change the central hook to compliment the new composition. Mariah’s new lyrics would in a sense subvert the somewhat misogynistic elements of Ain’t No Fun (If the Homies Can’t Have None) which featured less than ideal lyrics in it’s references to women. She elaborates, “I like the remix best because I just love the vibe of that song, I love hearing it on the radio, I think it sounds hot. I like to hear it in clubs, I like when they mix it with Ain’t No Fun. When you hear Ain’t No Fun in clubs, it’s a pretty derogatory song about women and we flipped it and turned it around… I think it’s actually good because we did make it about girls.”
The result is two significantly different interpretations of an initial idea and a testament to Carey’s investment in remixes. Clue would note Mariah’s incredible work ethic during these sessions as she strived for perfection, “[Mariah] was so busy at the time, that every moment we got to do the actual music — it would take a bunch of sessions to do one song, she wanted to make sure everything was perfect. She takes her work very seriously — there’s so many records we’ve done that we’ve scrapped because she wanted to make sure everything [she released] was up to par, to that superior level.”
Mariah’s involvement in recording Heartbreaker did not stop with the Desert Storm remix, as she would contact iconic producer Junior Vasquez to collaborate on a house mix of the track. Vasquez had previously been commissioned to work on remixes for other artists including Cher and Madonna. Vasquez wasn’t Carey’s first choice to produce the house mix, instead she approached David Morales whom she had worked with previously on a number of remixes including Dreamlover, Fantasy, and Always Be My Baby. Carey elaborates, “This whole album was sort of like, no one even knew I was doing it and then at the last minute I was like, “David can you do a remix for me” and he was overseas… He couldn’t come for like a week or a couple of days later and we literally had a deadline…. David wasn’t available and I don’t want it to sound like Junior was second choice, it was that we had always wanted to work together but at this particular moment, it came together.”
The mix would be somewhat of a complete sonic overhaul of the original version with electronic drum patterns added, prominent keys emerging and the tempo significantly faster. Carey would perform another take of the lead vocals for the verses singing in a deeper register, while the background vocals and ad-libs would be revisited and changed in line with the sonic trends of the remix. Mariah would note how her approach to recording vocals for the house mixes differed from her standard process, “When I sang my lead on that it was like 5:30 after a nice bottle or two of wine….Usually when I sing everything needs to be clean and perfect and I would never have a drink or anything or do whatever, I just can’t. My voice has to be clear and that kind of stuff screws with my creativity. For some reason on the house remixes, I can just do whatever and be exhausted and just keep going.”
One only needs to look at past remixes like the C&C Club remix of Anytime You Need A Friend or countless others to hear Carey’s vastly different vocal takes. It’s clear that Mariah would feel a sense of liberation in the recording of these remixes, as she would take the opportunity to experiment with various aspects of the composition, including the background and lead vocals to match with the significantly increased tempo of the mix, as she notes, “It was so hard to do that stuff fast and come up with all the parts we did, but it’s fun, it’s a very different outlet for me.”
Rather than scrutinise over each vocal take to ensure perfection, she would take a more spontaneous approach in the recording of the lead vocals, alongside her background singers Mary Ann Tatum and Melonie Daniels. Mariah elaborates, “I know that if I go with David in one night it’s done. That type of record, those house records are actually my favourite, almost my favourite thing to do because it’s very free. It’s very like, when I do those vocals that’s why some of them are a mess. I just sing whatever, I barely edit it, I barely re-do stuff. I spend a lot of time on the background vocals and arranging the backgrounds and singing them and I had the girls who sing with me there and we just really, we’re like four in the morning recording, tripling tracks of backgrounds. It’s very free-form creative expression over a track that’s very out there in terms of being different from the original or even the hip-hop version.”
One of the most interesting aspects of this particular house mix is the interpolating of lyrics from the 1985 ballad, If You Should Ever Be Lonely by Val Young. Carey would describe how elements of this track would be incorporated into the mix, “That actually was Junior’s idea. That’s one of my favourite songs from growing up and when he started doing it, I said “you know what we should slow it down”…. I figured it would be hot to slow it down and again those remixes are so much fun for me to do creatively.”
This concept of sampling 80’s pop hits within Carey’s own work had been a motif present in earlier remixes including the use of a sample of The Loose End’s 1986 track, Stay A Little While, Child on the My All/Stay Awhile remix, among others. What makes this particular interpolation unique is the way the composition evolves in order to meld the distinct sound of both tracks together. The seemingly effortless incorporation of the lyrics, melody and background vocals of If You Should Ever Be Lonely into the sonic foundation of the Heartbreaker remix is just one of many elements that make Carey’s particularly special. The seamless transition during the bridge as the tempo slows and elements of Young’s track begin to emerge is nothing short of genius. The final section of the remix in which the background vocals collide between each track is a particularly brilliant element. Though Mariah would not work with David on this particular mix, she would still bring her own personality and style to this collaboration with Vasquez, as she notes,“I think that my thing still comes across on this remix. I think that it’s not like “Whoa what’s Mariah doing, it suddenly doesn’t sound similar to her other stuff” I think and someone else was telling me today too, with this you get my essence, you get that, “Okay I see what she does with David but it’s also very much about her and she’s working with someone else.”
Carey would spend a significant portion of the Rainbow sessions working on the various mixes and interpretations of Heartbreaker, almost eclipsing the length of time it would take to record the rest of the album, which was in the process of being developed. When reflecting on the number of different versions of Heartbreaker, it’s interesting to note the intertextuality between the various versions. Each stemmed from one initial idea put to page and each completed version encompassed influences from specific genres, whether it be urban hip-hop on the Desert Storm Remix or dance and house music on the Club mix. Carey’s own musicality would be expressed in the interpolation of various pop tracks from throughout the ages, ranging from a 1982 Stacey Lattishaw sample to incorporating elements of Val Young’s 1985 ballad on a house mix.
Carey would look for inspiration both introspectively and outward as she began writing the rest of the tracks that would comprise Rainbow. By 1999, she had spent over ten years in the music industry and gained a wealth of knowledge and experience as one of the biggest artists on the planet. However, with such success came manipulation and image stifling by the record label, misinformation distributed by the press and personal experiences as an outsider being bi-racial. Carey would parallel these experiences with those years earlier during high school and the feelings of sadness and loneliness that comes from not belonging. All of these thoughts would culminate in the writing of the transcendent masterpiece, Can’t Take That Away (Mariah’s Theme).
