Daydream (Mariah Carey album)

Daydream is the fifth studio album by American singer-songwriter Mariah Carey. It was released on September 26, 1995, by Columbia Records. The follow-up to her internationally successful studio album Music Box (1993) and the holiday release Merry Christmas (1994), Daydream differed from her earlier works by featuring stronger elements of urban music.

Carey composed Daydream with producers and songwriters such as Walter Afanasieff, Dave Hall, Boyz II Men, Jermaine Dupri, Manuel Seal, and Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds. The album helped the singer make a subtle transition into the contemporary R&B market after previously pursuing only pop, adult contemporary, and traditional rhythm and blues. The album marked the beginning of her musical and vocal transition towards hip-hop, a change that would become more evident on her sixth studio album, Butterfly (1997). During its production, she endured numerous creative conflicts with her label and her then-husband, Tommy Mottola. Daydreams songs explore fantasy, isolation, and romantic vulnerability.

Carey promoted the album with the Daydream World Tour (1996) and five singles, three of which reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100: "Fantasy", "One Sweet Day", and "Always Be My Baby". "Fantasy" became the first song by a woman to debut atop the chart, while "One Sweet Day" spent sixteen weeks at the top, making it the longest-running number-one single in Billboard Hot 100 history, a record it held for twenty-three years. Daydream topped the charts of ten countries, including Australia, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In the lattermost country, it spent six weeks atop the Billboard 200 and has been certified 11× platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.

On release, Daydream received widespread critical acclaim, particularly for its production, sonic quality, and Carey's musical progression; many reviewers regarded it as her best album at the time. At the 38th Annual Grammy Awards, the album and its songs received six nominations, including Album of the Year. Retrospectively, Daydream has been acclaimed as one of Carey's best albums; critics have deemed it a transitional work that represented the singer's shift toward R&B and hip-hop, while also influencing subsequent pop and cross-genre collaborations. It is one of the best-selling albums of all time, with over 20million copies sold worldwide.

Background

American singer-songwriter Mariah Carey released her third studio album, Music Box, in August 1993. It is primarily a pop and contemporary R&B album consisting mostly of ballads. It spawned the chart-topping singles "Dreamlover", "Hero", and "Without You", and eventually became her best-selling album, with over 28million copies sold worldwide. Despite commercial success, Music Box saw less positive reviews, with critics finding it lacking in emotional depth and substance.

With Music Box, Carey had begun scaling back the heavier gospel and soul influences of her earlier albums Mariah Carey (1990) and Emotions (1991), a shift journalist Chris Nickson attributed to her desire to evolve gradually as an artist. She released her fourth studio album and first holiday album, Merry Christmas, in October 1994. It was globally successful, selling 18million copies worldwide and yielding the Christmas standard "All I Want for Christmas Is You". By the time Merry Christmas was released, Carey told Billboard that she had already written seven songs for her forthcoming fifth studio album.

Development

Carey began recording Daydream in late 1994; its development process was a major shift in the artistic direction of her career. She sought greater creative control over her work and increasingly pursued the R&B and hip-hop influences she had long admired. She later described the album as her most personal work at the time, explaining that she had become more confident in expressing her own musical instincts after previously being "insecure and cautious" and listening closely to label expectations. While recording the album, Carey worked quickly and intensely, telling Time that she entered "this phase of recording, recording, recording", while focusing more deliberately on what she wanted artistically.

Carey's changing musical direction created conflicts with Columbia Records, which had previously cultivated her image around adult contemporary ballads and mainstream pop. Executives became particularly concerned after Carey enlisted Ol' Dirty Bastard for the remix of "Fantasy", fearing the collaboration was a drastic stylistic shift that could alienate her audience. Carey recalled that label executives were nervous about "breaking the formula" that fueled her commercial success. The inclusion of hip-hop influences throughout the album further strained Carey's marriage to Tommy Mottola, who closely oversaw her career as head of Sony Music. Despite her growing interest in hip-hop and R&B, Mottola preferred that Carey continue recording polished pop ballads. As Carey obtained more authority over the sound and direction of Daydream, her marriage to Mottola continued to deteriorate.

During the recording process, Carey also secretly worked on the alternative rock project Someone's Ugly Daughter by the band Chick. She contributed songwriting, production, vocals, and art direction, although Columbia refused to release the project featuring her lead vocals. Her friend Clarissa Dane was ultimately brought in as the public face of the band, with her vocals layered over Carey’s recordings to obscure her voice. Carey later explained that she enjoyed experimenting with the "breezy-grunge, punk-light" style that was popular during the period, describing the sessions as an alter ego separate from the more polished sound of Daydream.

