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Outside (Mariah Carey song)

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"Outside"
Song by Mariah Carey
from the album Butterfly
ReleasedSeptember 10, 1997
Recorded1997
StudioCrave (New York)
Genre
Length4:46
LabelColumbia
Composer(s)
Lyricist(s)Mariah Carey
Producer(s)
  • Mariah Carey
  • Walter Afanasieff
Audio
"Outside" on YouTube

"Outside" is a song recorded by American singer Mariah Carey for her sixth studio album, Butterfly (1997). She produced the track and composed its music with Walter Afanasieff. Categorized in the pop and soul music genres, the ballad's composition features drums, guitars, synthesizers, piano, and programming. Its lyrics, written by Carey, were inspired by traumatic events she experienced as a biracial girl and express her feelings of alienation due to her mixed-race identity.

Music critics interpreted the meaning of the lyrics in various ways and compared them to other songs by Carey. Some felt "Outside" did not fit in with the album's themes and others considered it one of the better tracks. The song has since received critical analysis regarding its impact on Carey's public image.

Development and release

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After returning to the United States from her Daydream World Tour in mid-1996, American singer Mariah Carey began preliminary work on the follow-up to her 1995 album Daydream.[1] She completed the song "Outside" as one of the first compositions intended for Butterfly (1997),[2] her sixth studio album for Columbia Records.[3] After recording occurred from January to August 1997, the record was released on September 10 that year.[4] A change in style from her previous work, Butterfly moved Carey's music closer to hip-hop instead of the ballads she had become known for since her 1990 debut.[2]

The outro to Butterfly,[5] "Outside" appears as the twelfth and final track on the album's standard edition.[6] It was not released as a single.[7] Columbia and Legacy Recordings later included "Outside" on the compilation album, Playlist: The Very Best of Mariah Carey (2010).[8] In 2022, an a cappella version was released as part of the 25th anniversary reissue of Butterfly.[9]

Composition

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Music

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Walter Afanasieff smiling in a red plaid shirt
Carey produced "Outside" with Walter Afanasieff (pictured in 2011).

"Outside" is a pop[10] and soul song[11] influenced by gospel music.[12] Composed as a ballad[13] with a slow tempo,[14] the track lasts for four minutes and forty-six seconds.[8] Its melody is soft in sound and derived from doo-wop.[15] Andrew Chan, author of Why Mariah Carey Matters, said it "meanders, practically hookless, like an unplanned improvisation".[16] Carey and Walter Afanasieff composed the music and produced the song; Cory Rooney acted as co-producer. It features bass guitar (Artie Reynolds), drums (Nathaniel Townsley), EWI (Michael Phillips), guitars (Michael Cirro), Hammond B-3 (Gary Montoute), keyboards (Afanasieff, Donald Parker, Dan Shea), synthesizers (Afanasieff), piano (Parker), and programming (Afanasieff, Shea).[17] Townsley recalled Carey's intentions for the composition: "The verses were supposed to be real quiet. She didn't even want the beat to be subdivided on the hi-hat. Then she wanted it to build through the choruses. She said she didn't want too much going on—just to keep it pop-ish."[18]

Dana Jon Chappelle and Mike Scott recorded "Outside" with assistance from Ian Dalsemer in New York at Crave Studios and The Hit Factory, and in California at WallyWorld. After recording occurred, Mick Guzauski and Scott mixed the song at Crave and Bob Ludwig conducted mastering at Gateway in Portland, Maine.[17] Biographer Chris Nickson described the result: "Spare, pleading, this was Mariah stripped to the basics, lyrically and musically".[13]

Lyrics and vocals

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"Outside" marked the first time Carey wrote a song about her perceptions of racial otherness.[9] It was inspired by her childhood feelings of inferiority as the biracial daughter of a white woman and a Black man.[19] Experiences such as her parent's divorce,[2] kindergarten teachers questioning why she drew her father brown,[20] and being called a nigger by a group of girls influenced the subject matter.[21] According to Carey, the "lyrics are about mainly being an outsider, growing up biracial, and that being the bane of my existence then in so many ways".[9] They are structured in two verses, a chorus that repeats twice, and a bridge.[17] All but two lines lack rhyme.[22] Carey expresses being "Neither here nor there / Always somewhat out of place everywhere"[23] and "Ambiguous / Without a sense of belonging to touch".[24] Similar sentiments are repeated throughout; there is no shift from melancholy to happiness.[25]

Critics classified "Outside" as an anthem,[11] a hymn,[26] a lament,[27] and a meditation.[28] Several thought the lyrics could be relevant for identities aside from race.[29] Some suggested they were influenced by Carey's career experiences[30] and others thought they discussed existence[31] or the difficulties in a romantic relationship.[32] HuffPost writer Ian Kumamoto said while the song tells of "all the beauty in being different, there is also a persistent sadness".[33] According to Jon Pareles of The New York Times, Carey concedes there is no resolution to her circumstance.[34]

"Outside"
Carey's vocal performance shifts during the song's climax.[35]
Problems playing this file? See media help.