Mariah would elaborate on the writing of the track during the Homecoming Special performance, “I wrote this next song during the time after the whole Columbine incident happened and there was a lot of stuff going on that was really negative and I was thinking about my experience when I was in high school, in junior high. Just thinking that you can really feel like, when you are not part of a certain group or your friends get mad at you or something is going on. You can really feel like, it is the end of the world, right? When I wrote this song, I had my days in junior high and high school in mind and also had my own struggle, where I am still going through right now. Okay, but if you have peace with in yourself, nobody can touch you, no matter what happens.”
They can do
Anything they want to you
If you let them in
But they won’t ever win
If you cling to you pride, and just push them aside,
See I,
I have learned
There’s an inner peace I own
Something in my soul that they can not possess
Oh I won’t be afraid and the darkness will fade
This sentiment is expressed in the sublime lyrics in which Carey constantly defies the negativity surrounding her while re-enforcing the value of her own inner strength and harmony as she continues to declare, “they can’t take that away from me.” She expresses the power of placing one’s own value in themselves rather than the opinions or perceptions of others. Such an affirmation is essential when going through stages of loneliness and isolation and as such inspired Carey to write the track as she notes, “I wrote it mainly for young people who growing up were going through, maybe you don’t fit in at school or you got problems. It’s to inspire them.”
While Mariah would write most of the track alone, she would turn to Diane Warren in Malibu for collaboration to translate her concept to music as well as bring the songwriter’s own perspective to the table. The artist notes, “Sometimes I’ll bring an idea to somebody that I know is gonna have some input and bring something else to the table.” She recollects further, “I basically went to Diane with that song, my issue is I’ve always written most of my ballads with Walter, we are not working together anymore. I had this idea in my head and on tape recorder and I had basically 90% of the song written and I needed someone to play it. I went to Diane and said “I have this thing, will you do it with me.” She doesn’t collaborate, she doesn’t co-write, she only writes for people, she’s been asking to work with me for a long time.” While Diane would contribute to the bridge, the track would be very much in Carey’s style and a reflection of her earlier work. Mariah notes, “We worked out the last bit of it together, the bridge, and then I was like, “Ok, and then I’ll go up,” it’s very my style of song. It’s less, I mean, her style, like her typical style would be like a Because You Loved Me or that new NSYNC song that’s out now. It’s more that. My style is much more this. This is very “Vision of Love,” slash album cuts that have never been released off previous albums like “Vanishing” or “Outside.”
Carey recollects further, “We worked it out, I finished the lyrics alone. It’s basically more from me, I don’t wanna take anything away from her, but that particular song is much more my thing and then doing it with Jimmy and Terry… They were like “we’re getting your vibe from it.”
With the song written, the track would be given to Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis to produce alongside Mariah. Sonically, the song begins with an array of prominent strings including violins, violas and cellos, arranged by Lee Blaske. Soon after keys begin to emerge played by James “Big Jim” Wright, adding a whimsical element to the track. There is a subtle but evident build in intensity as the various elements of the composition including the bass and drums become more apparent as a reflection of Carey’s incredible escalating vocal performance. There are some clear contrasts between Can’t Take That Away (Mariah’s Theme) and the ballads from earlier releases during Carey’s collaborations with Afanasieff. One key difference are the drum patterns, which are noticeably subtler on Can’t Take That Away compared to the deep snares that would engulf songs like Hero or If It’s Over. The drum track is more reminiscent of an RNB slow jam during the verses before erupting into more of a prominent pattern on the final chorus. As Carey would state in a promotional interview for the album, this more subtle and RNB focused approach to the ballads was her intention when partnering with Jam & Lewis.
The natural build-up of intensity from the bridge to the final verse, which is a central motif of many ballads, comes more so from the arrangement of background vocals rather than the instruments on a number of ballads on Rainbow. To further contrast from many of the ballads that came before, the song structure itself would be more reminiscent of a poem rather than a traditional song.
Beyond this emotive performance, Mariah would arrange the background vocals, a task that would take a significant amount of time due to the emotional nature of the track. She recollects, “I felt very passionate about that particular song. That’s another one I did all the backgrounds myself and I was very kind of isolated in the studio and I lived with it for a while. I started it in LA, I went to Capri, I lived with it back and forth and at the end of it I just felt really um, It needed that kind of release.”
While the song would begin with Carey’s bare emotive vocals, light harmonies begin to emerge sporadically as the track continues to build sonically. The sharp interplay between Mariah’s lead and background vocals during the bridge bring a transcendent quality culminating in the explosion of the final chorus.
Carey would go through a number of potential titles for the developing song as she notes, “I’ve gone through so many different incarnations of that song. That song was called “They Can Try,” it was called “They Can’t Take That Away From Me,” it was called “Can’t Take That Away” and I liked “They Can Try,” ’cause “Can’t Take That Away” seemed like it was too common, and then I threw “Mariah’s Theme” on it at the last minute.”
The adding of (Mariah’s Theme) to the title epitomises the personal nature of the track as Carey reflects on her past experiences while declaring triumphantly that she will always endure and blossom as a magnificent rainbow after a storm.
Mariah would collaborate once again with Diane Warren during the Rainbow sessions alongside Canadian composer David Foster on the atmospheric ballad, After Tonight. Contrasting with Can’t Take That Away (Mariah’s Theme), After Tonight would be much more of a collaborative partnership between Carey and Warren. Mariah notes that while she would prosper from collaboration on the composition and melody of a track, she would often find it difficult to share song writing with others due to the personal nature of the art form. The writing of After Tonight would be shared however between Carey, Warren and Foster. Carey elaborates, “It’s really important for me to write my own lyrics and I have a difficult time collaborating on lyrics with people because, it’s hard, I can collaborate with anybody on music, like “here, this is a melody, let’s go here, let’s go there” but not everybody is good as collaborating on lyrics. So it’s been interesting when I find certain people that I like to work with.”
Mariah and Diane would clearly strike a chord during the sessions and both would have a similar approach to the song-writing process, which is usually initiated by a melody or a singular idea. Carey describes her writing process in more detail, “It comes from different places. I write the music first and the lyrics second, almost always. Melody comes to me really, really quickly — sometimes when I don’t want it to — like when I’m trying to sleep and I have to get up and record a melody so I don’t forget it. I keep a tape recorder by my bed for this. If I’m cowriting a song, we’ll sit at the piano and I’ll say, ‘This is a chord progression I’m working on’ and we’ll work it out. We’ll bounce ideas off each other, and I’ll take it home and whatever the music makes me feel, that’s what I write about.”
Warren similarly recounts her own song-writing process, “They can start with an idea,” she explained, “a title, or the chorus or a good drum beat. ‘Un-Break My Heart’ came to me as a title. It popped into my head, and I thought, ‘I don’t think I’ve heard that before, that’s kind of interesting.’ I started playing around on the piano with these chords and did a key change, and then I knew, ‘OK, this is magic.’… “I don’t ever write lyrics first and then the music. They come together.”