Writing and recording

Carey co-produced Daydream with Walter Afanasieff, Dave Hall, Jermaine Dupri, Manuel Seal, and David Morales. The first song recorded for the album was "Underneath the Stars", which Carey described as "a good place to start", as it helped orient her toward a more R&B-driven direction and a sound influenced by Minnie Riperton, one of her longstanding inspirations. Nickson observed that, as opposed to Riperton's songs, "Underneath the Stars" makes limited use of her higher vocal register. As Carey began developing material for Daydream, she heard Tom Tom Club's 1981 single "Genius of Love" on the radio—a song she had long admired—and proposed sampling its hook to Hall. Hall created a groove he felt complemented her voice, while Carey contributed to the beat production and wrote the lyrics, which resulted in "Fantasy". She also recorded a remix featuring verses by Ol' Dirty Bastard, with additional production by Sean "Puffy" Combs.

thumb|right|alt=Four men seated behind microphones at a table, likely a music group|[[Boyz II Men in 1995, the same year they collaborated with Carey on "One Sweet Day"]]

Following the death of her friend and former collaborator David Cole, Carey conceived "One Sweet Day" as a tribute to him and to the loved ones her fans had lost; as an admirer of their work, she enlisted R&B group Boyz II Men to collaborate on the song. Carey had already composed the chorus and developed the concept, and after meeting with Boyz II Men, they found they had been working on a similar idea. Using Carey's chorus and concept alongside the melody created by the group, they wrote and composed the song together. The track was produced by Afanasieff, who expanded on the melody and incorporated additional grooves and beats. Carey had been a fan of Dupri since the release of Kris Kross's 1992 single "Jump" and later expressed interest in working with him.

Soon after, Carey, Dupri, and Seal began writing a song for the album. While Seal played piano and Dupri programmed the drums, Carey improvised over the melody until she developed the chorus for "Always Be My Baby". After the rest of the song was completed, she recorded it with background vocals from Kelly and Shanrae Price, and Melonie Daniels. The vocalists created a "wall of background voices" beneath her final belting notes. Daydream marked the beginning of a long-term professional partnership between Carey and Dupri that continued through her fourteenth studio album, Me. I Am Mariah... The Elusive Chanteuse (2014). For the album, Carey covered Journey's 1981 song "Open Arms" at her own suggestion. Working with Afanasieff, she softened the arrangement and gave it a polished feel, especially in contrast to the more heartfelt "One Sweet Day". Backed by the vocals of the Price sisters and Daniels, she also gave the track a gospel-style influence.

"I Am Free", one of the album’s most gospel-influenced tracks, was a collaboration between Carey, Afanasieff, and Loris Holland, all of whom had previously worked together on Merry Christmas. During the creative process, Carey improvised the melody over written lyrics while Holland provided organ accompaniment and Afanasieff handled the programming, resulting in what Nickson described as a "genuine and unforced" sound. While Carey increasingly incorporated R&B influences into Daydream, she continued to honor the style of her earlier work, co-writing the power ballad "When I Saw You" with Afanasieff. She also returned to R&B and hip-hop with "Long Ago", her second collaboration with Dupri and Seal. "Melt Away", which she co-wrote alongside Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, was the only song on Daydream that Carey produced entirely on her own, while "Looking In" was written in roughly fifteen minutes.

Composition

Daydream is primarily a pop and R&B album that incorporates elements of hip-hop, gospel, and adult contemporary. It marked a departure from the image established by her earlier releases, such as Music Box, which sought ballad-driven songs; Daydream instead incorporated stronger urban contemporary influences. While still incorporating ballads—such as "One Sweet Day" and "Open Arms"—reminiscent of her older work, the album adopted a leaner sound that aligned it more closely with contemporary R&B. Pitchfork wrote that the album expanded the boundaries of Carey's sound, blending genres and styles that had previously been treated as separate. It is an upbeat R&B and dance-pop song that features elements of funk, hip-hop, and bubblegum pop. The song is built upon funky basslines, gangsta funk synthesizers, and airy background harmonies, with Carey's lead vocal layered over a soft bed of densely multi-tracked backing vocals. Due to its sample of "Genius of Love", all members of Tom Tom Club—Tina Weymouth, Chris Frantz, Steven Stanley, and Adrian Belew—are credited as songwriters on "Fantasy". It has been described as an R&B ballad and slow jam built around a sturdy chorus that allowed for the singers to make intricate vocal runs and layered harmonies. Lyrically, "One Sweet Day" is about grieving the loss of a loved one and holding onto the hope of reuniting in heaven. "Open Arms", a power ballad, covers Journey's 1982 song and is the only track on Daydream that Carey did not write. She described her version as her own interpretation of the song. Described by critics as both a love song and breakup song, "Always Be My Baby" portrays the lingering attachment Carey feels toward a former lover, while confidently asserting that their reunion is inevitable. It is a midtempo ballad

