Raiff Celebrates Mariah's 20 Years In Music: 1999
Posted by Raiff on Monday, 24-May-2010, 12:01PM EDT
Just four months after its release, #1's was a huge success, selling more than 11 million copies worldwide. In Japan, the collection became the best-selling album by an international act, moving 3.6 million copies. This pushed her total album sales to over 100 million worldwide.
"I Still Believe" was the next and final single release from #1's. The music video was filmed at Edwards Air Force Base in California, featuring Mariah singing for the troops. A second music video was issued for an R&B remix, entitled "I Still Believe/Pure Imagination," which featured Krayzie Bone & Da Brat on vocals. Additional remixes were commissioned by Stevie J (featuring rappers Mocha and Amil) and David Morales. Strong single sales resulted in another top 5 hit for Mariah on the Billboard Hot 100, as well as the song being certified a platinum (1,000,000 copies) selling single.
In March, Mariah made her first ever appearance on the Academy Awards, where she performed "When You Believe" with Whitney Houston. Stephen Schwartz took home the award for Original Song for composing "When You Believe."
In June, Mariah took the time to appear at two special charity concerts. Michael Jackson and Friends, which took place in Soeul, South Korea, benefitted the Red Cross, UNESCO and the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund. Mariah performed "I Still Believe" and "Hero." Later on in the month, she travelled to Italy to take part in Pavarotti & Friends, which raised funds for the children of Guatemala and Kosovo. In one of the highlights of the show, Mariah sang "Hero" with Luciano Pavarotti.
As the #1's album era started to fade, Mariah had had her sights set on her next project, one she had been talking about for a while: A movie entitled All That Glitters, set to be about an aspiring singer, which was currently in the writing stages. Mariah had begun writing songs for the film's soundtrack. When she received word that production of the movie would be set back, she was in the middle of the creative process of writing songs and she decided not to let it go to waste. One of those songs was "Heartbreaker," and in July of 1999, it was released to radio. It was a fun pop song in the vein of "Fantasy" and "Honey," and featured rap by Jay-Z. With her sights still set on her feature film debut, Mariah decided to incorporate a bit of acting into the song's music video. She created an alter ego named "Bianca," a black-haired, cursing "Bad Mariah" who was after the "Good Mariah's" boyfriend, portrayed in the video by actor Jerry O'Connell. The video was directed by Brett Ratner, who had previously directed Mariah in "I Still Believe."
"Heartbreaker" was the first single off of Mariah's next album, Rainbow, which she is said to have recorded in only nine weeks, considerably shorter than the time she took to create any of her previous albums. Many speculated that this was due to the fact that Mariah was growing increasingly unhappy at Sony Music, which was still headed by her ex-husband, and was eager to fulfill her contract and move on. The single for "Heartbreaker" featured remixes by DJ Clue and reknowned DJ Junior Vazquez, with whom Mariah created an epic dance mix called "Heartbreaker/If You Should Ever Be Lonely." The single gave Mariah the biggest first-week single sales of her career and quickly shot to #1. With this, Mariah became the first and only artist in the rock-and-roll era to have a #1 single in every year of a decade. With "Heartbreaker," her 14th #1 single, Mariah surpassed Michael Jackson's 13 chart-toppers and to claim third-place among all artists with the most number ones. Only the Beatles (20) and Elvis Presley (17) had more than her at this point.
In November, Rainbow was released worldwide. Though the recording of the album had been rushed, this was the biggest gap between the impact of the first single (July) and the actual album release. Like its first single, Rainbow had the biggest first-week sales so far for Mariah, selling almost 100,000 copies more than Butterfly did in its first week in the U.S. Unlike Butterfly, however, Rainbow debuted and peaked at #2. Worldwide, the album was equally successful, moving 7 million copies worldwide in just nine weeks.
Rainbow continued the trend Mariah had begun on Daydream and Butterfly of incorporating more of her R&B and hip-hop influence into her music. The album featured an impressive guest list: Da Brat and Missy Elliot on the DJ Clue mix of "Heartbreaker," Jay-Z, Mystikal on "Did I Do That," NAS on an urban remix of "Thank God I Found You," Snoop Dogg on "Crybaby" and Usher, her duet partner on "How Much."
In an interview with Newsweek, Mariah noted that her critics "don't understand that I'm someone who grew up with this music. It's exciting for me to be able to work with Jay-Z or NAS or Missy Elliott."
