Mariah Carey Connection

Mariah Carey’s “Honey” turned fifteen today & it still sounds as fresh today as it did the day it was release. “Honey” had many chart achievements, some of the major ones were:

* “Honey” became Mariah Carey’s third single to debut atop the Billboard Hot 100; the most debuts of any artist to this day.

* Honey became Mimi’s 12th No.1 in the USA. It also topped the charts in Canada & Turkey!

* Honey went Top 10 in Australia, Holland, New Zealand, Italy, Sweden, Spain & UK.

Billboard Flashbacks
August 09, 1997: DANCE TRAX – Mariah Carey Stays Dance-Savvy With ‘Honey’
A TASTE OF HONEY: As a lad with a big ol’ soft spot for Mariah Carey, we’re always thrilled when we have the chance to provide an early peek into one of her new projects. It’s even better when the jam is juicy and ripe for the picking of her considerable club following. With her Columbia single ‘Honey,’ La C is once again kickin’ it lovely–and deftly proving that she’s as sharply connected to the vibe of the street as she’s aware of what will sell to the pop masses.

In its original incarnation, the song is a shrewd collaboration between the singer and hip-hop superstar Sean ‘Puffy’ Combs, with Bad Boy Entertainment luminaries Stevie J. and the Ummah. Fans of Carey’s glass-shattering belting may require a second or two to adjust to the softer vocal threads she weaves into the track’s slowly insinuating jeep grooves.
Ultimately, however, her performance here is markedly more soulful and credible than much of what she’s offered in the past. After all, anyone can shriek and scream. It takes an artist of significant maturity to comprehend the potency of a subtle turn of phrase. It also takes an artist of supreme confidence to ditch a formula that has worked repeatedly in the past (and likely to continue to) in favor of exploring new ground.

One creative change Carey did not make in approaching ‘Honey’ was linking with David Morales to reconstruct the song into a hands-in-da-air house anthem. While we’re usually quick to criticize artists and labels that don’t share the wealth of remixes with various producers, there’s no denying that Carey and Morales have a chemistry and a kinship that result in records that could not be topped by others.

Morales has built a festive, handbag-happy house beat that gives the chorus a fluttering urgency that begs for radio attention. Meanwhile, Carey has re-cut her vocal, underlining the song with a sassy, seductive tone that would make a club legend like Donna Summer mighty proud. Although she’s turned up the voltage of her performance to match the groove, she continues to dodge the temptation to simply howl. She soars to impressive heights, but she also plays with her words with the free-wheeling flow of a jazz musician. In fact, there’s one point when she takes the phrase ‘I need it’ and hammers it into a vocal breakdown that rivals Morales’ typically aggressive (and oh so fun) percussion interludes. It’s a moment that will leave the girls on the runway squealing with delight. Midway through our first foray into this track’s eight-plus minutes, we got lost in fantasies of what will happen when Carey and Morales finally get around to writing together.

Stoked and hungry for more? We certainly are. ‘Honey’ previews the album ‘Butterfly,’ which is due in stores Sept. 16.

09/13/1997- LIKE BEES TO HONEY: Mariah Carey’s ‘Honey’ becomes her third single to debut at No. 1 on the Hot 100 and only the sixth to do so in the history of the chart. The other singles that have debuted at No.1 are Michael Jackson’s ‘You Are Not Alone’ (Epic), Carey’s ‘Fantasy’ (Columbia), Whitney Houston’s ‘Exhale (Shoop Shoop)’ (Arista), Mariah Carey & Boyz II Men’s ‘One Sweet Day’ (Columbia), and Puff Daddy & Faith Evans’ ‘I’ll Be Missing You’ (Bad Boy/Arista).

09/13/1997 – CHART SPOTLIGHT: ‘Honey’ has 43 million audience impressions derived from airplay at 158 monitored stations. Among the stations contributing the most listeners are WQHT New York, where 28 detections account for 3.1 million listeners; WHTZ New York, with 35 detections reaching 2.2 million listeners; and KBXX Houston and WBBM Chicago, each fetching 1.9 million listeners, with 50 and 39 plays, respectively. In addition, ‘Honey’ scanned 137,000 units to top the Hot 100 Singles Sales list. Considering that airplay in the New York area alone reached more than 4 million people, you should not be surprised to learn that nearly 17% of all the singles sold were in NYC. The second top-selling market was Los Angeles, which accounted for only 5.5% of all scans.

09/13/1997 – Carey’s Got Mo ‘Honey,’ No Problems
DEEP THROAT TOLD US to ‘follow the money,’ and that’s what Mariah Carey has done, as her ‘Honey’ (Columbia) enters the Hot 100 at No. 1, succeeding ‘Mo Money Mo Problems’ by the Notorious B.I.G. (Featuring Puff Daddy & Mase). ‘Honey’ is the sixth single in the rock era to enter the Hot 100 in pole position, and Carey is responsible for half of them. In 1995, ‘Fantasy’ and ‘One Sweet Day’ debuted at No. 1. When the latter title, recorded with Boyz II Men, opened at No. 1, Carey became the first artist to have two chart-topping debuts. No one has matched that feat, and now Carey has three.

Check out this rare classic performance of “Honey” on UK’s Top of The Pops Show:

Source: Mariah Connection