Butterfly is the sixth studio album by American singer-songwriter Mariah Carey, released on September 16, 1997, by Columbia Records. The album contained both hip hop and urban adult contemporary sounds, as well as some softer and more contemporary melodies. Throughout the project, Carey worked with Walter Afanasieff, with whom she had written and produced most of the material from her previous albums. She also worked with many famed hip hop producers and rappers, such as Sean "Puffy" Combs, Q-Tip, Missy Elliott and the Trackmasters. With the latter acts producing most of the album, Butterfly deviated from the adult contemporary sound of Carey's previous albums. With Butterfly, Carey continued the transition that began with previous album, Daydream (1995), which pushed her further into the R&B and hip hop market and away from the pop background of her previous work. During her marriage to Tommy Mottola, Carey had little control over the creative and artistic steps she took on her albums, however, after their divorce midway through the album's conception, she was able to reflect her creative maturity and evolution in the album's writing and recording. Carey writes in the booklet of her twelfth studio album, Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel (2009), that she considers Butterfly her magnum opus and a turning point in both her life and career. Five singles were released from the album; two worldwide commercial singles and three limited promotional singles. "Honey", the album's lead single, topped the charts in Canada and the United States, and reached the top-five in New Zealand, Spain and the United Kingdom. The album's fifth and final single, "My All", became a top-ten hit throughout Europe and topped the charts in the United States. To promote the album, Carey embarked on the Butterfly World Tour, which visited Australia, Japan and Taiwan, with one show in the United States. Butterfly was nominated for three Grammy Awards at the 40th Annual Grammy Awards. Butterfly received acclaim from music critics, many of whom embraced Carey's musical transition. Reviewers complimented the album for its mature sound and production, as well as Carey's musical direction. Though released during Carey's heavily publicized conflict with Sony Music, the album became an international commercial success, topping the albums charts in many countries, including Australia, Canada, Greece, Japan, the Netherlands, as well as the United States. It was certified five-times Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in the United States and received the Million Award in Japan. Globally, Butterfly has sold over ten million copies.
Not unpleasant, and I can see how R&B fans would like this, but it's not for me. Every track sounds exactly the same. Mariah doesn't really sing songs so much as just moan scales.
She has such an incredible voice and such average songs
World class voice (5) and sub par songs (2) IMO.
Cars crashing, the sound of metal twisting, two pie tins rubbed together, nails across a blackboard- all these are more enjoyable noises.
Try To Listen To A Non-Christmas Album Without Thinking Of Christmas: Impossible Edition. It's got chimes. It's got Mariah Carey. It's got P Diddy. It sucks.
I know she has an amazing voice, but I find it jarring when she (or anyone) goes really high with loads of notes added in and she isn't even singing words - essentially just showing off. Also, pop r&b is probably the only genre I find virtually no enjoyment in. I don't care if millions of people love this album, objectivity can do one. 4.5/10
It's pretty bad. It fits every cheesy 90s stereotype, even the guy in the background whispering *MC* and *Break it down*. The only redeeming factor is it gave me a laugh
Almost 1 hour of Mariah Carey? That is...at least, unexpected. A good album if you want to listen to the same song for 50 minutes. That clean and inoffensive hip-hop/pop/soul mix does not mean anything in the end, but I assume that there are some nice songs for some busy days when you won't turn off your mind and do not think or enjoy the music at all.
More whining and oooOOoOooOoos than words.
I don't think I realized how much 90s r&b was used in Disney movies credits but this really brought me back to childhood. It's definitely a genre I can't totally get into but none the less this album is a gem. Breakdown is my favorite. But how can we get Fourth of July to be an actual holiday classic?
amazing album
Music to a late-night cuddle.
Well I just listened to an hour of syrupy nonsense. Mariah just makes noises and ooohs and aaaws her way through this drivel while some faceless backing band play soulless music. Every now and then some random guy will shout "oh yeah!" or something equally inane in the background. Truly appalling and an affront to musicality in every way. The vocal performance is like she's practising in the shower in an absent-minded way, rather than actually singing on something that would be released to the public.
Musical pollution. In the case of the people vs. Mariah Carey, this is evidence for the prosecution.
Not really a huge fan of the whole diva thing (it sounds too much like when people sing the Star-Spangled Banner and they feel compelled to go "AND THE ROCKETS' RED GLAAAAAEEOUUOOAAIIIEEEEEUUUUUER" for some reason). Also not a huge rap guy. Best song: Close My Eyes, which was the only one I really liked and wouldn't be out of place on a Zero 7 album.
