Butterfly is the second and title track from Mariah Carey's sixth studio album with the same name. The song was written and produced by Mariah & Walter Afanasieff. Butterfly is listed as being composed of the genres: Pop, Gospel & R&B[1] The song peaked at #11 on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart and the song’s remixes peaked at #13 on Billboard’s dance music chart. It also peaked at #27 on Billboard’s R&B airplay chart.[2] The song is about someone spreading their wing and release into the world on their own like a butterfly.
In 1998, "Butterfly" was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.[3]
A extended play for the song titled "Butterfly - EP" was released a part of the #MC30 series on August 28, 2020.
Background[]
When asked about where she got the inspiration for Butterfly, Mariah stated: "Butterfly was about leaving one section of my life and moving on to another. The title track was a wish list of things I hoped somebody would say to me, but I wrote it as though I were talking to someone else. The lines 'Spread your wings and prepare to fly/ For you have become a Butterfly/ Fly abandoningly into the sun' is like someone saying, ‘Do your thing.”’ There's another line: ‘Wild horses run unbridled/ Or their spirit dies.’ You can't restrain a free spirit - either you're going to break them or they're going to leave and never come back."[4] In an interview with Jeff Lorez in September of 1997, Mariah stated that the title track isn't a typical thing she'd do with Walter. She also said "Originally I'd planned to do it as a house record with David (Morales). I sang it in the Bahamas at Chris Blackwell's (Island Records' head) studio. It was all about the whole freedom of the feeling of being there. That style of singing is really about what comes out of your mouth at the time. It can only come from being inspired. It's a gift from God. It's not sung in a traditional ballad style. Also, because I write my own stuff I don't have a demo singer sing it for me. And I don't sing with a producer in the room, so I'm sort of figuring it out as I go along, too.”[5]
In other discussions about the song Mariah stated:
"It was '97 and I was leaving my marriage [to Tommy Mottola]. which encompassed my life. I was writing the song 'Butterfly' wishing that that's what he would say to me. There's a part that goes, 'I have learned that beauty/has to flourish in the light/wild horses run unbridled/or their spirit dies/you have given me the courage/to be all that I can/and I truly feel ...[sings] and I truly feel your heart will lead you back to me when you're ready to land.' At that point I really believed that I was going to go back to the marriage – I didn't think I was going to leave forever. But then the things that happened to me during that time caused me to not go back. Had it been, 'Go be yourself, you've been with me since you were a kid, let's separate for a while,' I probably would’ve."[6]
Critical reception[]
In their review of the song, Slant Magazine described the song as a agonizingly slow title track, with its predictably soaring chorus and if-it-comes-back-it-was-meant-to-be message, might have been ignorable tripe. Here, it’s a show for the peeping. Echoes of her newly failed relationship with Mottola bounce off the gospelly song’s cheap stained glass and then garble so that it sounds like some insane document of Stockholm syndrome. “Blindly I imagined I could/Keep you under glass,” coos Carey, but surrounded is exactly how she felt by Mottola’s iron fist (she has referred to the Bedford, New York mansion they shared as “Sing Sing” because that’s what she did there and prison is how it felt). She even goes beyond empathy; it’s as though Carey’s singing what her own self-professed eighth-grader spirit wants to hear: “Spread your wings and prepare to fly/For you have become a butterfly/Fly abandonedly into the sun.”[7] Albumism described the song as a riveting gospel-pop stunner.[8]
Chart performance[]
"Butterfly" had moderate success on global charts. In the United States, the song charted on numerous charts. On the US Adult Contemporary charts the song peaked at #11, on US Rhythmic chart, the song peaked at #8 while on US Mainstream Top 40 chart the song peaked at #14.
In Europe, the song some success especially in the UK where the song peaked at #22 on the week of December 13, 1997.[3] In Croatia, the song peaked #3 while in Taiwan the song peaked at #9.
Music video[]
The music video was directed by Carey and Daniel Pearl. The video draws inspiration from the Tennessee Williams play Baby Doll and a dream Carey had one night. The video starts off scenes of raindrops and transitions into Mariah in bed where she appears to show signs of solitude. There's also various scenes in the music video where a horse is shown either running around around or being held by Carey. Many of the shots showing Carey in a bed are film through what appears to be a peephole. The video transitions into Carey sitting on a staircase where she shows signs of agony and lowliness. She then runs downs the staircase and the next scene shows her on a tree branch and her face shows signs of crying. She then jumps from the tree and runs towards a horse which she freed from a pen. The video would show a scene where Carey appeared to have been cut by a Barbed wire. At the end of the video, Carey mounts the horse which assists her in jumping over the barbed fence. After leaving, Carey is seen smiling for the first time in the video, while waving her arms in the air. The video ends with Mariah in a grass-filled area.[9]
Live performances[]
Mariah performed "Butterfly" during numerous American and European television appearances in 1997. She first performed the song live on the Late Show with David Letterman and wore a mid-length black gown for the performance.[10] Carey also performed the song live on The Oprah Winfrey Show along with her hit single "Hero" which was aired in September of 1997.[11] In November of 1997, Carey appeared as a musical guest on Saturday Night Live where she performed the song alongside "My All."[12] During the performance she wore a maroon-colored, mid-length dress. Additionally, the performance features five background singers including Kelly Price and Melonie Daniels and Randy Jackson playing bass. Carey would go on to do several European performances of the song such as on the popular German game show, Wetten, dass..?, and the talk show, "The Hit Machine," where she performed the song as well. During her Wetten dass..? performance, a butterfly figure and a waterfall effect (created by a smoke machine) are included.[13]
Mariah performing "Butterfly" at Wetten Dass...? TV Show in Leipzig, Germany, aired on November 8, 1997
The song was a regular part of the setlist of Carey's Butterfly World Tour, which began on January 11, 1998 and ended on February 21, 1998. During the performance, images of butterflies were projected onto the large screen behind her.[14] The show also include a "Butterfly Reprise" which served as one of the closing songs on the set-list.
