When in 1997 Mariah Carey released “Honey” as the lead single from her Butterfly album she debuted a new and improved version of the international Pop superstar she had been up to that point. Her image had changed but so had her sound and she was ready to begin a new phase in her career.
Despite alienating some of her loyal fans with this move, “Honey” was still a hit single. It debuted at #1 on the Hot 100, giving Mariah the distinction of being the only artist to achieve this feat with more than one single (it was her 3rd time) and continued her streak of Platinum-certified singles for sales of 1 million copies.
As part of our retrospective series on the iconic Butterfly album last year, we’ve already discussed “Honey” in depth in its various aspects: the revamping of Mariah’s musical identity, the symbolic value of the music video and the metamorphosis the original track went through with its remixes.
It’d be redundant for us to propose the same lecture over and over, so we’ll just invite you to check those pieces out to reminisce and celebrate this pivotal moment in Mariah Carey’s career with us in light of the 25th Anniversary of her legendary career.