In the meantime, we’ll be doing a contest, giving away one copy of Butterfly to a random winner. We imagine that if you’re voting in the contest, you own the album, and encourage you to win a copy to give to someone who has never heard Butterfly before. It makes a great gift! Fill out the form below to enter. Unfortunately, we can only ship within the United States, but please feel free to vote, still. The deadline for the contest is Wednesday, September 23rd, 2015.

1. “Butterfly,” the song, and the album overall:
   Butterfly, Fly Away: Mariah Carey’s first emancipation
2. The debut of “Honey”:
   Breaking Out of the Cocoon: A look back at the debut of Mariah Carey’s “Honey”
3. The “Honey” remixes:
   The Many Forms of Metamorphosis: A review of Mariah Carey’s “Honey” remixes
4. The “Honey” and “Butterfly” videos:
   Emancipating Visuals: Mariah breaks free with “Butterfly” and “Honey”
5. “Breakdown,” “Close My Eyes,” and “Outside”:
   The Butterfly Effect: Mariah discovers The Art of Letting Go
6. “The Roof,” “My All,” and “Fourth of July”:
   Reliving the Splendor: Mariah’s nostalgic storytelling on Butterfly
7. The “My All” and “The Roof” videos:
   Liberating Venus: Mariah’s sensuality awakens with “My All” and “The Roof”
8. “My All,” as a #1:
   “I’m thinking of”… Mariah Carey’s 13th #1: “My All”
9. “Babydoll,” “Whenever You Call” and “The Beautiful Ones”:
   I Wanna Be Your Babydoll: The longings of a Butterfly

The post Today, celebrate the 18th Anniversary of Mariah Carey’s ‘Butterfly’ album! appeared first on THE 97.

Okay, well maybe she doesn’t have an infinite amount – but she has 18, more than any other solo artist. As we mentioned last week, we’ll be doing a lot this year to celebrate Mariah Carey’s 25th anniversary in the music business. To coincide with our retrospective write ups of each of Mariah’s #1’s, we would like to solicit the opinions of YOU, the fans, to put together a definitive, fan-voted ranking of her #1 singles.

Each submission will also enter you into our contest to win a copy of the Mariah Carey #1 to Infinity vinyl, released in August. Additional runner-ups will win a digital download of Mariah’s new single, “Infinity,” when it becomes available on iTunes.

Please submit your ranking via the form below. Select your choice for each position in the ranking, from 1 through 18, #1 being your favorite, #18 being your least. Please also respond and tell us why your #1 choice is your favorite, and which other single you feel deserved to be #1 most. We may use some of your quotes in future posts, with credit, of course!

To be entered into our contest and help us announce our ranking in a timely fashion, please submit your responses no later than April 30, 2015. The decided ranking will dictate the order in which we will post our retrospectives on each #1, from #18 to #1. (However, our “Vision of Love” retrospective will still be posted first in honor of its 25th anniversary).

The post A Definitive Ranking of Mariah’s Infinite #1’s appeared first on THE 97.

Now, without further adieu, Songs About Divorce, Week 4:

“Son of a Gun” by Janet Jackson samples Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain,” and what is interesting about both songs is that they were released following both singers’ divorces. Janet’s, however, was a special case: no one knew she was married until she was divorced. However, like Carly, Janet denies that the song is specifically about her ex-husband, as did Carly with “You’re So Vain.” However, essentially that is the entire point of the song, isn’t it? “I betcha think this song is about you… don’t you?” Without a doubt, the sassiest track on Songs About Divorce, “Son of a Gun” is full of biting lines from Janet directed at her ex. Such lines include, “I’d rather keep the trash and throw you out.” There’s no holding back on this track. Sometimes, the pain of divorce can morph into anger… and “Son of a Gun” is proof of that. While, again, Janet says the song isn’t specifically about “him,” I don’t doubt he was one of the inspirations. For a song undoubtedly about her divorce, check out “Truth” from the same album, All For You, which was featured in the Journey to Freedom playlist, Week 2, on the topic of honesty. “Truth” is probably a more apt choice for this list, but for the sake of not having a repeat, “Son of a Gun” was chosen.