Behind an atmospheric composition, Carey details a romantic encounter with a lover whom she has longed for. Throughout this intense rendezvous she can’t help but wonder whether it will just be a brief fleeting moment or if it will continue “after tonight.” To compliment the imagery conjured by the lyrics, Mariah would once again look at Spanish influences for the composition, which had been an evident motif in some earlier work including My All and on earlier releases. David Foster would produce the composition alongside Mariah, incorporating an orchestra arranged by William Ross and prominent Spanish guitar played by Dean Parks. The interplay between the building strings and ever-present guitar gives the track a distinctive sound, while the subtle percussion adds a softer quality to the composition. Carey would elaborate on the choice to incorporate these influences during a promotional interview for the album, “I really like Spanish melodies. I think that songs like I Don’t Wanna Cry have a really strong Hispanic side. I have another song in this album, called After Tonight, written with Diane Warren, which is a type of Spanish ballad. I think that it’s great that Latin music is being embraced by the world.”
Foster would recollect on working with Carey during these sessions and how he was impressed by her abilities beyond being an incredible writer, “Working with Mariah was an extraordinary opportunity for me. It goes without saying that she’s one of the world’s greatest singers, but it was her musicianship that really stunned me. She thinks like a record producer and lays her vocals down like a virtuoso guitarist. Singer, writer, producer…Mariah is a triple threat. Working on this album with her was a wonderful experience from beginning to end.” Carey would similarly note how her creative input would span beyond the writing of a song as clearly evidenced in her ability to create melodies and express them vocally while also arranging background vocals, “Primarily I’m a singer, songwriter and producer and that’s what I really focus on. That’s my main platform.”
Mariah would begin dating Mexican singer Luis Miguel during this time and while no musical collaboration would result in their partnership, there were initial discussions for Miguel to potentially feature on After Tonight. Carey would establish at the time that there was no sense of urgency in working together unless it was to result organically, “I don’t care, I’d rather not do a duet and have a good relationship. It’s not about exploiting the relationship to do a duet, who cares. If it works great, if it doesn’t, be happy.” While it’s rumoured that Foster would have Miguel record his own take of the track (which the artist allegedly disliked), Mariah notes that she simply did not have time to re-record her vocals and hence the duet would not eventuate. Carey notes, “To change it, I would have had to redo my vocals, and I didn’t have time.”
Mariah would work with Warren and Foster on another track during these sessions that ultimately would not make the album. The breezing ballad, There For Me would be recorded originally for the Rainbow project but would instead be released as a B-Side to Never Too Far/Hero Medley in 2001. Carey utilises her iconic whisper register throughout the track, complimented by heavy strings, once again orchestrated by William Ross. The addition of finger snaps and the various exotic percussive elements give the track a timeless, contemporary sound while also bearing some resemblance to their other collaboration, After Tonight. That such a sublime ballad would not be included on Rainbow and be relegated to a B-side on it’s eventual release is a testament to the strong content produced by Carey during this time.
Carey would record a number of ballads throughout the Rainbow sessions; each with their own distinctive soundscape, ranging from the cathartic transcendence conjured by the strings in Can’t Take That Away (Mariah’s Theme) to the distinctive exotic composition present on After Tonight. Mariah would turn to Jam & Lewis however to collaborate on the brilliant slow-jam Bliss.
Carey’s instrument would take centre stage on Bliss as she evokes raw sensuality with her unique vocal whistle embellished by warm and luscious background vocals. Mariah’s dynamic whistle would appear throughout the chorus contrasted with the deeper, layered vocals in the background creating a vibrant soundscape to compliment the composition. Carey would employ what she coins a “whisper register” during the verses which would give her vocals a strong yet breathless quality as she sings of experiencing intimacy with a lover. She would elaborate further on the technique, “The whisper register of my voice that I use on Bliss is something that is so fragile and unique and bizarre.” She continues, “I think I might have more air in my voice which is why I can lose my voice quicker because a lot if it is harmonics… That’s why I can do that high thing because it’s almost where my voice would go into a rasp but instead it becomes this solid high tone.”
Bliss would be filled with Mariah’s signature vocal whistles, which had become relatively sparse on previous albums as a reflection of outside influence during the early years. Carey recollected in a 1999 interview, “I was told to restrain myself a lot back in the day. Not on every song but I think people preferred me to sing like, “Sing this straight and do this like this and don’t do the high notes because critics are ragging on you for doing too many of the high notes.” And I know that, but I also know that was a different time.” This isn’t to say that the notes were completely absent but were more so present within the texture of Carey’s vocal range rather than the focal point as she would describe. Vocally, Mariah would sound anything but restrained on Bliss as she scales from a seductive whisper during the verses to the euphoric high notes during the chorus. As the bridge emerges, the interplay between the lead and background vocals become more apparent, culminating in the sonic eruption of the final third of the track.
Carey personifies the feeling of uncontrollable desire reflected in the lyrics with soft ad-libs contrasted with stark-layered vocals as she declares “All my loves for you.” Trey Lorenz, Nicki Richards and Melonie Daniels would contribute to some of the sublime, luscious background vocals throughout the track creating somewhat of a flourishing of various different tones. Mariah would recollect on the recording of the vocals for the track and how she had almost considered removing much of the iconic high notes, “I was in the studio with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, and we were working on a track, and there were all of these high notes on it. I was ready to take them off, and they were like, ‘What are you doing? This is what you’re known for. Leave it!’ “I thought, ‘Why not? I think of my voice as a gift from God. Why suppress it?’”
Jimmy would similarly recollect on witnessing Carey’s incredibly unique vocal ability, “I can’t even think that high, “It’s not that she can hit the notes,” Jam says. “A lot of people hit the notes. But the runs and trills that people do in a normal register she does at the top of her voice.”
Carey would discuss how the creative process began with the production duo, “We all kind of sat in a room together and bounced ideas off each other…I could go in any direction they wanted, and they took me to another level.”
While Bliss would in some ways recall elements of previous sultry ballads like Fourth Of July from Butterfly, Jam & Lewis would bring their own signature sonic element and alongside Carey, would produce one of the most essential slow jams in her catalogue. While Mariah would record most of her vocals for Rainbow in Capri, she would often send tapes to the Minneapolis studio for Jam & Lewis as they built the composition.
Carey would also collaborate with keyboardist Jim Wright on many of the Jam & Lewis tracks, as he would translate Mariah’s vocal interpretation of melodies to chords. The track begins with an array of sound effects including birds chirping, bringing a visual element to the track followed by a sparse drum beat and subtle keys, which form the base of the composition. An infectious bass line appears throughout the track becoming more apparent as the song continues, adding further depth to what is already an incredibly effective yet understated composition. Sonically, the track recalls elements of the pair’s work on Janet Jackson’s The Velvet Rope released two years earlier in terms of the relatively understated drum patterns and sonic effects. Jam would note in a post on Twitter that the drums were originally going to be replaced, however Mariah would “get used to them” and request they were left.
