Songoftheday 3/27/20 - We were as one babe for a moment in time, and it seemed everlasting that you would always be mine...
from the album Daydream (1995)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #1 (two weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 26
Today's song of the day comes from Mariah Carey, who just came from landing a record-breaking feat of weeks at #1 with "One Sweet Day" with Boyz II Men, as well as another chart-topper for "Fantasy". In England and overseas, Mariah released a cover of Journey's 1982 power-ballad classic "Open Arms", which went top ten in the UK (#4), Ireland (#7), and New Zealand (#8). Meanwhile, in America, where the drop from "One Sweet Day" was much slower, she put out the midtempo track "Always Be My Baby" as the third single (it would be the fourth everywhere else). Written and produced by Mariah along with Jermaine Dupri and Manuel Seal, the song is deceivingly written as a bouncy love song but with lyrics that actually describe a romance that is ending, with the "Always Be My Baby" almost like a dig that she won't get over the guy. Nevertheless, her fans loved it, as did radio, and Carey found herself on a winning streak again...
"Always Be My Baby" became Mariah's eleventh song to reach #1 in May of 1996. The song spent four weeks at #2 on Billboard magazine's Adult Contemporary (or "easy listening") chart, and took three weeks at #2 on their Adult Top-40 format list. The song was transformed into an urban contemporary jam by Jermaine Dupri that topped the R&B chart for a week as well. Meanwhile, the club remixes of the song helped it rise to #6 on the Dance Club Play chart. Internationally, the single topped the Canadian chart for two weeks, climbed to #3 in the UK, and made the top ten in New Zealand (#5) and Ireland (#10). It also reached the top-40 in Australia (#17), the Netherlands (#27), Iceland (#29), and Sweden (#38). At the Grammy Awards in 1996, "Always Be My Baby" was nominated for Best Female R&B Vocal, which went to Anita Baker for "I Apologize".
(Click below to see the rest of the post)
Producer Jermaine Dupri put a completely different backdrop on the song for its R&B remix, which featured rapper Da Brat and vocal group Xscape. An alternative music video was shot for this version...
Meanwhile, the house music throwdown by Dave Morales as the "Def Classic Mix" actually had Mariah re-record the vocals for the club jam...
Here's Mariah live in 1995 at Madison Square Garden during the Fantasy tour...
and a year later in Japan...
and making it "Stripped" in 2009...
Up tomorrow: Alt-rockers go west to see the end.
Comments