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Outside (Mariah Carey song)

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

"Outside" is a song recorded by American singer Mariah Carey for her sixth studio album, Butterfly (1997). She composed the music and produced the song with Walter Afanasieff. Situated within pop and soul music genres, the ballad's composition features drums, guitars, synthesizers, piano, and programming. Its lyrics, written by Carey, are about feeling a lack of belonging in the world due to one's race. They were inspired by traumatic events she experienced in her childhood as a biracial girl.

Music critics gave the song's lyrics positive reviews and interpreted their meaning in various ways. Some felt "Outside" did not fit in with the album's theme 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), her sixth studio album.[2] Carey began recording the album in January 1997 and Columbia Records released it in September that year.[3]

"Outside" appears as the twelfth and final track on the standard edition of Butterfly.[4] It was not released as a single.[5] Columbia and Legacy Recordings later included "Outside" on the compilation album, Playlist: The Very Best of Mariah Carey (2010).[6] In 2022, an a cappella version was released as part of the 25th anniversary reissue of Butterfly.[7]

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[8] and soul song[9] with influences of gospel music.[10] Composed as a ballad[11] with a slow tempo,[12] the track lasts for four minutes and forty-six seconds.[6] Its melody is soft in sound and derived from doo-wop.[13] Author Andrew Chan said it "meanders, practically hookless, like an unplanned improvisation".[14] 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).[15]

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.[15] 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."[16] After recording occurred, Mick Guzauski and Scott mixed the song at Crave and Bob Ludwig conducted mastering at Gateway in Portland, Maine.[15] Biographer Chris Nickson described the result: "Spare, pleading, this was Mariah stripped to the basics, lyrically and musically".[11]

Lyrics and vocals

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The lyrics are structured in two verses, a chorus that repeats twice, and a bridge.[15] All but two lines lack rhyme.[17] Carey wrote them based on her childhood feelings of inferiority as the biracial daughter of a white woman and a Black man.[18] According to her, the "lyrics are about mainly being an outsider, growing up biracial, and that being the bane of my existence then in so many ways".[7] Experiences such as her parent's divorce,[2] kindergarten teachers questioning why she drew her father brown,[19] and being called a nigger by a group of girls influenced the subject matter.[20]

Perceptions of racial otherness typify the song's lyrics.[21] Carey expresses being "Neither here nor there / Always somewhat out of place everywhere"[21] and "Ambiguous / Without a sense of belonging to touch".[22] Similar sentiments are repeated throughout; there is no shift from melancholy to happiness.[23] The song concludes with the words "You'll always be / Somewhere on the outside".[15] According to Jon Pareles of The New York Times, Carey concedes there is no resolution to her circumstance.[24] HuffPost writer Ian Kumamoto said while the song tells of "all the beauty in being different, there is also a persistent sadness".[25] Critics classified "Outside" as an anthem,[9] a hymn,[26] a lament,[27] and a meditation.[28] Steve Morse of The Boston Globe gauged it as therapeutic.[28]

Carey said the lyrics can be interpreted differently so they can be relatable.[29] Taj Mayfield of Grammy.com and Rich Juzwiak of Slant Magazine thought "Outside" was influenced by her career experiences.[30] America contributor Stephen G. Adubato suggested she questions existence and whether her sense of place was determined by destiny or divine intervention.[13] In the academic journal Southeast of Now: Directions in Contemporary and Modern Art in Asia, Wong Binghao argued "the song addresses both a unique and universal 'I'."[17] Xtra Magazine's Daniel Lourenco stated the theme of not belonging could also refer to one's identity aside from race;[31] Billboard contributor Chris Azzopardi called "Outside" a song "for those on society's fringes".[26] Other critics, namely Michael Corcoran of the Austin American-Statesman and David Thigpen of Time, thought it discussed the difficulties in a romantic relationship.[32]

The lyrics of "Outside" were compared to others by Carey such as "Looking In" (1995), "Close My Eyes" (1997), and her cover of "Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)" (1999). Variety's Danielle Turchiano said they all serve as examples in which Carey employed a "poetic approach to the trials and tribulations in her childhood".[33] 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.[34] 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.[35] 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).[21]

"Outside"
Carey's vocal performance shifts during the song's climax.[36]
Problems playing this file? See media help.