While Carey’s sensual vocals are first and foremost the showcase on Bliss, the vibrant yet understated composition perfectly compliments her own instrument while also contrasting in tone from the slow jams that came before. Jimmy Jam would praise Mariah’s incredible work ethic noting, “One day she was singing a vocal in the studio, doing tracking in a second studio and producing a new song in the third. She worked all night and left the studio at 7 in the morning. Four hours later she was shooting a video. She shoots the video all day, goes to dinner. She comes back to the studio and records all night until 7 the following morning. She’s totally underrated because you see her on TV and she looks good. She sounds good. But she’s got chops in the studio. She does the tedious, painstaking producing work.”
Rainbow would not just be comprised of original material as Carey would also endeavour to record a cover of Phil Collin’s 1984 track, Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now) during these sessions. This concept was by no means new as Mariah had recorded her own interpretation of a number of tracks by other artists on previous projects, usually as a sign of admiration. Such examples include her soulful live cover of The Jackson 5’s I’ll Be There released on her Unplugged album to lesser known instances like the sublime cover of Open Arms featured on Daydream (Originally recorded by Journey.) It should also be noted that one of Mariah’s biggest hits would be her cover of Badfinger’s 1971 track, Without You. (Though she was inspired by the 1971 cover of the track by Harry Nilsson.)
Carey would not simply produce a replica of the original but she would often rework or tweak various elements of the composition to suit her own vocal style or the particular mood she intended to evoke. The addition of soulful choir-like vocal harmonies to Carey’s interpretation of Prince’s The Beautiful Ones, coupled with the stripped back elements of the composition are a demonstration of this modification. Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now) would bare the most resemblance to the original Phil Collins release in terms of composition (Carey’s cover would also beproduced by Jam & Lewis.)
Mariah’s decision to record a cover of this particular track would come deep into the Rainbow sessions after the recording of Heartbreaker as she notes, “I decided to do the cover on the way to the ‘Heartbreaker’ video shoot,” she explains. “My last cover was a little more obscure — ‘The Beautiful Ones’ by The Artist. ‘Against All Odds’ reminded me of specific memories of growing up and the park where I used to hang out. Then recently a friend of mine was going through a really emotional time. They had just lost someone very close to them. When I spoke to Jimmy and Terry about it they thought it was a great idea and we all thought we should keep it pretty close to the original.”
The decision to not deviate from the original version would go beyond the composition but also into Carey’s approach to recording the emotive vocals. She elaborates, “I did it in his key because I feel it was a magical key and I could have taken it up, and it was more in a key that would have been more, when I got to that point at the end, it would have been more emotional, ’cause I would have been reaching for it, but I wasn’t reaching at all. And so I took it up an octave at the end and tried not to be all over the place with it, but emotionally that’s where it was. And it was, like, pretty much a one or two take thing”
The fact that such a passionate performance would only take a number of takes demonstrates just how incredible of a vocalist Carey is and is a testament to her technique. With each note she personifies the heartbreak and despair of the lyrics with cathartic conviction complimented by the crashing percussive cymbals and dramatic keys. There’s a subtle but clear escalation in the magnitude of Mariah’s vocals in each verse, culminating with the stirring final vocal run. It’s interesting to note that the inspiration for Carey’s performance would come from the emotional toll of experiencing loss, albeit that of her friends, as she notes, “It was actually at a friend of mine, her father had just passed away and she was on the phone with me and she was crying and she was saying a lot of the things that were being said in that song — she hadn’t had much of a relationship with him. I had to go downstairs and sing that. And so, it was like, kind of a deep moment.”
The track would also be re-recorded as a duet between Carey and Irish vocal group, Westlife with slight variation in the composition. Mariah had similarly re-recorded a version of her 1997 track, Whenever You Call as a duet with Brian McKnight for her #1’s greatest hits album. She would note how the collaboration came about, “I met Westlife at a party a couple of months ago. A friend of mine who works at Arista, Keith Affdellie, introduced me to the guys and they were really cool — my mum is Irish of course so that helped. I think it might have been Keith’s suggestion that we should collaborate and do something global, so a duet was a natural choice.” Carey would elaborate further on the choice to re-record this track in particular and the new elements that would come from this collaboration, “I thought it would just be a cool thing to do, to kind of turn it into a duet and combine what they do with what I do. They stack a lot of harmonies, so we made the song kind of a different thing. But it was an easy process. It wasn’t like some difficult drama.”
As a reflection of Carey’s diverse taste and musicality, she would once again take an original track from a different era and produce her own stellar interpretation as evident on Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now).
During the recording sessions for Rainbow, producer Damizza would submit a number of tracks to Carey for consideration on the album. The artist had worked with Mariah previously, recording a remix to her cover of Brenda K. Starr’s I Still Believe, which had been released on the #1’s greatest hits album in early 1999. While these early tracks Damizza took to Carey would not materialise further, a chance encounter with RNB group Guy’s 1988 track, A Piece Of Me on the radio would give the producer an idea to bring to Mariah. He recollects, “I had submitted a bunch of tracks she didn’t really like, but you can’t always win. I was sitting there with my writing partner, and “Piece of My Love” by Guy came on. That bass line! I ran over to the Beverly Hills Hotel where Mariah was staying, played it and she went, “Oh my God, I love it, get Snoop Dogg on it.”
This initial concept would eventuate into what would become the incredible urban jam, Crybaby. Mariah would contact legendary producer Teddy Riley who had co-written the original track to gain permission to use the bass line. Riley recollects, “It feels good, because she called me straight, she didn’t go through the publishing companies, and we tried to make it possible for her to get it. And now it’s done, and it’s an honour. I mean, so many people want to sample my records, but I’m not really ready to do that right now.”
Carey and Damizza would take the bass line and build a vastly different composition over it. To contrast from the original Guy track, the bass line would be re-tooled behind a sparse hip-hop reminiscent drum pattern with high-pitched keyboard lines scattered throughout; a world away from the drum machines and synthesizers of the original.
Lyrically, Crybaby details the dissolution of a relationship and the difficulty of moving on as each day comes with reminders and flashbacks of a former love. Though Carey has moved on with someone new she can’t help but cry over this break-up as she forgoes sleep and turns to alcohol to forget the past.