Mimi's best album by fat, Emancipation might tip her crown but for now, I am a Butterfly stan. Lead single is one of the best songs about (sea-men_ ever and her vocals are incomparable Breakdown deserved to go diamond, I love the layering and the verses, Mariah's pen goes as hard as ever on this album and it's so cohesive and vital to her imperial era. Definitely a leg up from Daydream But surprisingly my favourite song is Fly Away reprise, David Morales popped off with the house remix, something for the gays and girls to dance to in the summertime I see. Happy Pride everyone. That's a real fucking legacy to leave. No notes. Not a single skip.
Favorite tracks: Honey, Butterfly, My All, The Roof (Back in Time), Fourth Of July, Babydoll, Outside Least favorite tracks: The Beautiful Ones 9/10
Loved the sample from Mobb deep's song (don't know the original sample)
Once again, review deleted.. Something something waa-aaa-ah-ey-eyey-eye-aa-lll paper music to me but pleasant enough. Who chooses to listen to this?
Fairly bog standard 90s r&b asides from superfans don't think anyone is still listening to this. Totally inoffensive stuff 2*
Like an hour of Disney credits music.
Mariah Carey, pop darling, is known for her silky smooth voice which has graced 17 albums thus far. This her 5th album. Do you want to know something I didn't know? Carey is credited as the PRODUCER for this album! He made these songs!! All this time I thought she was a pretty face with a voice being used by other producers in the game, but no! She's the songwriter, producer, did her own background vocals too. That's hilarious. Anyway, this album marks a turning point in her discography (from what I read). She pivoted from a more watered-down adult contemporary pop sound to a more hip-hop + R&B sound. This is evident in Honey, the album's opening track. Unfortunately, Honey is also the strongest track as the rest of the album falls back into slow jams that are just okay. It's a bit disappointing because it feels like I listened to the same song in 10 or 11 different ways, just not very engaging. Mariah Carey is a wonderful voice that is delegated to the same shtick over and over and over again. This is also a divorce album, so maybe it's warranted. Marvin Gaye did it better, in my opinion.
The Roof Shook Ones Part II sample đ„, otherwise a very well produced album and Mariah Carey obviously has an incredible voice. Just not the type of music for me
Another place, another time - to be honest too tied up with work and business to really get the most out of Mariahâs beautiful whistling voice but undoubtedly she is God
amazing spectacular never the same totally unique
This is my wheelhouse! Loved hearing some R&B; takes me right back to my high school days.
6/3 Mariah's golden voice over flawlessly executed blends of R&B and Hip-Hop production. Standout Tracks: Honey, Butterfly, The Roof (Back In Time), Breakdown, Babydoll, Fly Away (Butterfly Reprise)
Thereâs some really good tracks on this thing. Very mellow, the group vocals and harmonies are really nice, I think some songs feel maybe a tiny bit redundant. Babydoll is a standout. Feels so sexy and groovy. Honestly I had a great time with this lol
Câest juste plate, ça devient vite de la musique de background de centre dâachat
In my opinion Mariah Carey's Butterfly doesn't signify her apex, but her decline. Butterfly is the point that she starts falling victim to the 'Diva' personality that would consumer her. The problem is, most of the music on this album is not diva-esque. Why is on this list? I'm not sure when her earlier albums are more representative of her influence. Here she's just a harmonizer that works with the 'Make-It-Big' writers and producers of the era that stumbled upon a formula for hit records. She has the hit records, but the quality of her music is behind her at this point. 2.5/5.
Spotify. Fave song âHoneyâ. Give me the singles.
Been a while since Iâve quoted my wifeâs reactions here, so Iâll throw in a review-in-progress from the car: âThis sounds like H&M music. Who would go to see this in concert?â I would buy a reasonably-priced T-shirt to this album. Clearly a painstakingly-machined exemplar of its genre, I applaud Careyâs vocal aerobatics while finding the music vapid.
She's definitely a great singer. And she knows it. But I don't think that necessarily translates to good music, in the same way that I don't think Joe Satriani's music is a good listen, or why I'd rather watch Cordarelle Patterson run a return than watch Usain Bolt run a 100 m. Bolt is obviously the better sprinter, and one of the greatest athletes ever. But the context matters. The way it works with other elements. And Carey shows off "range" technically, but artistically and conceptually, this is a very limited album. I never wanted to just turn it off, but I never really engaged with it either. It's a high floor, low ceiling work, and I would love to hear her push outside the rhythm & pop genre.