On the other side of the spectrum, Rainbow featured some brilliant balladry. Standout tracks included Mariah's cover of Phil Collins' 1984 hit "Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now)" and "Petals," a personal song about an imperfect family, co-produced by Jimmy "Jam" Harris and Terry Lewis, who were known for their previous work with Janet Jackson. Noticeably absent from this album was a man who had worked with Mariah on every other record so far: Her former writing partner Walter Afanassief. In the time since Butterfly, the two had had a falling out. While it was not publicly disclosed exactly what happened, it is rumored that Walter was caught in the middle of Mariah and Tommy Mottola after their divorce; and that Tommy had ultimately won, securing Walter to write and produce with other artists on Sony instead of Mariah. In a 1997 interview with MTV, Mariah told Tabitha Soren that there had been a little bit of tension between the two during the recording of Butterfly. "We did have a fight," Mariah said. "But that was a personal thing about something I'd rather not get into. But it's not what everybody thinks it's about, like when you tell your friend a secret and they blab it to the world." Addressing rumors that she had fired Walter, she stated "I can't fire him. We just collaborate together. People are like, 'Oh, she fired her producer!'" Whatever the case may have been, Mariah and Walter would never work together again.
As Mariah noted to Newsweek, this was her first album that did not end with a sad song. The final song on the album was "Thank God I Found You," a duet with R&B singer Joe and pop group 98 Degrees. In the liner notes to Rainbow, Mariah essentially dedicated the song to a very special new man in her life: Latin singer Luis Miguel. ("Louie M: Gracias a Dios que te encontre!") The couple had met in December 1998 in Aspen, Colorado, a place where Mariah has come to be known for spending her holiday season. It is said that Mariah's agent had a friend who had rented a house to Luis in Aspen, and proceeded to set them up. The two ended up falling in love, but waited a bit before announcing their relationship. "Yes, I am in love," Mariah explained to Caras magazine. "I don't want to give details about my private life. I'm living in a very nice period after having really bad and stormy years." Eventually, she would reveal to Gente magazine that "Since Luis Miguel came into my life, I am a much more happy person."
In fact, the two lovebirds had recorded a duet for Rainbow, but it was never released because their voices were not musically compatible. David Foster, the hitmaker behind Celine Dion and Whitney Houston, collaborated with Mariah on a track called "After Tonight." As David recalls, "The song was written just for Mariah. I had Luis and Mariah record it several times, but it never sounded right. So she ended up doing it by herself." While the solo version of "After Tonight" made the final cut of the album, a second ballad that Mariah and David produced did not: "There For Me," which would end up being released as a b-side on a CD single in 2001.
In December, Mariah's next concert special aired on the FOX network. This time, she would not play to a sold-out crowd at Madison Square Garden, but rather to a maximum-allowed-by-law crowd at her high school gymnasium. For Mariah Carey's Homecoming Special, she returned to her former junior high school in Greenlawn, New York. In attendance were students of the school and children from Camp Mariah. Mariah said that she was inspired to return to the school after an outbreak of violence at schools over the past year, including the April shooting at Columbine High School. "I have such vivid memories of junior high and high school and how hard it is just to exist from day to day," Mariah wrote. "But I feel it's important to relay the message that anything is possible if you find an inner peace which allows you to overcome any obstacle." Performances included "Can't Take That Away" and show-closer "Hero." Unlike Mariah's previous network television specials, this one did not see a commercial release on home video.
Another television highlight for Mariah in 1999 was her December appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show. Though she had appeared on the show three times before, this time she brought a special guest: her mom, Patricia Carey. After opening the show with Da Brat and Missy Elliot on the "Heartbreaker Remix," Mariah had an emotional discussion with her mother and Oprah about growing up bi-racial. The interview was followed by a show-stopping performance of "Can't Take That Away (Mariah's Theme)."
Mariah was again on top of the world as the year, and for that matter the millenium, came to a close. It was time for her to receive a very special honor: The Billboard Award for Artist of the Decade. Mariah was presented her award by none other than her "fairy godmother" Patti LaBelle, who nicely summed up Mariah's achievements:
| "Billboard's artist of the decade holds the record for most weeks one single has ever held the number one spot. Here's another clue: except for Elvis and the Beatles, this artist has more #1 hits than any other artist in history. This truly international artist who transcends all categories wrote their first single at age 4, their first platinum album at age 18 and has gone platinum in 33 countries! And according to Hanes, has the best legs in the business! |
In one of her more memorable acceptance speeches, Mariah had this to say:
| "This is all very surreal to me because it seems honestly, it seems like not so long ago that I was a kid in high school with a demo tape and a lot of determination and just really the desire to hear my songs on the radio... I put all of myself into my music so as a writer and as a producer - I thank you. And I'm so grateful to God to have overcome so many obstacles, as a multiracial person with a very dysfunctional history, until recently. I am not Cinderella, my life has not been a fairy tale. Forget the image, forget the ensembles, forget the rumors, forget the short skirts, big hair, whatever! I owe this to the fans, and I will never forget you... As an artist, and most importantly as a person, I am genuinely happy, and finally, finally free, to be who I really am. Thank you!" |