Daydreams sixth track, "I Am Free", is a pop and gospel ballad that critics described as overblown. Its dense vocal layering was likened by Pitchfork to a "mini-Mariah choir", It shares elements with "Always Be My Baby", including moments of Carey singing alone over piano chords, though "Long Ago" features a more "rugged" beat. It is a love song about romantic surrender. as a doo-wop-influenced rock and roll ballad styled as a waltz. "Daydream Interlude" (Sweet Fantasy Dub Mix), the album's eleventh track, reworks "Fantasy" into a club-oriented house remix by producer David Morales. The album closes with "Looking In", an introspective soul ballad portraying Carey as an isolated, misunderstood diva grappling with youthful fears, insecurity, her childhood, and tumultuous marriage to Mottola.

Promotion and release

thumb|Carey and Boyz II Men performing "One Sweet Day" at Madison Square Garden|alt=Carey (alone on the left) and Boyz II Men (in a line to the right), standing under warm stage lighting while performing a song.

Daydream was released in late 1995 in different regions around the world: Taiwan on September 26, Europe on September 28, Japan on September 30, Hong Kong on October 2, and the United States on October 3. To promote the album, Carey launched her second headlining tour, the Daydream World Tour. The tour included Japan and several European countries, with shows that were spaced out to allow Carey time to rest her voice. Before the 1996 world tour, she performed a sold-out concert at Madison Square Garden in 1995. That performance was recorded and later released as Fantasy: Mariah Carey at Madison Square Garden, her fourth video release.

For the seven-show tour, Carey performed fourteen original songs, including many of her biggest hits at the time and several tracks from Daydream. These included "Fantasy", "One Sweet Day", "Open Arms", "Always Be My Baby", "Forever" and "Underneath the Stars", along with songs from her earlier albums. Her later shows in France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom were also sold out and received positive reviews. Carey also promoted the album through television appearances and award-show performances. After "Fantasy" was released across Europe in September, she performed it on Britain's Top of the Pops, which was also broadcast live to viewers on Asian television. "One Sweet Day" was performed at the 38th Annual Grammy Awards and Princess Diana's memorial service in September 1997.

Two additional tracks from the Daydream sessions were later released on the compilation album The Rarities (2020). "Slipping Away"—another Dave Hall collaboration—served as the B-side to "Always Be My Baby", while "One Night" was written with Jermaine Dupri.

Singles

Daydream was promoted with five singles. Columbia Records released "Fantasy" as the album's lead single on August 23, 1995. On the US Billboard Hot 100, it entered at number one, making "Fantasy" the first song by a woman to debut atop the chart, and the second overall following "You Are Not Alone" by Michael Jackson. It achieved this feat via strong airplay, being popular among radio listeners, and initial sales of 229,000 copies—the highest single-week sales of a song since Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You" (1993). The song became Carey's ninth number-one single and spent eight consecutive weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100. Outside of the US, "Fantasy" topped the charts of Australia, Canada and New Zealand, and reached the top five in Belgium, Finland, France, and the UK. It was nominated for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 38th Annual Grammy Awards.

"One Sweet Day" was released as the album's second single on November 14, 1995, in the US. It also debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, making Carey the first artist to have multiple songs debut at number one; "One Sweet Day" also became the fourth song to debut atop the chart. The song spent sixteen consecutive weeks at number one on the chart, making it the longest-running number-one song in Billboard Hot 100 history; it retained the record for twenty-three years. It was named Billboards most successful song of the 1990s, a distinction Carey would achieve again in the 2000s with "We Belong Together" (2005). It has since been certified quadruple platinum by the RIAA, denoting shipments of over four million copies in the US. Elsewhere, "One Sweet Day" topped the charts of Canada and New Zealand, and reached the top five in Australia, France, the Netherlands, Ireland, and Denmark. At the Grammy Awards, the song was nominated for two awards: Record of the Year and Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals.