Her voice is so pure and amazing, but the music and lyrics on this record are not good.
Overrated! (I just listened to Carol King/Joni Mitchell previously - maybe I am just fatigued?)
Iâm not going to lie to you, weâve been through far too much for that. I made it through about 30 minutes of this record, started losing interest and then put on Guided By Voices. I hope you can forgive me.
I will defend Mariah Careyâs first album to my grave and would defend it on this list but this is garbage. Not sure why it was picked over the other one. Sheâs very talented though so I canât really justify 1 star.
Bit of a gear change from Nick Drake to this one. Gotta say a couple of the poppier tracks are pretty groovy. But her vocalisation is not for me and the rest of the album is just a compilation of RnB ballads which gets boring. Slick production but often feels overproduced. 1 star felt too harsh but it's definitely not for me!
Great voice and respect to her success. Prefer the R&b vibes to the ballads. The R&B stuff is pretty nostalgic of some 90s teenage house party vibes. But on the whole, not for me.
Truly awful. Enough to put me off listening to music ever again.
Horrible
Lots of ooooos not a lot of good songs
Couldn't listen to this garbage
sorry
There have always been great vocalists - but traditionally it's understood the vocals serve the song by complimenting the music or telling a story. Ideally both. There were vacuous warblers before Mariah, who treated the vocal track like a 1980's hair metal guitar solo. (Whitney turned to the dark side on Bodyguard, for example). But Mariah really nailed that "listen to the notes I can hit - and praise me!" Sadly it really connected. Girls across the world sang her songs into their hairbrushes, and her influence is still obvious at every singing talent show anywhere across the world. Her voice is a beautiful and powerful force. If only it could be used for good.
The crap that crap crapped
Look, Mariah undeniably has a great voice and that's on display here. And if one of these tracks popped up while I was shopping, or on hold for some company's customer service, I'd be fine with it. But listening to 1 hour straight of what felt like essentially the same song was more than I could take.
She does have a pretty voice and some of the sounds are nostalgic for me as a kid growing up in the 90s. With that being said, fuck this shit for me personally.
Boring and bland. I remember hearing this type of music everywhere when I was a child, I hated it then and I hate it now.
Highlight: The Beautiful Ones (Prince cover) The problem with Butterfly is that Mariah uses her melismatic style WAY too much. Itâs predictable- go low, go high, flutter (pardon the pun) around one syllable. All the songs sound the same, which is a trap many pop and pop adjacent acts fall into. This album might be on the list largely because itâs a departure from Mariahâs usual style. It embraces hip hop and subtle samples (see Honey). The Prince cover is good, not spectacular. Sorry, honey. This album has not aged well. Overall: 1/10
Just because you can doesn't mean you should. Absolutely nothing to distinguish it from the tsunami of pop R and B in the nineties/early noughties than her voice. Which is a taste I have yet to acquire.
That was painful. I feel like I spent an hour drowning in a field of marshmallows with unicorns farting rainbows all around me and believe it or not, but farting unicorns sound exactly like Mariah Carey does on this record.
BL: Almost dreading myself for this one, I've never at all considered myself to be a Mariah fan or even know much at all outside the obvious hits, I've always cast her aside and never really paid any attention to her or the music she produces, maybe this will turn out to have been a mistake, and I'm removing any bias I may come into this listen with but truth be told I'm not holding out much hope. We'll see Mariah - We'll see. AL: Just as bad as I expected. Over produced late 90s girl vocal pop is some of my personal least favourite forms of music. I felt the same with the Brittany Spears record, I find this type of music to be almost entirely devoid of substance. One track stuck out to me but only because of the rap feature which was quite catchy, but still incredibly mellowed out and weak as opposed to some potential other offerings this album could've served up. Maybe it's unconscious bias to this genre as a whole, but overall I found this to be incredibly weak FT: "The Roof" 1/5
I couldn't make it through this one, to be honest. The songs themselves are pretty by-the-number R&B tracks of the time, but I can't stand her whistle notes. It goes right through me.
Are ye fuckin serious
Could not get through it. Her voice is like nails on a chalkboard for me. I do appreciate that she diversified her sound (expanding from pop to include hip hop) but I don't really like it any better.
