Sweetheart (Rainy Davis song)

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

"Sweetheart" is a song originally recorded by American singer

synth-funk song, "Sweetheart" appeared on R&B and dance music
-based record charts in the United States.

American singer

bass runs
. The lyrics describe a woman's desire for a person with whom to share a romance.

"Sweetheart" was promoted with a music video directed by Hype Williams in Spain. Although American and British music magazines predicted it would experience success on major record charts, its performance in those countries was restricted to the US Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 and UK club charts due to the absence of a commercial release. It fared better in mainland Europe, where it charted in the top twenty on Dutch, German, and Swiss record charts. In reviewing "Sweetheart", music critics focused on Carey's vocal performance, Dupri's rapping style, and the cover's perceived sexual nature.

Rainy Davis original

"Sweetheart"
Single by Rainy Davis
from the album Sweetheart
Released1986
Genre
Length6:56
LabelSuperTronics
Songwriter(s)
  • Denise L. Davis
  • Pete Warner
Producer(s)
  • Warner
  • Davis
  • Dorothy Kessler
Rainy Davis singles chronology
"Sweetheart"
(1986)
"Lowdown So & So"
(1987)

"Sweetheart" is a

12-inch vinyl single is six minutes and fifty-six seconds long.[8][9]

"Sweetheart" appeared on

Critics commented on the song's production and Davis's vocals. Upon its single release in 1986, Billboard published several reviews. The magazine as a whole described it as "rhythmically intricate",[9] dance writer Brian Chin favored the song's "unpressured beat and nice overall polish",[6] and R&B writer Nelson George compared Davis's vocals to those of Lisa Lisa on Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam's "I Wonder If I Take You Home".[2] Writing for the Hartford Advocate in 1987, George Lane named it the best song on Sweetheart for its restrained production which he thought showcased her voice well.[4]

1986 US weekly chart performance
Chart (Publisher) Peak
position
12-inch Singles Sales (Billboard)[11]
13
Club Play (Billboard)[11] 42
Hot Black Singles (Billboard)[11]
24
12-inch Dance Singles (
Cash Box)[14]
15
Black Contemporary (
Cash Box)[10]
23
Black/Urban (Radio & Records)[12] 27
1986 US year-end chart performance
Chart (Publisher) Peak
position
12 Inch Singles Sales (Billboard)[13] 32

Jermaine Dupri and Mariah Carey version

"Sweetheart"
Cover art of "Sweetheart"
Single by JD and Mariah Carey
from the album Life in 1472 and #1's
ReleasedSeptember 7, 1998
Genre
Length4:22
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
Jermaine Dupri singles chronology
"Money Ain't a Thang"
(1998)
"Sweetheart"
(1998)
"Going Home with Me"
(1998)
Mariah Carey singles chronology
"My All"
(1998)
"Sweetheart"
(1998)
"When You Believe"
(1998)
Music video
"Sweetheart" on
YouTube

Background

According to Carey, after divorcing

Christmas shopping season, Carey did not want the album's release to come across as purely commercial. She included four new songs, one of which was a cover of "Sweetheart".[16] Carey felt that covering a song she liked as a teenager in school would be appreciated by other young girls. She conceptualized the remake with Dupri,[17] with whom she had collaborated on songs such as "Always Be My Baby".[18] The duet was announced in February 1998 to be included on his debut studio album Life in 1472,[19] which was released that July.[20] In November, it appeared as the first song on #1's.[21]

Music and lyrics

The single version of "Sweetheart" is four minutes and twenty-two seconds long.

Right Track Recording in New York. Trey Lorenz, Melonie Daniels, and MaryAnn Tatum provided background vocals. The song was produced by Dupri and Carey, mixed by Dupri and Phil Tan at Silent Sound Studios in Atlanta, and mastered by Bernie Grundman.[26][27] In a 2018 interview regarding his production discography, Dupri named "Sweetheart" the song he most wished to redo as he "would have made it a little more ghetto".[28]

The lyrics of the song describe a woman's desire for a person with whom to share a romance. Carey yearns, "Baby, won't you be my sweetheart / And we could share a storybook romance", to which Dupri responds through

bass runs are featured prominently throughout the song.[3][30] They disappear during the bridge as Carey sings, "A full moon is waiting in the twilight".[3] An explicit introduction in the album version of the song on Life in 1472, in which Carey talks to Dupri on the phone about "fucking", is omitted in subsequent releases.[31]