To contrast with the serious subject matter, Crybaby has somewhat of a playful quality evoked predominately from the light composition and the somewhat autobiographical references in the lyrics. Carey recollects, “That whole song is very real. I was going to call it “Crybaby/Insomniac” and I should have, because that’s my theme song. And everybody who knows me laughs when I say, “I gotta get me some sleep,” ’cause the whole thing is like, “I don’t get no sleep, I’m up all week,” and so they laugh at that because it’s very true to life. And even when I say, “on my tippy toes,” ’cause when I walk around without heels on, ’cause I’m always in heels — even when I was little — I always walked on my tippy toes like this, and I don’t know why, but babysitters used to laugh at me, but I always walked like a Barbie, like on my tippy toes, I don’t know why, there’s really no reason, but I just naturally do that.”
Damizza would similarly note, “The song is really about a situation — she literally was walking around on the tippy toes, thinking about an old situation. The thing about her is that her writing is so prolific, but it’s so fucking personal. It’s really her, and that’s what’s the fucking scary as shit.”
He would take an early version of the track to Snoop Dogg to contribute a rap, as Mariah would request. Damizza elaborates further, “I called Snoop Dogg, and he was like, “I got this thing going on and I can’t leave the house — you’ll have to come to the house to do it.” I was like, “OK, I guess I’m gonna drive out to Snoop’s house.” He had a studio. We got there, and Snoop said, “This is friggin’ amazing, I’m ready let’s go in booth.” Crybaby would be recorded and produced at a fleeting pace due to time restrictions as the producer would elaborate further, “I had to FedEx the track the next day, or it wouldn’t make the album. I was like, “You want me to get Snoop Dogg, get this song together and get mixed, mastered, everything, in one day?”
On a track filled with many highlights, one of the greatest elements is the arranging of the lead and various background vocals by Carey. Mariah would always be the biggest driving force behind the utilisation of background vocals on her compositions, often arranging them herself, as she would note, “The background vocals are an important part of the picture for me. That’s why I like to do them myself a lot of the time, or initially I’ll lay down the tracks. I’ll double my voice or do a couple of tracks of my own voice. It’s easy for me to match my voice. And then if I’m going to use other background singers, I’ll let them go on top of mine.”
Crybaby is a display of just how much of a genius the artist is at using a variety of intersecting vocal harmonies and layers to create an insatiable, textured soundscape. Damizza would elaborate on a discussion he had with Carey regarding the recording of vocals for the track, “My favourite thing that Mariah does is to go low, middle and high — it sounds like Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. So I was thinking about the vocals for the song, and I was thinking of “Breakdown,” and I said, “Yo, can we do this little thing [layer your vocals]? That’s all I’m going to request.” I had left to do the Snoop thing and she layered it herself, just like you hear on the song.”
Carey would arrange each and every aspect of the vocals on Crybaby herself, taking into consideration Damizza’s request for layered vocals reminiscent of Breakdown from Butterfly. While rich harmonies would propel the main hook of the track, the first verse begins simply with Carey’s lead vocals. As the second verse emerges, Mariah adds an extra layer in a higher register to contrast with her deeper lead vocals. As each chorus erupts with warm harmonies to propel the hook, Carey embellishes with progressively more intense ad-libs, showcasing her incredible range as she goes from low to high notes with ease. The sheer brilliance of the arranged background vocals in the last two and a half minutes are simply incredible as a number intersect, creating a perfect blend of Carey’s instrument with other background vocalist, Nicki Richards.
The track would be completed in a number of days as Damizza notes, “We friggin’ got it all done, edited everything, and on the next day it was sent.” That such a richly arranged composition and a stand out on Rainbow would be recorded in a short amount of time is a testament to Carey and Damizza’s collaborative abilities. Crybaby is a display of Carey’s technique not only as a singer, but also an arranger as she blends a variety of vocals to create a richly textured soundscape to emote the pathos of the lyrics.
Carey would also reunite with producer Jermaine Dupri to collaborate on a track for the album. Dupri had first worked with the artist directly during the recording sessions for Daydream, producing Always Be My Baby and Long Ago alongside Carey and Manuel Seal. (Though Dupri had also produced a remix of the Music Box track, Never Forget You two years earlier.)
A friendship would develop soon after, alongside a clear chemistry between the pair when it came to the creative process of recording music. Mariah would elaborate, “We formed a friendship way, way back when I got a chance to do a record Always Be My Baby. We always kept close from that point on. We speak the same language when we get in the studio. It’s not a long process, we both try to get to what we want to get to very fast.”
The pair would bond over a shared love of music as they would channel their inspirations into the recording of eclectic mixes of their previous work. Carey would elaborate, “JD is the best. I love him, I really do. We have such similar influences. It’s funny because a lot of our favourite records from growing up are really the same. Back in the day we did the [R&B] remix of “Always Be My Baby.” The original version was a hard track, if you listen to the bass — but it was very poppy on top. I knew JD could do it, even though he hadn’t really worked with somebody like me before. I knew he was just incredibly talented. He’s really just honed his skill as a producer in so many ways. I’m a fan and a friend.”
Alongside producer Bryan Michael Cox, the duo would record the up-tempo RNB track, How Much. Cox and Dupri were somewhat of a production partnership beginning from the mid 1990’s, writing and recording for a variety of artists including Mary J Blige as well as co-producing Shake It Off from Carey’s iconic The Emancipation of Mimi album. Cox would elaborate on this creative partnership with Dupri further, “I’m really strong melodically, and he’s really strong conceptually and lyrically. I would say we’re equally strong as programmers, but Jermaine’s concepts are endless and the fact that i can play anything he hears makes it work.”
The result of the pair’s collaboration with Carey would be the sonically sparse, heavily RNB influenced, How Much with a sample of Me And My Girlfriend by Makaveli (Tupac Shakur) incorporated into the composition. The track is reminiscent of the more urban sounding material Dupri would create with Carey as accompanying remixes such as the My All/ Stay Awhile So So Def Remix. Mariah would note how seamless the writing process would be with Dupri, “Jermaine and I write the best together because we really sit there from the inception of the track to the completion and then deal with lyrics and stuff, or sometimes it’s simultaneous.”
Usher would be enlisted to perform a duet with Carey on the track bringing a clear chemistry and contrast between the pair’s differing vocal styles. Warm harmonies envelop the chorus, complimenting the warm tone of the composition. Dupri would note how in control Carey was with her craft noting, “She’s a person who knows exactly her style of music and knows what her fans are into, and she’s probably one of the most talented singers out there.” While Carey would explore a variety of genres and styles on Rainbow, How Much is a representation of the artist enjoying herself through light-hearted RNB tracks.
