Remembering Butterfly: When Mariah Carey gave us her best music videos and reclaimed control

Remembering Butterfly: When Mariah Carey gave us her best music videos and reclaimed control | Random J Pop

When you think of an artist with a great and memorable videography, you don't think Mariah Carey. She's never used nor championed music videos in the same way her peers did and continue to. But there was a brief moment where Mariah did and delivered some of the best music videos of her career to this day.

Butterfly was a turning point in Mariah Carey's career. The album title had legit meaning. She was rid of her controlling ass husband, regained more control of her career, took a slight shift with her sound and the butterfly became a form of branding and a motif that Mariah still carries to this day. But one of the biggest changes was Mariah's image.

Every video that Mariah did during the Butterfly phase in her career not only had Mariah controlling the optics, but were genuinely good to watch. The music videos which came out of this phase of Mariah's career were some of her most re-watchable and best looking.

Honey
Directed by Paul Hunter


"Honey" was the first time where we saw Mariah really play up sexuality in a music video and show a whole lotta skin. Mariah would go on record numerous times to say that her image in this video was far more representative of who she truly is and what she'd wanted to do for years, but was instead made to wear jeans, hoodies and flats. "Honey" was a turning point for Mariah, because the video set the foundations on which her image would be built on from here on out. Bikini's, halter necks, midriffs on full display, legs out. These would all be mainstays in many of Mariah's videos, something she would push further with the "Heartbreaker" videos which saw the debut of Mariah and her new Rainbow titties, and then again with Glitter and the "Loverboy" video. Mariah was showing herself how she wanted us to see her. It did get a bit tired after a while. But when "Honey" first came out it was very impactful. Mariah giving us sex appeal. A big budget music video. Different setups. Even some choreo. 


The remix of the "Honey" video had the same narrative of the original, but with additional shots of the featuring artist and the song's producer, the artist formerly known as Puff Daddy. The additional shots looked more lavish than the original and featured setups that were very synonymous with Hip-Hop videos at the time, and would continue to be throughout the early 2000's. Not only did Mariah set a blueprint for Pop artists doing Hip-Hop collaborations, but she set a precedent of always having her featured artists in her video with her, and having them be unapologetically themselves. There was no toning down of Ma$e of Puff Daddy what-so-ever. They came as they were, and as we knew them.


My All
Directed by Herb Ritts


"My All" is one of few music videos where Mariah had a visible love interest. Of course, due to her marriage with her then manager and record label head Tommy Mottola, she was never going to be allowed to frolic around with a man in a music video. So, post divorce, at the first opportunity, Mariah said 'Fuck it', released an 'exotic' love song, and gave us a music video where she was fawning over some man in some lighthouse, and giving us Mills & Boon meets Bioshock Infinite instead of singing whilst staring outside of a window as her ex husband woulda had her do. 

"My All" is also notable for being directed by the legendary Herb Ritts, who was known for his trademark striking and sensual black and white photography. Herb's videography also includes Madonna's "Cherish", Janet Jackson's "Love Will Never Do (Without You)" and Michael Jackson's "In the Closet". Legends only.


Breakdown
Directed by Mariah Carey & Diane Martel


Mariah was really feeling herself after bussin' a move in that "Honey" video, because she went and gave us more choreo for "Breakdown". A bitch even brought a chair into the mix. Janet Jackson and the "Miss You Much" video was put on NOTICE.

"Breakdown" was co-directed by Diane Martel, who had previously worked with Mariah on her videos for "Dreamlover" and "All I Want For Christmas Is You". There was no real narrative to this music video. It was basically Mariah playing dress up to look cute. And yet it still feels right to the point where I couldn't imagine "Breakdown" having any other type of video. And as was the case with "Honey", her guest featured rappers are all up in the music video, right there with her, being themselves.


The Roof
Directed by Mariah Carey & Diane Martel


"The Roof" is another one of Butterfly's cuts that bridged the gap between R&B and Hip-Hop from an artist who had long been categorised as Pop. And the music video did the same thing. Many people at this point probably still thought that Mariah Carey was white, but she always surrounded herself with Black people in any and all of her music videos which featured extras or dancers. "The Roof" was no difference. Mariah said 'All Black errthang'.

For years Mariah had fought to release music which was fully reflective of her musical tastes and her love of Hip-Hop. So once she was given greater creative freedom, she went and sampled one of thugiest rap groups' most thugiest songs. And then shot a music video where she was scoping brothas on the dancefloor and getting handsy with a dude in the rain, whilst singing a song about her WAP on a warm November night. I know Tommy Mottola was PRESSED.


Butterfly
Directed my Mariah Carey & Daniel Pearl


Okay. Now. This video right here is the anomaly. And is something that I can only describe as Mariah giving Columbia records a compromise. That if a bitch was gonna go off and shoot all these different videos showing off a new image, then she had to give them at least one video which was in line with the image Columbia had cultivated up until this point. 

Everything about the "Butterfly" video feels so out of place alongside her other videos. It even looks like it was shot at a completely different time from everything else. But it thematically sets up the other videos, signifying Mariah breaking free from a life of being kept from the things that truly made her happy. "Butterfly" sticks out from the other music videos, but it is still a really nice music video.

All of Mariah's music videos for Butterfly marked the first time in Mariah's career where it felt like she was finally contending with many of her peers who had caught onto the power of the music video and using them as vehicles for their image and narratives that they wanted to push about themselves. But they were also perfect for this particular album and the point at which Mariah was at in her life, of reclaiming control - which is a consistent theme in every single one of these videos.

🦋 Album reviews: Caution | Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel | E=MC² | Glitter
🔊 Playlist: Mariah Carey featuring...
🎛️ A mashup that nobody asked for: Mariah Carey x Sonic the Hedgehog

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