Carey uses a wide vocal range on "Outside";[36] critics likened it to the Grand Canyon[37] and a Broadway theatre-style of performance.[38] Her voice shifts from sotto voce at the song's beginning to full-throated usage by the climax.[39] A clear transition occurs during the bridge, at which point Carey "attempts to release her pain through despair and anger", according to scholar Shara Rambarran.[40]

Critical reception and analysis

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Critics judged "Outside" against other tracks on Butterfly. Several considered the song one of the album's highlights upon its release.[41] Others thought it did not fit in with the record's themes.[42] Reviewing retrospectively, Vibe's Preezy Brown felt "Outside" was one of the more authentic compositions on Butterfly[36] and Billboard's Jon O'Brien said it "undoubtedly succumbs to Carey's worst musical excesses".[43] Sjarif Goldstein of the Honolulu Star-Advertiser named it the best non-single of her career.[44]

"Outside" received thematic comparisons to other songs in Carey's discography. J. D. Considine of The Baltimore Sun called it a rare work in her catalog that addresses a serious topic.[45] Variety's Danielle Turchiano likened "Outside" to "Looking In" (1995), "Close My Eyes" (1997), and her cover version of "Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)" (1999). She said they all serve as examples in which Carey employed a "poetic approach to the trials and tribulations in her childhood".[46] In a study, scholar Julia L. Johnson Connor grouped "Outside" among "Can't Take That Away (Mariah's Theme)" (1999) and "My Saving Grace" (2002) as songs in which Carey discussed being biracial.[47] New York Observer writer Jonathan Bernstein viewed it as an elaboration on her debut single "Vision of Love" (1990) in which she described feeling alienated but never explained why.[48] In The Guardian, Hadley Freeman categorized "Outside" as one of Carey's more personal songs in contrast to "Hero" (1993) and "We Belong Together" (2005).[23]

The song has received critical analysis regarding its impact on Carey's identity. Rambarran argued "Outside" contributes to her public image due to its relevance for the LGBT community: "In this way, the diva functions to translate personal negative experiences into more universalized articulations of marginalization that are recognized, and warmly received, by other groups too – and contribute, empathetically, to a wider culture of support".[49] In her book Crossing B(l)ack: Mixed-Race Identity in Modern American Fiction and Culture, Sika Dagbovie-Mullins said "Outside" represents the fluidity of Carey's exploitation of the mulatta stereotype: she can sing of not belonging yet act as a sex symbol in other media.[50] Writing for The Ringer, Kyla Marshell thought Carey created the song despite knowing it would cast her as a tragic mulatto.[51]

Credits and personnel

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Recording

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  • Recorded at Crave Studios (New York), WallyWorld (California), The Hit Factory (New York City)
  • Mixed at Crave Studios (New York)
  • Mastered at Gateway Mastering (Portland, Maine)[17]

Personnel

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  • Mariah Carey – lyricist, composer, producer, arranger, lead vocals
  • Walter Afanasieff – composer, producer, arranger, keyboards, synthesizers, programming
  • Cory Rooney – co-producer
  • Dana Jon Chappelle – engineering
  • Michael Cirro – guitar
  • Ian Dalsemer – assistant engineering
  • Ron Grant – additional arranger
  • Mick Guzauski – mixing
  • Bob Ludwig – mastering
  • Gary Montoute – Hammond B-3
  • Donald Parker – piano/keyboards
  • Michael Phillips – EWI
  • Artie Reynolds – bass guitar
  • Mike Scott – engineering, mixing
  • Dan Shea – additional keyboards, drum and rhythm programming, sound design and computer programming
  • Nathaniel Townsley – drums[17]

References

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Citations

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  1. ^ Nickson 1998, pp. 155–156.
  2. ^ a b c Considine 1997.
  3. ^ Easlea 2011.
  4. ^ Nickson 1998, p. 164; Sony Music Japan.
  5. ^ Mayfield 2021.
  6. ^ Shapiro 2001, p. 154.
  7. ^ Shapiro 2001, p. 156.
  8. ^ a b Columbia Records & Legacy Recordings 2010.
  9. ^ a b c Amorosi 2022.
  10. ^ Poindexter 1997, p. 11; Rogers 1997, p. 36.
  11. ^ a b Rogers 1997, p. 36.
  12. ^ Poindexter 1997; Marshell 2020.
  13. ^ a b Nickson 1998, p. 169.
  14. ^ Campbell 1997, p. 12.
  15. ^ Adubato 2022.
  16. ^ Chan 2023, p. 11.
  17. ^ a b c d e Columbia Records 1997.
  18. ^ Watson 2000, p. 37.
  19. ^ Gardner 1997; Adubato 2022; Azzopardi 2018.
  20. ^ VH1 2003.
  21. ^ Savage 2020.
  22. ^ Binghao 2022, p. 97.
  23. ^ a b Freeman 2020.
  24. ^ Juzwiak 2003.
  25. ^ Adubato 2022; Binghao 2022, p. 97.
  26. ^ Azzopardi 2018.
  27. ^ Garland 1997, p. 111.
  28. ^ Morse 1997, p. F5.
  29. ^ Azzopardi 2018; Binghao 2022, p. 97; Lourenco 2023.
  30. ^ Juzwiak 2003; Mayfield 2021.
  31. ^ Adubato 2022; O'Brien 2022.
  32. ^ Corcoran 1997, p. E3; Thigpen 1997.
  33. ^ Kumamoto 2023.
  34. ^ Pareles 1997.
  35. ^ Chan 2023, pp. 11–12; Rambarran 2023, p. 31.
  36. ^ a b Brown 2017.
  37. ^ The Charlotte Post 1997, p. 7B.
  38. ^ Piatkowski 2022.
  39. ^ Chan 2023, pp. 11–12.
  40. ^ Rambarran 2023, p. 31.
  41. ^ Campbell 1997, p. 10, 12; Graff 1997, p. 54; Jamison 1997, p. 19.
  42. ^ Hoskyns 1997; Poindexter 1997, p. 11; Ponder 1997, p. 14.
  43. ^ O'Brien 2022.
  44. ^ Goldstein 2016.
  45. ^ Considine 1999.
  46. ^ Turchiano 2020.
  47. ^ Johnson Connor 2004, pp. 57, 188–191.
  48. ^ Bernstein 1997.
  49. ^ Rambarran 2023, pp. 31–32.
  50. ^ Dagbovie-Mullins 2013, pp. 108–109.
  51. ^ Marshell 2020.

Sources

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