Lindsay very courageously shares this point of view via “Confessions,” asking her father heartbreaking questions such as, “why’d you have to go?” and “did you ever love me?”. She laments on how she misses him, wears his old clothing, and expresses how she wished he would’ve been part of her life, admitting “I don’t know you, but I still want to.” It’s accompanying video, which she directed, is equally moving as well.

In the video, she also addresses how hard it is to deal these issues in the public eye. The video’s premise is a recreation of some of her family’s darkest moments, but it takes place in a store window as people walk by… looking in and judging her family. Take a look below.

“He Say, She Say” by Lupe Fiasco is another song from a child’s point of view, but also the mother’s. However, on this track Lupe utilizes different and interesting approach. He raps the same monologue twice: first, from the point of view of the mother, and, second, from the point of view of her son. The song does not come from personal experience, rather Lupe acts as an omniscient narrator. The lyrics detail how the child has been affected by his father’s absence and why the boy needs his father. It’s far more effective to simply take a listen to this track, as its pretty straight forward lyrically.

“Breakdown” by J. Cole is one of the highlights from his Roc Nation debut album, Cole World: The Sideline Story, for it’s emotional and introspective lyrics. Not only is the song personal for Cole as it’s about his family, but he also provides some commentary on the state hip-hop in the context of the song. The first hint of this is in the opening line in which he admits to shedding tears about his dad and not being “too proud to admit it.” Clearly he felt the need to note this because crying isn’t exactly a “cool thing to do” for hip-hop artists, especially men.

The remainder of the first verse is about his relationship with his estranged father: “I feel like you barely know me, and that’s a shame cause our last names are the same, the blood type flowing through our veins is the same.” Cole also talks about how he feels it was selfish his father to abandon him and, while he is hurt by this, admits he still feels inherent need to have a father in his life. It’s a poignant and touching moment that allows the listener to really connect with how he feels about the situation. He ends the verse with these words: “Maybe I should be telling you cause you selfish, but I want a father so bad I can’t help but breakdown.”

In the second verse, J. Cole talks about his mother and her unfortunate struggle with drug abuse. He expresses his anger with the hip-hop community for glorifying drug dealing and related situations in their lyrics because he has witnessed the horrible side of that: his mother’s crack addiction. “You made a milli off of serving hard white? Yeah right, my mama tell you what addicted to that pipe feels like,” he raps to his comrades. His lyrics shine an important light on the cruel side of drug abuse that most rappers don’t tend to address in their music. However, J. Cole was able to witness the consequences of drug abuse first hand. Hopefully, by having rappers bring this issue into their lyrics, more people should understand the impacts of drug abuse. If anyone reading this does have a drug addiction, it might be a good idea to visit a rehabilitation center, like West Coast Recovery Centers (find more information here). Rehabilitation centers can help people overcome their addiction, ensuring that no one has to suffer like J. Cole did as he watched his mother struggle. Generally, there are two types of rehabilitation centers; inpatient and outpatient, although many places offer both. If you are looking for outpatient rehab then you might want to visit the Enterhealth website, as this should provide the information you need. In addition to him discussing drug abuse, he also moves on to talk about police violence against African Americans even before high profile cases like Treyvon Martin and Mike Brown, which he addressed in the song “Be Free” last month. In the third verse, he speaks about a friend of his who is serving jail time. In one song, Cole tackles more issues than most other more popular rappers have in their entire career.

Below is the entire playlist, with the exceptions of Beyoncé’s “Mine” and Lindsay Lohan’s “Confessions of a Broken Heart” which are not available on Spotify. The order of the tracks has been rearranged for thematic purposes and if you listen closely, you’ll find that it flows quite nicely. Place Beyoncé at the beginning and Lindsay after Kelly Clarkson to complete the playlist!

The post Songs About Divorce, Week 4 appeared first on THE 97.