Mariah would explore similar sounds on a number of other songs on Rainbow, including X-Girlfriend and Did I Do That? The former would be produced by Kevin “She’kspere” Briggs who had attained significant commercial success producing TLC’s iconic No Scrubs and Did I Do That? would be a collaboration between Carey and Craig B, among others. Mariah would recollect on the recording of the vocals for X-Girlfriend, “It was wild, I was singing parts into the phone, and they were recording and embellishing the ideas at the same time. The deep part is that it came out exactly as I heard it in my head.” Once again, Mariah would look at incorporating samples from a variety of musical genres into her own work, incorporating the bass and vocals from Silkk the Shocker’s 1999 track, It Ain’t My Fault 2 on Did I Do That?
Rainbow would not just be an album comprised of a selection of various tracks; as per the title, there is an overarching theme that ties together much of the album. Carey would pay particular attention to the configuration of the album in order to represent the project as that of an emotional journey ending with the metaphor of the rainbow that comes after a destructive storm. Mariah would work with Jam & Lewis to incorporate a series of interludes onto the album to not only represent key points in the auditory experience, but also bridge between tracks effectively. As Carey would note, “What I tried to do with this album [Rainbow] is incorporate the ballads with the songs that are more, you know, the uptempo records, and use interludes to kind of segue between them so that you wouldn’t feel this, this jolting thing, you know. So I told you about the cover of ‘Against All Odds’ — it’s pretty hard to go from a record with Missy Elliot and Brat, that’s a loop of a Snoop Dogg record, to ‘Against All Odds,’ but because working with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, who are really genius at figuring out interludes and we really had a great musical partnership, we kind of figured out how to make these transitional pieces that would make the album work. And I think sequencing this album was really important, and I tried to kind of tell a story in the sequencing and make it all make sense.”
Interludes had been a significant motif in Jam & Lewis’ previous work with Janet Jackson as they would aid in representing each album as somewhat of a concept while creating an effortless flow between tracks. While Carey would write some of the more light hearted songs during the later recording sessions for Rainbow, she would look at ways of inserting them within the album alongside the heavier subject matter seamlessly. As she notes, “I did try to tell a story, when I wrote ‘Bliss’ and ‘How Much,’ I wrote them closer to now, in a happy space. But in sequencing [the album], I thought the best thing to do with this is make it into a story. Because even though I wrote ‘Bliss’ and ‘How Much’ for this point in my life, I could easily relate them to what I was going through a couple of years ago, where I was at that moment of heartbreak where you keep going back to the wrong person, and you think everything’s great.”
Carey alongside the pair would create two interludes for the album, one entitled Vulnerability and the other, simply Rainbow. There’s clearly a contrast both lyrically and sonically between the two, with Vulnerability representing Carey in her darkest hour while Rainbow represents the promise of eventual healing and nourishment that comes after the metaphorical storm.
Vulnerability:
Why
Oh why
I should have known
Right from the start
That you’d
Go and break (my heart)
Knowing I was
So vulnerable
The interlude begins with the sound of battering winds instantly evoking clear imagery to the listener followed by Carey’s pleading vocals as she questions why her lover has abandoned her. This instantly sets the tone for the second act of the album as Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now) follows while Crybaby and Did I Do That? advance the story further. If Vulnerability is Carey processing the dissolution and Against All Odds is her presenting the metaphorical scars left from the emotional turmoil, Crybaby and Did I Do That? are her attempts to move on. As Carey would utter in Did I Do That?:
Don’t you know that you seem
Just a little crazy
And I trust in intimacy
But you threw it away just threw it away
And now that’s all in the past
When I think of you I just laugh
My friends must of thought I was high
Cause I given so much to someone not worth my time
Carey would use the process of song writing as an outlet to channel her emotions, whether that be of joy, fear, love or pain and as a way to express herself as both an artist and a human being. To look back on Carey’s discography is akin to reading poetic diary entries from a writer processing her thoughts and feelings through introspective writing. As Mariah would attest, it would also be important for listeners to be able to attribute their own meaning to the words, “They might not get what it means to me specifically… but it’s not about that because if it effects somebody else and they can apply it to their life, then that’s the most important thing.”
During the Rainbow sessions Carey would write one of the most personal and poignant tracks of her career and also one of the best on the sublimely raw, Petals. Within the first few seconds of the track, the listener is immersed into a turbulent soundscape of thunder and storms foreshadowing the subject nature of the lyrics. Mariah would note the process of writing the track as somewhat cathartic, “It is a great outlet for me to go into the studio and write a song like 'Petals', which is one of my most personal songs and remains one of my favourites. I think [it had the most] honest lyrics I've ever written”
Under a bed of sparse keys, Carey begins recollecting on past relationships and their disintegration, likening it metaphorically to a delicate petal being lost in the wind.
I've often wondered if there's ever been a perfect family
I've always longed for undividedness and sought stability
A flower taught me how to pray
But as I grew, that flower changed
She started flaying in the wind
Like golden petals scattering
And I miss you dandelion
And even love you
And I wish there was a way
For me to trust you
But it hurts me every time
I try to touch you
But I miss you dandelion
And even love you
Carey notes the subject of the first verse as someone of admiration and purity who teaches her how to pray and connect before changing into something unrecognisable. It’s a necessary fact of life that as we grow older bonds will naturally disintegrate while new ones will form, but Petals addresses the instances in which our desire to repair a relationship borders on impossibility. Mariah recollects, “I can't say exactly what it means because it's very personal," she begins when explaining the song. "The reason I called it 'Petals' is because it's about relationships that are now static and I don't think I can ever pull them back in. It's also about parts of my life that are now gone.” While Carey is obviously reminiscing on her own personal experiences, the sentiment can be reflected for all who have endured a fractured relationship.
During the second verse, Carey would take a slightly different perspective as she details a connection she would form with a boy and girl through their shared circumstances, “despondency” she would refer to it as. Her need to rid herself of this situation for her own mental health would mean that she would leave these companions, as she declares, “I miss you little sis and Little brother, And I hope you realize I'll always love you.” Carey reflects on parts of her life that are gone, including old friends as she declares that they will always reside in her memories.
The artist would often discuss the struggles she endured from childhood leading up to her adult years both as a member of the biracial community and struggling financially as she notes, “I had to go through so much in my childhood just to feel accepted and feel worthy of existing on Earth because I felt so different from everybody else growing up, because I was biracial, because I was so ambiguous-looking and because we didn’t have the money to escape whatever the everyday realities of life were.”
It could be posited that Mariah is referring to these times throughout the track as events of the past that continue to be reflected on. Carey would elaborate on the track further, “There was a period of time when I was only kind of around a few people who were in my immediate circle who we all kind of had the same, we were all kind of going through the same stuff. And now I don’t see them anymore and so it’s kind of a sad feeling, but, it’s hard for me to be really specific about that.”