"Open Arms" was released to radio in the United Kingdom as Daydreams third single in February 1996. It achieved moderate commercial success, reaching the top ten of charts in the UK, New Zealand, and Ireland, and the top twenty in Scotland and the Netherlands. "Always Be My Baby" was released to radio on February 27, 1996, as the album's third single in the US, and the fourth single worldwide. It debuted at number two on the Billboard Hot 100, blocked by Celine Dion's "Because You Loved Me". In the following week, "Always Be My Baby" replaced "Because You Loved Me" at the top, giving Carey her eleventh number-one single on the chart and spending two weeks there. The song has been certified five-times platinum by the RIAA, topped the charts of Canada, and reached the top five in the UK and New Zealand. It was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance. It reached number nine on the Hot 100 Airplay and number eleven on the RPM airplay chart in Canada. "Underneath the Stars" was released as a promotional single from Daydream on November 19, 1996. As a result of its limited release, it failed to make an impact on the major charts, though it peaked at number sixty-nine on the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay.

Critical reception

Daydream received critical acclaim upon release. Music critics praised Carey's vocal evolution, noting how she adapted her vocal style to suit the album's more contemporary sound in contrast to her earlier work. Los Angeles Times journalist Cheo H. Coker said Daydream boasted material that would silence Carey's critics—especially "Fantasy" and "Underneath the Stars"—and offered "something for everybody while somehow remaining true to her essence". People magazine deemed it Carey's best album, benefiting from "funkier and mellower" songs and the singer's improved control over her voice, "evincing greater muscularity and agility". According to Encyclopedia of Popular Music writer Colin Larkin, "some critics questioned whether Daydream was a controlled exercise in vacuous formula writing, with little emotion or heart." Reviewing the album for Entertainment Weekly, Ken Tucker preferred the "less dignified tunes"—particularly "Daydream Interlude" (Fantasy Sweet Dub Mix)—over the "monuments to assiduous good taste" in "When I Saw You" and "I Am Free", which he panned as overwrought ballads. Tucker nonetheless called it Carey's best album since her 1990 self-titled debut.

In a retrospective review for AllMusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine called Daydream Carey's "best record to date, featuring a consistently strong selection of songs and a remarkably impassioned performance by Carey." In Erlewine's opinion, the album appealed to both urban R&B and adult contemporary audiences while showing that "Carey continues to perfect her craft, and that she has earned her status as an R&B/pop diva." In The Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004), Arion Berger said the album "adheres to the classic radio-friendly diva format, alternating between frisky dance tunes and overscaled ballads". He highlighted the songs contributed by Afanasieff while lamenting Carey's cover of "Open Arms".

Accolades

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| The Best R&B Albums of '90s

Commercial performance

In the United States, Daydream debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with 224,000 copies sold. the largest sales week by a solo female artist until Britney Spears's Oops!... I Did It Again in 2000. Daydream sold at least 90,000 copies a week in the seven months following its release. It was the second best-selling album of 1996, just behind Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill, and the eighteenth best-selling album of the 1990s decade in the US. and being certified 11× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), sales and streams of over 11 million copies. The album spent six non-consecutive weeks at number one on the chart, including 29 weeks inside the top ten and 81 complete weeks altogether.

In Canada, Daydream peaked at number two on the charts, and was certified seven-times Platinum by the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA). The album experienced success in Europe, where it reached number one in Germany, The Netherlands, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. In France, Daydream peaked at number two and was certified double-Platinum by the Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique (SNEP). Daydream was certified triple-Platinum by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), denoting shipments of three million copies throughout Europe in 1996.

In Australia, Daydream was certified five-times Platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), denoting shipments of 350,000 copies. The album finished ninth on the ARIA End of Year Charts in both 1995 and 1996. In Japan, the album debuted at number one on the Oricon charts. According to the Oricon, Daydream made the top five of the best-selling albums in Japan by a non-Asian artist, with 2.2 million copies sold. Daydream remains one of the best-selling albums in history, with sales of over 20 million copies worldwide (as of 2019). Throughout 1995 and 1996, Carey was awarded various prestigious awards at the World Music Awards, including World's Best Selling Female R&B Artist, World's Best Selling Overall Female Recording Artist, World's Best Selling Pop Artist and World's Best Selling Overall Recording Artist. He went on to praise Carey's use of "flows [...] with the ease of someone with a genuine appreciation for hip-hop".