Butterfly (album)

Butterfly is a 1997 album by Mariah Carey released on Columbia.

Related Topics:
1997 - Mariah Carey - Columbia

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It was her first album after her marriage to Tommy Mottola of Sony ended. The title refers to emerging from a restricting coccoon.

Related Topics:
Tommy Mottola - Coccoon

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Butterfly is widely considered to be the best album of Mariah's career thanks to the peak of artistic creativity that the singer reached through the record, also backed up by ingenious producers such as The Trackmasters, Puff Daddy and Stevie J.. Additionally, Mariah's production techniques are more sophisticated than ever before, while the album's melancholic and mellow underground is expanded by her lyrics, which were indeed more personal and meaningful than ever before. "Butterfly" is admittedly one of Mariah's most imposing ballads ever, partly due to the gospel choir, while her emotional performance is apportioned respectively to the feeling that gradually unfolds during the song. On the other hand, "Close my eyes" and "Outside" evoke Mariah's troubled childhood, through which she gives two of her best and most dramatic performances ever.

Related Topics:
Puff Daddy - Gospel - Choir

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Moreover, Butterfly made such an impressive crossover provided that it was Mariah's most explicit R&B album up to that point, even its ballads being urban oriented, while for the first time she restrained her voice so much, also subtly using her whispering register. Rolling Stone described Butterfly as "a transitional album" for Mariah, who placed herself firmly in the "milieu of hip-hop inflected R&B", whereas Billboard identified it with " a milestone record for one of the most successful and visible artist of the nineties".

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Butterfly still remains Mariah's most multifarious work and it exercized a crucial influence not only on the singer's career but also on the progression of R&B music of the nineties.

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