Fuck this stupid album. (Lora left me yesterday).
Could not listen to this
Woof
solo llevo dos canciones, y sinceramente m tatuaria el album. Chiquito espectaculo, una cosa d locos my all es legal? sin palabras, los tiempos, el ritmo, como juega con los tonos de la voz, la letra... mis bendiciones fouth of july? breakdown? cada cancion m da un microinfarto, que locura estoy blessed
Incredible voice and lyricsâŠAlways!!
beautiful!
Love
That girl can SING - on top of just loving her notes, I Love the beats, and reminding me of the time.... brings me back. I Love this album.
The Golden Hour!
Love
The best Mariah album hands down
Not my usual music, and I find the artist to be unrelatable in interviews I've seen, but this was quite good. Pretty remarkable album, really.
Mariah Carey Butterfly Honey is a classic. She is really an incredible singer. I love all the super slick production on the 90âs r&b ballads. Well done album the whole way through- I liked the butterfly reprise too. The prince cover is sounds so drastically different from the rest of the album but it works.
absolute perfection from start to finish.
I was under the impression that I did not particularly care for Mariah Carey's music. I was so wrong! I really dig this album. Outstanding.
Brings me back to childhood
Quite lovely
I am not going to turn this review into a TED talk about the music industry. However, it is remarkable to me that Mariah Carey is obscured by so many other "pop" singers now-a-days who frankly can't reach her range. I don't know sometimes what happens to musicians and bands that are truly outstanding and fade into the distance. The collaborations on this album and the diversity of genre is refreshing. Well, at least it fits as a great example of an album that SHOULD be on a list of must hear albums.
I'm loving the nostalgia this album has. I never really listened to MC other than what they played on the radio, but she's got such a beautiful voice omg!! I really loved My All holy shit! That went right into my Liked songs. gonna re listen to it right now actually. Man so beautiful!
Diddy jumpscare track one 7/10 love rnb
I am not a pop fan. But this album with Mariah incredible voice is one of a kind.
Great album showcasing some of the best 90's R&B had to offer. I feel like you don't hear the singles off this album as much as the singles off her previous album, which makes it feel less timeless than Daydream but it's still a great album.
it was fine, just sounded like mariah carey, not really my style
She is a lot closer to hiphop than I ever realized
While pulling out my old CD, ended up finding that at some point I had also ended up with a bootleg of it.
4â/5 07.31.2024
Amazing voice, but prone to using gymnastics in the wrong spots at times
Her voice, obviously, like wow. Slow jams.
-music channels music videos at 3 am vibes -passionate vocals -a personal album for Ms. Mariah Carey -I like the R&B, downtempo instrumentals around this album, as well as the funky, hip hop-ish instrumentals -awesome Prince cover ("The Beautiful Ones") -it isnt usually my type of pop music, but it was an enjoyable listen, for sure -favorite songs: Honey (<3), the title track, Fourth Of July (<3), Breakdown, Close My Eyes, The Beautiful Ones -least favorite song: Fly Away
Classic R&B. Donât really like her voice but canât deny it
It was okay
Good album, but not her best. Love Mariah's body of work, especially in the first half of her career, but I found it interesting they chose this one instead of Daydream or Music Box.
Pop/R&B is not necessarily my jam, but I got to give her an extra star just for her voice. And if she hadnât chosen this genre, we likely never wouldâve heard of her so I donât fault her for that, but I would love to see her do a soul or funk album.
Rules
Now we're talking! Late 90s diva pop.
7/10 not really for me but I can still appreciate it :)
Mariah Carey - Butterfly I listened to the first two albums from Mariah, but never really took the time to listen to the the albums that came after. This album has the same feel as those earlier albums, but with a P. Diddy flare. Lots of guest artists from the day as well. I feel like there are better representations for Mariah over this album, but it's still a good album. 4/5
No hay voz como la suya. PodrĂa escucharla para siempre.
pretty good yeah
Crazy voice we all know it. I can truly only listen to so many runs in one sitting but good for her. Would listen intently if soemone put it on.
A time capsule. 90s r&b. Mariah Carey elevates this above the usual 90s r&b noise. A truly stunning voice. 8/10
90's classic R&b. Her voice is still one of the best.
Not my favorite, but still great!
Pretty good as an album, her voice is lovely and the songs had decent variation. Would potentially listen again.