In the final section of the song Carey turns her gaze towards those who have deceived her through indifference or outright betrayal:
So many I considered
Closest to me
Turned on a dime and sold me
Out dutifully
Although that knife was chipping
Away at me
They turned their eyes away and
Went home to sleep
Carey would elaborate on the lyrics further, “The bridge addresses my anger about those people who saw me in a really bad state but just let it go. These are the people who are supposed to be close to me but they were afraid to say anything… There are people that I want to say certain things to and I hope they hear it and get it on a lot of levels."
In the final verse of the track, Carey takes a retrospective look at her past, grateful for what she has, but also melancholic about what she has missed out on, whether that be a stable, unbroken childhood home or complete independence and self-expression early in her career. Mariah would note, “I missed out on a lot of things and I was enormously blessed with a lot of things. “And I’ve missed a lot of life, but I’ll recover, though I know you really like to see me suffer/Still, I wish that you and I’d forgive each other”—that's “Petals,” from Rainbow. In the early part of my success, I was cloistered. I was like a Rapunzel in a castle kept away from the world, so I didn’t get to feel famous. I just felt like, “OK, I’ll go out there when they tell me it’s time to go sing, and then I’ll come back here and sit in the house.” The beginning of my career was bleak, because I was surrounded by everybody who was so much older than me, and I wasn’t really allowed to have fun. The big boys were always in control.”
Carey would regain her independence and freedom however, and as highlighted in the final section of the track, she would find the internal strength to remove herself from this unhealthy situation, as she declares, “And I found the strength to break away… Fly away.” Mariah who has long since likened her journey to that of an emerging butterfly references this idea in Petals as she breaks away from the cocoon that has enclosed her through fractured relationships and flies away, triumphant, but also saddened. Mariah would note how Petals was conceived in an extraordinarily short amount of time and how writing such vulnerable and affecting tracks would be almost second nature, "Petals, to me, is the best song on the album, and is probably one of the best songs I've ever written," she says. It's the kind of song that comes straight from the heart, and directly addresses important emotional issues. "And when I write, those songs come the most quickly to me," she says. "Like that song 'Looking In' from the 'Daydream' album. I wrote that song in like 10 minutes, and 'Petals' was similar to that. Because there are things that are so vivid and honest in my memory that it's easier [to draw on that] than to write a song like, I dunno, 'Heartbreaker.”
While Mariah recounts deeply personal experiences in her lyrics, she evokes a universal concept that can be experienced by all, hence why the listener can gravitate and apply it to their own lives. Carey recounts, “I have a song called "Petals" that's completely about me growing up and my family. And so many people relate to it. And it'll be people from other countries, like a girl from Germany who'll talk to me. Songs like that usually are not vocal performance moments. It's really weird to me because I feel like that's the expression of who I am, that's the true me. And people don't know me for that. They don't see that side, and I don't really care because the people that need to see it see it.”
One of the most effective elements of Petals is Carey’s haunting vocal performance in which she emotes the heartache and pain of the lyrics though deep, husky vocal tones. This is an example of Mariah using her extensive range as a vocalist to translate the pathos of the lyrics to full effect. Carey would reflect on her performance further, “The song chronicles a lot of past emotions I've felt to certain people close to me, and the way I feel towards them and how their actions have impacted me personally. For that reason, I sang in my lower registers, trying to add that breathy effect to go hand in hand with the song's composition.”
To compliment Carey’s raw and visceral vocal performance alongside the deep subject matter of the lyrics, Jam & Lewis would create a simple yet effective composition with Carey and Jim Wright. Much like the track Looking In from Carey’s 1995 album Daydream, keys would be the main base of the composition, with Mariah’s aching vocals being the clear focus. Percussion would be sparse and only emerge during the chorus to compliment the intensity of the keys and layered vocals. Electronic sounds similarly appear sparingly throughout the track adding somewhat of a foreboding energy to the composition.
Petals represents Carey at her most vulnerable and thematically plays a integral part in the Rainbow concept. If the track represents the journey at it’s most dark and turbulent, then salvation comes soon after in the form of the Rainbow interlude:
I know
There is a rainbow
For me to follow
To get beyond my sorrow
Thunder
Precedes the sunlight
So I’ll be all right
If I can find that rainbow’s end
I will be all right
If I can find that
Rainbow’s
End
Interestingly the Rainbow interlude was originally intended to be a full-length track, however due to time restrictions the idea was relegated to a short interlude.
While Vulnerability conjures images of an intense battering storm, the Rainbow interlude begins with the sound of birds chirping and subtle keys in the background, evoking feelings of calm and hope. There’s an air of positivity and reassurance in Carey’s vocals that indicate, as per the lyrics that there is always the promise of a better day on the horizon, if we just remain hopeful and search for that rainbow. This could be in the form of a confidant or an introspective realisation of our own self worth, in the face of discrimination and prejudice. Mariah would elaborate on the meaning of the interlude further, “We have these rainbows here, and me being a person that’s multiracial and, you know, hoping that one day the world will all kind of, not have to judge each other because of what we look like, because of what colour we are, because of what country we’re from — hoping that we can kind of come together in that respect. And going in to the new millennium, hopefully that’s something we can all keep in mind…. It’s also about getting through, like after a storm, sometimes you see a rainbow.”
This hopeful sentiment would lead to the final track on the album, the transcendent anthem Thank God I Found You. Carey would have the initial idea for the chorus before taking it to Jam & Lewis to collaborate on further. She notes, “I had the chorus in my head for so long and I went to Jam and Lewis and I sang it to them and I said “Let’s write this.” Upon meeting with the duo, Carey would translate her idea for the melody by singing it to Jam & Lewis as Jim Wright was not present in the studio at the time. Terry elaborates, “It all happened that night. She told us the title of the song, the concept and sang us the melody. We usually have Big Jim Wright sit in on those kind of sessions to work out the chords. he wasn’t there so I had to work on the chord myself. So I was playing and there was a part where I said ‘Man, what chord am I supposed to do here?’ and Mariah has such a good ear that she sang me the chord.”
As the song was being developed, Carey would suggest for a male vocalist to be featured, “It’s like when I was writing ‘One Sweet Day’. It really cried out for a group to be singing with me and for a strong male-female thing in terms of going back and forth, vocally.”
Mariah would contact RNB artist Joe to duet on the track, as suggested by Jimmy Jam. The artist would recollect on the experience, She [Carey] gave me a call, and she was like, “I would love to do a duet with you. Come by the studio.” When I got there, she played the song for me. I didn’t expect to record the song, but when I heard it, I said, “Man, there’s no way I’m going to leave this studio without my voice being on that record.” Everything just happened so fast.”
