Butterfly (Mariah Carey's song)

“Butterfly” is a personal ballad inspired by the singer’s life in recent years (including the divorce from Tommy Mottola on May 30, 1997) and combines several styles of music, including pop , R&B , gospel ^[3] . In his review of the album, journalist David Brown from Entertainment Weekly commented on the lyrics as a piece of colorful pop gospel ^[4] . During the recording period, Butterfly broke the singer’s marriage with her husband Tommy Mottola , a major businessman in the recording field with whom they were married since June 5, 1993, which affected the theme of the song ^[2] . The song received positive reviews from music critics and online publications: Billboard ^[5] , Slant ^[6] .

The song “Butterfly” was the second single released from Butterfly and had moderate success on the charts. In the USA, the single didn’t even enter the main American hit chart of the Hot 100 of Billboard magazine, it wasn’t published by a commercial release ^{[2] [7]} . However, thanks to live concert performance and popularity, he got into such charts as Hot 100 Airplay (reaching position No. 16), Adult Contemporary (No. 11), Dance Club Songs (No. 13). In Canada, the song debuted on the RPM Singles Chart at 57th place on the RPM chart , published on November 3, 1997 ^[8] and reached 22nd place on December 1, 1997 ^[9] , and remained in it for a total of 14 weeks ^{[10] ]} .

The success of the song in Europe was limited due to a non-commercial release. In the UK, the single only reached No. 22 a week, starting December 13, 1997 ^[11] . “Butterfly” remained on the UK chart for 6 weeks, dropping out of it on January 17, 1998 ^[11] . In France and Holland, the song reached positions No. 43 and No. 52, respectively ^[12] . In Australia, Butterfly entered the top-40, reaching No. 27 and remaining on the chart for a total of 10 weeks ^[12] . Butterfly was No. 15 in New Zealand, having spent 7 weeks on the chart there ^[12] . In 1998, Butterfly was nominated for the 1998 Grammy Award in the Best Female Pop Vocal Performance category , losing to Sarah McLachlan with the song “ Building a Mystery ” ^[2] .

The music video was co-directed by Mariah Carey and director Daniel Perle , who is known for his involvement (as a cameraman) in making the Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Friday the 13th films. The video, like the song, is filled with images and metaphors of everything that happened then in the singer’s life at that time, including deterioration of relations with her husband and divorce ^[3] .

Carey performed the song “Butterfly” on numerous American and European television show programs. In the United States, Carey introduced the song for the first time during its introduction to the “ Later Show with David Letterman ” program. Carey was dressed in a medium-length black dress, and was accompanied by several backing vocalists, Walter Afanasyev on the piano and Randy Jackson playing bass ^{[13] [14]} . On September 17, Carey performed a song on Saturday Night Live , along with a performance of “ My All ” ^[13] . On November 12, Carey sang “Butterfly” on the Oprah Winfrey Show program along with her previous hit “ Hero ”. This time, Carey was wearing a short blue skirt, accompanied by a group of gospel backing artists. In Europe, Carey performed a song on the popular German game show Wetten, dass ..? accompanied by three backing vocalists ^[13] .

The song was also performed during the concert tours Butterfly World Tour (1998) ^[15] and Angels Advocate Tour .

American Promotional CDS ^{[16] [17]}

1. "Butterfly"
2. “Fly Away (Butterfly Reprise)”

• Nickson, Chris. Mariah Carey revisited: her story. - St. Martin's Press, 1998 .-- ISBN 978-0-312-19512-0 .

• Mariah Carey - Butterfly (Official Clip)
• Mariah Carey - Butterfly (Live on Letterman 1997)