Butterfly (Mariah Carey song)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Butterfly"
Single by Mariah Carey
from the album Butterfly
Released	December 1, 1997 (UK)
Format	CD single (non-U.S.)
Genre	Pop
Length	4:35
Label	Sony
Writer(s)	Mariah Carey, Walter Afanasieff
Producer(s)	Mariah Carey, Walter Afanasieff
Chart positions
#22 (UK) #27 (Australia)
Mariah Carey singles chronology
"Honey" (1997)	"Butterfly" (1997)	"Breakdown" (1998)

"Butterfly" is a song written and produced by American singer Mariah Carey and Walter Afanasieff for Carey's seventh album, Butterfly (1997). It is a ballad combining elements of pop and gospel, but Carey had originally conceived it as a house record with David Morales titled "Fly Away (Butterfly Reprise)". After realizing how personal the lyrics were and how they could be applied to Butterfly, she wrote "Butterfly" with Afanasieff.

It was released as the album's second single in 1997 (see 1997 in music). It did not appear on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart because it was not issued as a commercial single in the United States; Billboard magazine rules at the time stipulated that a commercial release was required for a song to enter the Hot 100. It was a moderate success on charts that airplay-only singles were allowed to enter, such as the Rhythmic Top 40, Adult Contemporary and Mainstream Top 40 charts, and it reached number sixteen on Billboard's Hot 100 Airplay chart. "Butterfly" was not a substantial hit outside the U.S.: it reached number twenty-two in the UK and number twenty-seven in Australia, failing to match the success of "Honey", the album's first single. In France and Germany the single did not reach the top forty.

"Butterfly" was nominated for the 1998 Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, which it lost to Sarah McLachlan's "Building a Mystery".

[edit] Music video and remixes

The single's video was co-directed by Carey and Daniel Pearl. It is inspired by the Tennessee Williams play Baby Doll and a dream of Carey's. It starts with a man leaving a house with Carey inside, and Carey is then seen wandering through a forest with horses.

David Morales created several dance remixes of the song — in addition to the original version of "Butterfly", which is known as "Fly Away (Butterfly Reprise)" — among them the "Fly Away" club mix and "Def 'B' Fly" mix. "Fly Away (Butterfly Reprise)" reached the top twenty on the Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart, and a shortened version is included as an interlude on the album Butterfly. Latin remixes of "Butterfly", influenced by the musical styles of flamenco and salsa, were also commissioned by Meme. They include "Butterfly" (Sambatterfly), "Butterfly" (Classic Bossa Nova), and "Butterfly" (Meme's extended club mix part 1).

[edit] Charts

Chart (1997)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Airplay	16
U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay	27
U.S. Billboard Mainstream Top 40	14
U.S. Billboard Rhythmic Top 40	8
U.S. Billboard Adult Top 40	35
U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary	11
U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play 1	13
U.S. ARC Weekly Top 40	2
UK Singles Chart	22
Sweden Top 60 Singles	24
Australia ARIA Singles Chart	27
France Top 100 Singles	43
Germany Singles Chart	76

¹ "Fly Away (Butterfly Reprise)".