RNB group 98 Degrees would also contribute to the track, adding their own vocal harmonies. The result is an up-lifting ballad exemplified by the clear chemistry between Carey and Joe’s lead vocals and the luscious harmonies provided by 98 Degrees. Lyrically, Mariah expresses the appreciation and joy of finding a companion in the face of suffering and despair, detailed within the first verse. As Joe emerges during the second verse, he declares his love and faithfulness while making a vow to always be present. Once again Jam & Lewis would contribute to Thank God I Found You, co-writing and producing the track alongside Carey. To compliment this joyous lyrical content, the composition is warm and ecstatic, filled with prominent keys and RNB reminiscent drum patterns. Placing Thank God I Found You as the final track on the album would be vital in conveying the overarching theme of the album. While Rainbow begins with the dissolved relationship explored on Heartbreaker, the closing track explores the unadulterated joy of finding a companion. Carey would elaborate on the closing of the album further, “Somebody made an interesting observation, which is that this is the first album that ends on a — no pun intended — on a high note,” she says. “Usually, the last song [on some of my albums] is more of a kind of depressing downer, everywhere from the first album having ‘Vanishing,’ to ‘Butterfly’ having ‘Outside,’ which was about me being multiracial and feeling how I felt about that. That was ‘Butterfly.’ But this album has the uplifting song at the end.”
While the track would be dedicated to Miguel according to the album’s liner notes, the decision to end the album with such a positive and hopeful tone may also be a reflection of the emotional place Carey was in at the time. As she would elaborate in a 1999 interview, “Now, I feel… appropriate. My life is much more appropriate at this point for someone my age than it was five years ago. I mean, it used to be that the only people I was around were my parents’ age. I’m very free-spirited, fun-loving person, and going out to stuffy restaurants and having to present myself in a certain way wasn’t the most thrilling thing. But it was a time of my life — I did it, that’s it.”
Carey would once again re-imagine the track sonically and lyrically via a remix entitled, Thank God I Found You” (Make It Last Remix), produced by DJ Clue? and borrowing heavily from Keith Sweat’s 1988 track, Make It Last Forever. Rapper Nas would contribute some vocals to the track, showcasing another side to the sensual ballad.
For an artist who’ s incredible discography is as accomplished and diverse as Carey’s, there will always be some albums that don’t get the acclaim or recognition that they deserve. Rainbow is one such example as listeners are exposed to an eclectic mix of various genres, Carey’s supreme versatility as a vocalist and her strengths as a song-writer. There’s still the traditional balladeer that Carey’s image was synonymous with in the early years, but beyond that, there’s Mariah the lover of hip-hop and RNB, expressing these sensibilities through her craft. While Carey could have played it safe and produced another Hero, she collaborated with Da Brat and Missy Elliott and created an RNB/hip-hop classic. As Mariah would note, “Right now pop is the biggest thing, It could have been like, let’s do an entire really pop album because that will be the really big selling thing but that’s not my bag.”
Rainbow would still be a commercial success, attaining platinum record sales in the US and giving Carey her 14th and 15th Number one hit respectively with Heartbreaker and Thank God I Found You. Beyond validation through commercial success, Rainbow is an essential album in understanding both the creative and emotional journey Carey would endure from the beginning of her career up until the final notes on the closing track.
“I don’t think it’s about how many records you sell necessarily. I think it’s about the fact that I feel happy and that I’m feeling really creative going into the next millennium. That’s why I’m putting out this album.” — Mariah Carey.
Read our article on the making of Mariah Carey’s 1993 album, Music Box here:
Mariah Carey: The Songwriter With A Music Box
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References:
HIP-HOP CONNECTION (UK) DECEMBER 1999 — JACQUELINE SPRINGER |TOUCH (UK) NOVEMBER 1999 — GUS MUNDAWARARA |USA TODAY (US) NOVEMBER 2, 1999 — ELYSA GARDNER | THE BALTIMORE SUN (US) OCTOBER 31, 1999 — J.D. CONSIDINE | JET (US) OCTOBER 13, 1997 | JET (US) MAY 31, 1999 | THE CHARLIE ROSE SHOW (NOVEMBER 2, 1999) | FOREVER MARIAH: AN INTERVIEW WITH AN ICON (PITCHFORK) NOVEMBER 2018 — ALEX FRANK | V (US) ISSUE #112 — STEPHEN GAN | PEOPLE (US) APRIL 23, 2018 — JESS CAGLE | COMPLEX (UK) AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2016 — ELENA BERGERON | CLASH (UK) SUMMER 2016 — SIMON HARPER | WONDERLAND (UK) SUMMER 2014 — JACK MILLS | ELLE (US) AUGUST 2008 — DAN CRANE | I-D (UK) JUNE 2008 — PAUL FLYNN | THE OBSERVER MUSIC MONTHLY (UK) APRIL 2008 — PAUL MORLEY | INTERVIEW (US) SEPTEMBER 2007 — BY INGRID SISCHY | ROLLING STONE (US) FEBRUARY 23, 2006 — JENNY ELISCU | ESQUIRE (UK) OCTOBER 2005 — MANSEL FLETCHER | ROLLING STONE (US) FEBRUARY 17, 2000 — MIM UDOVITCH | FHM (UK) APRIL 1999 — MIKE PEAKE | JANE (US) APRIL 1999 — BY SUZAN COLON | YOUNG & MODERN (US) APRIL 1992 — PETER MCQUAID | VIBE (US) APRIL 1996 — ELYSA GARDNER | ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY (US) SEPTEMBER 26, 1997 — DEGEN PENER | GLOSS (US). JULY 22, 2016 — CHRIS AZZOPARDI | PRIDE (UK) MARCH 2016 | BILLBOARD (US) MAY 3, 2014 — ANDREW HAMPP | OCEAN STYLE (UK) JULY 2008 — JASMINE DOTIWALA | JET (US) APRIL 21, 2008 — MELODY K. HOFFMAN | BILLBOARD (US) APRIL 5, 2008 — ANN DONAHUE | MS LONDON (UK) SEPTEMBER 26, 2005 — ALLY MORGAN | JET (US) APRIL 25, 2005 — MELODY K. HOFFMAN | FOZFAN.COM | THE GUARDIAN (2009) — EMMA BROCKES | SOUND ON SOUND INTERVIEW W/STEVE HODGE — DAN DALEY | THE VIEW (1999) | WE BELONG TOGETHER: MARIAH CAREY’S COLLABORATORS SHARE UNTOLD STORIES BEHIND 8 CLASSICS — NATALIE WEINER/ADELLE PLATON | FANTASY: 20 YEARS LATER — CHRIS AZZOPARDI (ET)
