Always Be My Baby
Encyclopedia : A : AL : ALW : Always Be My Baby
"Always Be My Baby" is a pop song written and produced by American singer Mariah Carey, rapper Jermaine Dupri, and songwriter Manuel Seal. Released in 1996 as the fourth single from Carey's fourth studio album Daydream (1995), the song reached number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart, number two in Canada, and peaked within the top twenty of the majority charts on which it appeared. The lyrics chronicle a relationship that has ended and although the protagonist understands that they will never be together again, she asserts that her former lover will "always be her baby". The song received a 1997 Grammy Award nomination for "Best Female R&B Vocal Performance".
Chart performance
"Always Be My Baby" was solicited to radio on March 26 1996 in North America, and it became Carey's eleventh number-one single on the U.S. Hot 100. However, unlike its predecessors "Fantasy" and "One Sweet Day", the song did not debut at number one but at number two, and ascended to the top position four weeks following its release. It spent two weeks at number one and nine non-consecutive weeks at number two, to date Carey's longest stay at the second position. "Always Be My Baby" also managed to reach number one on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks."Always Be My Baby" was the most-played single in the U.S. in 1996 and appeared at number-one on the year-end Hot 100 Airplay chart, but despite this achievement it never reached number one on the Hot 100 Airplay throughout the course of 1996. Due to its airplay, it became Carey's first number-one on the Adult Top 40 format. It also reached the top five on the Adult Contemporary and Top 40 Mainstream charts.
Outside the U.S., the song became another success, but it was unable to match the chart success of "Fantasy" in most markets. Although generally performing less well than "One Sweet Day", it reached the top five in Canada and the United Kingdom, where it fared better than all of Carey's releases from Daydream. In Australia, it reached the top twenty.
Music videos
The music video for "Always Be My Baby" was the second to be directed by Carey. She is the seemingly happy narrator of a tale of young love, as a young boy and a girl elope in the middle of the night. The video was filmed on location at Carey's sponsored charity, Camp Mariah.The main remix of this song, also known as "Always Be My Baby" (Mr. Dupri mix), features slightly resung vocals with most of the melodic structure being retained, but uses a sample of the song "Tell Me If You Still Care" by SOS and includes background vocals from Xscape. The remix is the first to feature Da Brat, who would later go on to become Carey's best friend and rap on remixes of "Honey" (1997), "I Still Believe" (1999), and "Loverboy" (2001). A video was created for the Mr. Dupri mix, which shows Carey, Da Brat, and Xscape hanging out around Carey's former mansion. It is in black and white and has the shot of Carey in a beret that would become the cover for this single. In addition to the main remix, dance remixes with resung vocals were created by David Morales along with reggae mixes featuring Lil' Vicious.
Formats and track listings
These are the formats and track listings of major single releases of "Always Be My Baby".
- U.S. CD single
- "Always Be My Baby" (album version)
- "Always Be My Baby" (Mr. Dupri mix — featuring Da Brat and Xscape)
- "Slipping Away"
- U.S. CD maxi single
- Canadian/European/Australian CD single
- UK CD single 2
- "Always Be My Baby" (Def Classic radio version)
- "Always Be My Baby" (Always club mix)
- "Always Be My Baby" (Dub-a-Baby)
- "Always Be My Baby" (Groove a Pella)
- "Always Be My Baby" (St dub)
Credits and personnel
- Lead vocals — Mariah Carey
- Background vocals — Mariah Carey, Melonie Daniels, Kelly Price, and Shanrae Price
- Music performance — Jermaine Dupri and Manuel Seal
- Engineer — Jay Healy
- Assistant engineers — Jay Healy and Phil Tan
- Second engineers — Andy Smith, Kurt Lundvall, Mike Scott, Glen Manchese
- Mixed by Mick Guzauski
Charts
| Chart (1996) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 1 (2 weeks) |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Single Sales | 1 (1 week) |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Airplay | 2 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks | 1 (1 week) |
| U.S. Billboard Rhythmic Top 40 | 1 |
| U.S. Billboard Adult Top 40 | 1 |
| U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary | 2 |
| U.S. Billboard Top 40 Mainstream | 3 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play | 6 |
| U.S. ARC Weekly Top 40 | 1 (1 week) |
| Canadian Singles Chart | 2 |
| UK Singles Chart | 3 |
| Brazilian Singles Chart | 4 |
| Japanese Singles Chart | 10 |
| Australian ARIA Singles Chart | 17 |
| Swedish Singles Chart | 38 |
| German Singles Chart | 76 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Chart trajectory | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Week | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 |
| Chart position | 11 | 14 | 17 | 20 | 20 | 22 | 24 | 26 | 31 | 31 | 32 | 42 | 41 | 41 | 43 | 44 | 48 | |||||||||||||||
|- style="text-align: center;"
See also
References
| Mariah Carey |
|---|
| Albums | Singles | Awards | |
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.