Mariah has not performed the song live (fully) since 1998. In subsequent tours, the chorus of the song was played by the band and sung by the background vocals at the end of each concert as Carey would exit the stage. During the Angels Advocate Tour (2009-2010), the song was played as a instrumental before transitioning into "Daydream Interlude (Fantasy Sweet Dub Mix)."
Speculations[]
The following are speculations of the song's meaning based on the opinions of listeners:
- Some have speculated that the song was probably inspired by Carey's divorce from Tommy Mottola which left her sad because she loved her husband and was happy that she was doing the right thing by breaking away from a time that she described as "the height of her unhappiness"[15]
- If you lose a person you loved and if it returns its meant to be.
- Sometimes the thing you love the most you must 'set free' in order for it to be truly yours if/when it comes back to you
Gallery[]
“Them Chickens is ash and i'm lotion” To view the Butterfly (song) gallery, click here.
|
Lyrics[]
[Verse 1]
When you love someone so deeply
They become your life
It's easy to succumb to overwhelming fears inside
Blindly I imagined I could
Keep you under glass
Now I understand to hold you
I must open up my hands
And watch you rise
[Chorus]
Spread your wings and prepare to fly
For you have become a butterfly
Oh, fly abandonedly into the sun
If you should return to me
We truly were meant to be
So spread your wings and fly
Butterfly
[Verse 2]
I have learned that beauty
Has to flourish in the light
Wild horses run unbridled
Or their spirit dies
You have given me the courage
To be all that I can
And I truly feel your heart will
Lead you back to me when you're
Ready to land
[Chorus]
Spread your wings and prepare to fly
For you have become a butterfly
Oh, fly abandonedly into the sun
If you should return to me
We truly were meant to be
So spread your wings and fly
Butterfly
[Bridge]
I can't pretend these tears
Aren't overflowing steadily
I can't prevent this hurt from almost overtaking me
But I will stand and say goodbye
For you'll never be mine
Until you know the way it feels to fly
[Chorus]
Spread your wings and prepare to fly
For you have become a butterfly
Oh, fly abandonedly into the sun
If you should return to me (I will know you're mine)
We truly were meant to be
So spread your wings and fly, butterfly (My butterfly)
Spread your wings and prepare to fly
For you have become a butterfly
Oh, fly abandonedly into the sun
If you should return to me
We truly were meant to be
So spread your wings and fly
Butterfly (Fly)
So flutter through the sky
Butterfly
Fly
Spread your wings and fly
Butterfly
Audio[]
Videos[]
Trivia[]
- In 2018, Mariah sampled Butterfly on the track "Runway" which is featured on the Japanese edition of Caution.
References[]
- ↑ Wikipedia
- ↑ Genius.com - About "Butterfly"
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 GRAMMYs — GRAMMY Awards Winners & Nominees for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance
- ↑ Mariah Records — Butterfly (Jan 27)
- ↑ MariahRecords - Blues & Soul (UK) “Butterfly kisses,,, or in bed with Mariah!” by Jeff Lorez, September 23, 1997
- ↑ MariahRecords — Interview Magazine, Pages 156-165 “Mariah Carey: The Naked Truth From The World’s Biggest Diva” by Ingrid Sischy, September 20th, 2007
- ↑ Review: Mariah Carey, Butterfly - Slant Magazine
- ↑ Fly Away: Mariah Carey's 'Butterfly" turns 20 —Albumism.com
- ↑ YouTube - Mariah Carey Butterfly
- ↑ YouTube — Mariah Carey Butterfly (David Letterman)
- ↑ YouTube — Butterfly Live @ Oprah Winfrey 15-09-97
- ↑ YouTube — Mariah Carey Butterfly SNL LIVE 1997
- ↑ YouTube — Mariah Carey Butterfly (live Wetten Dass...? 1997) 1080p HD
- ↑ YouTube — Mariah Carey Butterfly (Live at Butterfly World Tour)
- ↑ The Song's Meaning via songsmeaning.com