Carey uses a wide vocal range on "Outside";[37] Peter Piatkowski of PopMatters likened it to 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. Some questioned its inclusion on the album. Billboard's Jon O'Brien felt the song is the record's worst because it "undoubtedly succumbs to Carey’s worst musical excesses".[41] Rolling Stone writer Barney Hoskyns thought the composition lacked the artistic advancement she showed on the rest of the album.[42] Kimberly A. Ponder of the Times Record News reckoned it was a return to form[43] and Gerald Poindexter of The San Diego Union-Tribune deemed it a "moment to appease fans fearful that she has fallen in with the wrong crowd".[44]

Others considered "Outside" a highlight from Butterfly.[45] According to Edmonton Sun critic Mike Ross, it is one of two tracks that are "simple enough to reveal a glimpse of honesty".[46] In The Baltimore Sun, J. D. Considine called the song a rare work in her catalog that addresses a serious topic.[47] Sjarif Goldstein of the Honolulu Star-Advertiser named "Outside" the best non-single of Carey's career.[48]

The song has received critical analysis regarding its impact on Carey's identity. Rambarran argued that "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

  • 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)[15]

Personnel

  • 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[15]

References

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Citations

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  1. ^ Nickson 1998, pp. 155, 156.
  2. ^ a b Considine 1997.
  3. ^ Nickson 1998, pp. 164, 176.
  4. ^ Shapiro 2001, p. 154.
  5. ^ Shapiro 2001, p. 156.
  6. ^ a b Columbia Records & Legacy Recordings 2010.
  7. ^ a b Amorosi 2022.
  8. ^ Poindexter 1997, p. 11; Rogers 1997, p. 36.
  9. ^ a b Rogers 1997, p. 36.
  10. ^ Poindexter 1997; Marshell 2020.
  11. ^ a b Nickson 1998, p. 169.
  12. ^ Campbell 1997, p. 12.
  13. ^ a b Adubato 2022.
  14. ^ Chan 2023, p. 11.
  15. ^ a b c d e f g Columbia Records 1997.
  16. ^ Watson 2000, p. 37.
  17. ^ a b Binghao 2022, p. 97.
  18. ^ Gardner 1997; Adubato 2022; Azzopardi 2018.
  19. ^ VH1 2003.
  20. ^ Savage 2020.
  21. ^ a b c Freeman 2020.
  22. ^ Juzwiak 2003.
  23. ^ Adubato 2022; Binghao 2022, p. 97.
  24. ^ Pareles 1997.
  25. ^ Kumamoto 2023.
  26. ^ a b Azzopardi 2018.
  27. ^ Garland 1997, p. 111.
  28. ^ a b Morse 1997, p. F5.
  29. ^ Azzopardi 2016.
  30. ^ Juzwiak 2003; Mayfield 2021.
  31. ^ Lourenco 2023.
  32. ^ Corcoran 1997, p. E3; Thigpen 1997.
  33. ^ Turchiano 2020.
  34. ^ Johnson Connor 2004, pp. 57, 188–191.
  35. ^ Bernstein 1997.
  36. ^ Chan 2023, pp. 11–12; Rambarran 2023, p. 31.
  37. ^ Brown 2017.
  38. ^ Piatkowski 2022.
  39. ^ Chan 2023, pp. 11–12.
  40. ^ Rambarran 2023, p. 31.
  41. ^ O'Brien 2022.
  42. ^ Hoskyns 1997.
  43. ^ Ponder 1997, p. 14.
  44. ^ Poindexter 1997, p. 11.
  45. ^ Campbell 1997, p. 10, 12; Graff 1997, p. 54; Jamison 1997, p. 19.
  46. ^ Ross 1997.
  47. ^ Considine 1999.
  48. ^ Goldstein 2016.
  49. ^ Rambarran 2023, pp. 31–32.
  50. ^ Dagbovie-Mullins 2013, p. 108–109.
  51. ^ Marshell 2020.

Sources

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