When Monica released her debut album in 1995, she was the last of the Teen R&B star trinity to release music. Both Aaliyah and Brandy had come out with their albums, Age Ain’t Nothing But a Number and Brandy respectively, in 1994. Monica was introduced to the public in 1995, the youngest of the three, with her debut album Miss Thang.

Producer Dallas Austin was captivated by the vocal ability and stage presence of a 12 year old Monica Denise Arnold, after seeing her perform a rendition of Whitney Houston’s “Greatest Love of All” at a singing contest. She was so talented that Dallas Austin offered her a record deal on his own label Rowdy Records (an imprint on Arista Records, her idol Whitney’s home). Austin became her mentor and the executive producer of Miss Thang.

Miss Thang was designed to showcase Monica’s personality and voice, which was very mature for her age, but also to give her street cred and a youthful, energetic vibe. Unlike Brandy and Aaliyah’s albums, Miss Thang has a more accentuated Hip-Hop flavour that has always set her apart from her peers.

MISS THANG = MISS HIT-SINGLES

The first single released was the peppy and sparse “Don’t Take It Personal (Just One of Dem Days),” which became acclaimed and quickly topped the R&B chart. The two samples used for the track are part of its great appeal. The song is, in fact, built on samples of “Bring the Noise” by Public Enemy and “Backseat of My Jeep” by LL Cool J, both of which are Hip-Hop classics.

“Before You Walk out of My Life” followed the success of the first single by also topping the R&B chart and giving Monica the distinction of being the youngest act to ever have consecutive #1 hits, at age fourteen. The R&B ballad was written by Andrea Martin and originally intended for Toni Braxton’s Secrets album, but it was given to Monica instead.

The third single “Like This and Like That” follows the same template as the lead, with Austin using a sample of The Sugarhill Gang’s “Spoonin’ Rap” to create the backbone of the track. It was released as a double A-side with “Before You Walk out of My Life” but received its own music video for promotion.

The final single was another ballad, written and produced by Babyface collaborator Daryl Simmons, who had worked on Toni Braxton’s debut album. “Why I Love You So Much” features the signture Babyface sound, but with a more prominent drumbeat and a passionate and emotive vocal from Monica, who sings it with such passion and confidence to make you forget her age. Whitney Houston’s influence is very audible in her singing, the powerful belting and the inflections.

THE STORY OF MISS THANG

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the album, Monica teased the release of a documentary commemorating her entrance into the industry, entitled “The Story of Miss Thang.”

In the end, Miss Thang was a huge success. All four singles it yielded landed in the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, and two grabbed the pole position of the Billboard R&B chart. Those hits weren’t flash in the pans, either. Monica’s debut hits continue to endure to this day as R&B classics, and opened the door for many more hits to come. Miss Thang certainly lived up to her name.

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In October, Columbia Records released “One Sweet Day” as the second single from the album. The song is a collaboration between Mariah and the R&B group Boyz II Men, who had achieved a lot of success and collected hits in the early 90s with sweeping ballads such as “End of the Road” and “I’ll Make Love to You.”

Mariah had an idea in mind for the song, which she discussed with her writing and producing partner Walter Afanasieff, and the theme was the pain for the death of a loved one. When she first decided to arrange a meeting with the group, she had already completed the first verse and the chorus and when she played them what she had, Nathan Morris was very surprised. Boyz II Men had recently lost their road manager and Nathan had started writing a song that fit perfectly, both lyrically and melodically, with what Mariah and Walter Afanasieff had begun to write. “One Sweet Day” basically was born by merging the two songs together, it was almost as if the collaboration was just meant to be.

Its universal theme and the uplifting message resonated with the public and made the song the biggest hit of Mariah’s career. Not only did the song debut at #1 upon its commercial release in November, but it remained at the top of the Hot 100 for 16 consecutive weeks, from December 2, 1995 to March 16, 1996. A record that many songs have come close to almost match but not break, as recently as this year. “One Sweet Day” topped the Pop, Adult Top 40 and Adult Contemporary charts and the CD Single was certified 2x Platinum for sales of over 2 million copies. In 2000 Billboard declared it the Song of the Decade (a feat Mariah would achieve once again 10 years later), while Mariah herself was crowned as the Artist of the Decade.

The music video documents the recording process of the song. Mariah has explained that they decided to film it while recording because they were afraid of conflicting schedules that wouldn’t have allowed them to get together for the video shoot.

That is, in fact, one of the reasons why they haven’t performed the song together more often since its release. They first sang it at Mariah Carey’s Madison Square Garden concert in October 1995, which was broadcasted on TV. “One Sweet Day” was also the powerful opening performance at the 1996 Grammy Awards, where it was nominated for Record of the Year and Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals (among the 6 nominations Mariah received that year).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brrDOl3Uew0

Later performances have been at the BET Christmas Special in 2001 and a surprise appearence during the final American stop of Carey’s The Adventures of Mimi Tour in 2006 at Anaheim, which was filmed and later released on DVD. In general, both Mariah and Boyz II Men avoid performing the song on their respective tours, despite being their biggest hit single, which has probably contributed to the song’s decrease in popularity with the public over the years. However, the song continues to be recognised in singing competitions such as American Idol and X-Factor, where it has been performed by the constestants on specific themed weeks.