MARIAH QUOTES
| "I was in some magazine's 'Worst Dressed Person' list this year, but the people in the 'Best' list were all demure or waif-like. Well, I'm sorry, I won't be walking that look this year! They can shove the list where the sun don't shine." FHM [On actress Cameron Diaz] "Actually, I ran into her in a restaurant - it was an interesting conversation. People think that I'm this little girl next door and they can say stuff about me and I'll never check them if they run into me. Wrong, I saw her at this restaurant in New York; a place that I feel is really my domain. One night, she's there. I'd probably had too much wine and decided I should seize the opportunity to straighten a few things out. It was quite a scene." FHM "I'd like people to focus on my writing and singing. But once you become a public person, there's a certain level of fascination about your personal life." JET "This (Rainbow) is the first album that I've done that doesn't have a sad song at the end of it. So maybe that's a hopeful sign." Newsweek "I don't think anyone knows as much about what's right for me as I do. I've written 99 percent of everything I've ever sung. I know what my audience wants. In this world, I call the shots, and I think I know best." Glamour The nature of my life, the nature of what I do, is divadom, it really is. But, you know, the way people are using the word these days, anybody who has one record is suddenly a diva. I mean, give me a break. You have to earn that title." Glamour "When you're involved in a situation where you're really young and you're surrounded by stronger, older, powerful people who are in cahoots with each other, you think you're pretty powerless - but you're not! Until someone comes along and tells you that you're not powerless, you don't get it unless you're than precocious and you already know. It's not that I didn't know what I was contributing it was just that I felt afraid, scared and insecure and frightened on a lot of levels and no one really empowered me." Blues & Soul "This is what pisses me off about the whole public-perception thing: It takes five years to create an image and, probably, five years to change, even slightly. First of all, it was instituted by the powers that be: the young girl with the curly hair at the microphone, belting out a love song. My image was supposed to be a non-image. That's why I was in a field wearing a flannel shirt with cutoffs and sneakers--girls could relate to that. And yes, that was a part of my life, but ever since I've been twelve years old, it was just in me to want to be someone who could change their look and be glamorous." Mirabella COLLEAGUES' QUOTES Diane Warren, Songwriter: "She works really hard. No matter what she's done, there's a hunger there. She doesn't have to prove herself, but she feels like she does." ("After Tonight," "Can't Take That Away," "There For Me") Jimmy "Jam" Harris, Producer: "She's totally underrated because you see her on TV and she looks good. She sounds good. But she's got chops in the studio. She does the tedious, painstaking producing work." "From a personal stand point, Mariah's kindness stood out the most. She's a very caring person. We know from listening to her records how talented she is, but we didn't really know how talented she really is until we work with her in the studio. After working with Mariah, I can say, she's part of our family now. She's workaholic and definitely the mother of her career." Missy Elliot, Singer/Songwriter: "I remember when my manager told me that Mariah wanted me to be on the 'Heartbreaker' Remix with her and asked me if I wanted to. I thought I was about to faint or something. I was like Mariah Carey; a legendary artist wants me to rap on her track? I was going through so many emotions all at once. I mean I was shocked she wanted ME on her record, thrilled that she did so and asked if I would, and honored and ecstatic that she liked my music and work enough to even ask me." Anastacia, Singer: "Just after her individual performance, I met Mariah. She actually came up to me, it was so weird. I had no idea that she even knew I existed. She came and told me that she loves my voice and she loved my 'Not That Kind' album. I freaked out, haha! I couldn't believe how nice she was, I never expected it from all the rumours I hear. But she's extremely kind and down-to-earth and you know what? We chatted for a while and she told me to sing at the front with her at the end when we performed 'What More Can I Give.' It was an honour." Brett Ratner, Director: "She's a trouper to say the least. But she's like a kid too. That's what so crazy, because when you're with Mariah, it's like Mariah's reality. It's like 'Jump and go for a ride.' And look, she's really, really smart. She does everything: she writes, she produces. People think she writes those songs just to sell records, but those songs come right from her heart." |
TV APPEARANCES
"I Still Believe" Music Video: Original | Damizza Remix
Academy Awards, 1999: Red Carpet | "When You Believe" w/ Whitney
"I Still Believe" & "Hero" - Michael Jackson & Friends, Korea 1999
Pavarotti & Friends, Italy 1999: "My All" | "Hero"
"Heartbreaker" Behind-The-Scenes - MTV 1515
"Heartbreaker" Music Video: The Making Of | Music Video
"Heartbreaker" Remix at Late Lick Live, 1999
Interview with Jamie Theakston - O Zone, 1999
"Do You Know Where You're Going To" - TOTP UK, 1999
"Crybaby" ft. Snoop Dogg Music Video
"Against All Odds" Performances, 1999:
The View | VH1 | Tapis Rouge | Les Annees Tubes
"Heartbreaker," "Hero," "TGIFY" and "Can't Take That Away"
on Fuji TV Music Fair Special, 1999
"Thank God I Found You/Make It Last" Music Video
Mariah Presents at Essence Awards 1999
Interview - Regis & Kathie Lee, 1999
Rosie O'Donnel Show, 1999: "I Still Believe" | Interview
FOX Homecoming Special:
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8
Wins "Artist of the Decade" - Billboard Music Awards, 1999
Backstage | Acceptance Speech
Oprah Winfrey - Appears w/ Mom, "Heartbreaker" and "Can't Take That Away":
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8
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