Release

"Sweetheart" was promoted as the third single from Life in 1472 in the United States.

urban contemporary radio stations on September 7, 1998,[34] followed by rhythmic contemporary stations eight days later.[35] A commercial release in the United States scheduled for September 29 was retracted for unspecified reasons and instead distributed for free with the purchase of #1's.[36][37] Spin reported that DreamWorks and Arista Records were concerned that the song might cannibalize sales of their impending release, Carey's duet with Whitney Houston, "When You Believe".[38]

Dupri, Carl-So-Lowe,

Sony Music Japan on November 6, 1998.[43] CD and CD maxi singles were issued in Belgium on November 2, 1998.[44] The Lil Jon remix was later included on an enhanced CD of Carey's 1999 single "Heartbreaker".[45] The song appears on some of Carey's subsequent compilation albums such as Greatest Hits (2001) and The Remixes (2003).[46][47] In September 2020, as part of her campaign anticipating The Rarities, a digital extended play of "Sweetheart" was released.[48]

Critical reception

Critics commented on Carey's vocal performance and Dupri's rapping, many praising Carey's restrained singing style.

Boston Globe writer Joan Anderman, they come across as sanitized.[29]

The song's sensuality was another topic of commentary. Critics described Carey's vocals as sexy

erotic dancing, deemed "booty-bouncing" and a strip club anthem.[e] Others gauged how explicit the song's lyrics were: Richard Harrington of The Washington Post opined it was more toned-down than other songs on Life in 1472; The Philadelphia Inquirer's Tom Moon felt was more explicit than most songs discussing sex.[56][57] In The Indianapolis Star, Scott L. Miley said Carey's romantic advances were "unflattering".[58]

Commercial performance

Music magazines predicted "Sweetheart" would thrive on record charts. British publication

Complex in 2013, David Drake said that the song underperformed compared to Carey's 1998 standards[f] and questioned Sony's decision to cancel the September 29 commercial release.[63] Internationally, "Sweetheart" peaked within the top twenty of record charts in Germany, Switzerland, and the Netherlands.[64][65][66] Remixes peaked at number sixteen on the UK Record Mirror Club Chart published by Music Week.[67]

Music video

A side view of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao.
The music video for "Sweetheart" shows Dupri dancing atop the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao.

The song was promoted with a music video directed by

perspective distortion in past music videos, but he did not use it for "Sweetheart" because the Guggenheim, an example of architecture in the deconstructivist style, is inherently distorted.[72]

"Sweetheart" depicts Dupri dancing on top of the museum,[68] while Carey twirls in a dress to reveal her underwear and rides on the back of a motorcycle with her lover.[73] She wears a metal mesh outfit that matches the museum's motif.[74] The Morning Call's Paul Willistein called the video "even hotter" than the song itself[75] and The Advertiser felt it would not have been filmed if Carey were still married due to the "sexy, fleshy" visuals.[76] In her book Experiencing Music Video, scholar Carol Vernallis wrote that the Guggenheim represents a departure from the typical iconography of R&B music videos.[77] Irene Nero stated that the video contributed to the museum's perceived celebrity-like status for its many depictions in media.[78]

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Life in 1472 and #1's.[26][27]

Charts

Notes

  1. ^ In other regions, such as Malaysia, it was released as the lead single from #1's.[33]
  2. ^ Attributed to Vincent Stephens in Popular Music and Society,[23] Ron Rollins of the Dayton Daily News,[49] and the Bristol Post.[50]
  3. ^ Attributed to Jeff Hall of the Camden Courier-Post and Natalie Nichols of the Los Angeles Times.[22][53]
  4. Dallas Morning News,[54] and David Browne of Entertainment Weekly,[24]
    respectively.
  5. ^ By Vivian Host of the Dallas Morning News[54] and Brian McCollum of the Detroit Free Press,[55] respectively.
  6. ^ When "Sweetheart" was released, Carey had a streak of five consecutive number one singles on the Billboard Hot 100 dating back to 1995.[62]

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