Mariah’s fans usually feel attached to “One Sweet Day” because of its lyrics or because of nostalgic sentiments, both for personal experiences of loss or simply as a celebration of what the song has meant for Mariah Carey’s career. Many tend to prefer the two versions that were included in the CD Single: the acapella version or the Chucky’s remix, which feature different vocal arrangements and smooth out the production of the original, giving it a sweeter vibe instead of the epic/full sound of the album version.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSTLAswlWGM

While it would have been nice for it to have gotten more critical recognition, if only for what this superstar collaboration meant in the musical landscape of the 1990s, “One Sweet Day” will always be remembered for having made history with its commercial achievements and for that it is worthy of being celebrated in this important moment of Mariah Carey’s incredible career.

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By September of that year, Mariah was divorcing from Tommy Mottola, the head of Sony Music, who had signed her to the label. Mariah and Tommy married in 1993. All of this was affecting Mariah as an artist as well, pushing her to seek creative freedom as well as personal freedom. That’s why Butterfly is considered an artistic turning point. Mariah Carey was no longer considered a “Pop Princess,” her new music did not reflect that image anymore; instead, the album featured more R&B and Urban sounds. Butterfly is not where it all started, though. It was more so the culmination of an ongoing process, that had been made all the more obvious.

In hindsight, Mariah’s very first single, “Vision of Love,” was a #1 hit on the Pop and R&B charts, and her second album Emotions had a lot of influences from 70s R&B music. However, because she was marketed as a mainstream artist and having crossover success, it went to the back of people’s minds. All listeners noticed were the catchy hooks, gorgeous melodies and relatable lyrics that pretty much made her music genre-less.

By 1995, with the release of the blockbuster Daydream album, Mariah began to make bigger statements about her love for R&B and Hip-Hop. That’s when the classic “Fantasy” remix with O.D.B. burst onto the scene and helped change the face of mainstream music in the mid to late 90s, encouraging the trend to include rap verses on Pop songs, and initiating a tradition of high profile Rap/Sung collaborations in the early 2000s.

But that is only the most apparent example, because Daydream is actually a smooth blend between the Pop and R&B sensibilities of Mariah Carey.

“Always Be My Baby,” which is at this point a classic, was co-written and co-produced by Jermaine Dupri, who had produced hits for the R&B girl group Xscape and the Rap duo Kriss Kross at the time (and would go on to become longtime collaborator of Mariah’s). When the song was released as a single, a smoking hot remix with Xscape and Da Brat, sampling “Tell Me If You Still Care” by the S.O.S Band, was sent out to Urban stations helping it reach #1 on the R&B charts. The CD single also contained the B-side “Slipping Away,” produced by Dave Hall, which is among Mariah’s best songs and was probably excluded from the album’s tracklisting for its Urban-leaning sound.

The planned, but scrapped, 5th single off the album “Underneath The Stars” is a midtempo R&B slow jam reminiscent of Minnie Ripperton in its original version, but was remixed by The Trackmasters for the single release. The remix is equipped with a harder drumbeat, a more prominent bass-line and a sultry, layered re-sung vocal from Mariah. Additionally, “Melt Away,” a collaboration with the iconic Babyface, is often cited by fans as one of Mariah’s best songs for its sultry and classic R&B sound.

The truth is, a number of the songs on Daydream helped shape the core of the Butterfly album, serving almost as an “hors d’oeuvre” she would later make her main dish: “Underneath The Stars” could be considered the older sister to “Fourth of July,” as both contain vividly descriptive lyrics and gently layered vocals; Puff Daddy went from remixing Mariah’s hit single to actually producing the main version of her next lead single, “Honey”; similarly, The Trackmasters were upgraded to producers on her album, having their hands in “The Roof,” which is still one of Mariah’s most lauded songs. Daydream also ended with “Looking In” giving us a personal reflection on how Mariah felt the public perceived her as a celebrity versus how she felt as a regular person with good and bad sides. “Looking In” marked the first time Mariah gave a glimpse of her inner thoughts through her music, and probably is what encouraged her to write more personal lyrics on the Butterfly album.

Having considered the amount of Urban influences in Mariah’s work before 1997, all the fuss that was made about the shift in her music at the time, was without reason. It was not a moment of foolishness, nor an epiphany that made her decide to abandon what had made her a superstar, but rather it was a gradual and organic transition that didn’t burn the bridges with her past work, but actually blended it all together in a glorious catalog that’s still worthy of all the praise it receives.

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