Mariah Carey was already one of the biggest stars in music when her seventh studio album, Rainbow, hit stores on November 2nd, 1999. At the time, I was a senior in high school living in El Paso, Texas. Before that, I had spent the last six years outside Washington D.C. Naturally, living so close to Chocolate City with numerous urban radio stations, album cuts weren’t that hard to come by. Particularly during the quiet storm.
Unfortunately, El Paso only had one mainstream radio station, so it was sporadic that an album cut would get radio play. However, I’ve always considered myself a music head, so I would spread the word around my high school whenever I discovered a slow jam bop from an artist.
So naturally, back in 1999, when I heard “Bliss” this week’s pick for Slow Jam Saturday, I had to get my A&R on. As with her previous two albums, Daydream and Butterfly, Rainbow found Mariah Carey going in a more urban direction. One of the most surprising things about Rainbow was that Carey eighty-sixed longtime collaborator Walter Afanasieff in favor of Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis for the ballads.
“Bliss” is the third track on the album and one of the first slow jams that Carey worked on with Jam & Lewis. The song starts with an angelic sound before Mariah comes in at the nineteen-second mark, seductively crooning,
“Touch me baby
It feels so amazing (yeah)
And you stimulate me
And you make me want you more and more”.
When we hit the chorus, Mariah has the listener in a romantic frenzy as she effortlessly shows off her whistle register. Even in the simplicity of production, Mariah shows why she’s one of the best in the game. Furthermore, as far as I know, no singer has ever attempted to cover the song on a reality TV singing competition due to the vocal complexity.
“Thank God I Found You” and the far superior (Make It Last Remix feat. Joe & Nas) may have been the big ballad single from Rainbow. However, with “Bliss,” Jam & Lewis produced a sensual slow jam for Carey that was never crass but tasteful and personally stood the test of time.
Final Grade: A
“Bliss” from Rainbow is available on all streaming platforms.
Growing up in the nineties, movies aimed at a melanin audience often featured soundtracks that had to be just as flavorful as the films themselves. This week, for Slow Jam Saturday, I want to take a trip back to 1993 and highlight one of the slow jams from the soundtrack of “Menace II Society”.
Last week marked two significant anniversaries for one of the greatest artists of all time, Mr. Prince Rogers Nelson. It’s only fitting that I show him some love for Second Listen Sunday. The first anniversary was on the 21st, commemorating nine years since his passing. The second anniversary was on the 22nd, celebrating the 40th anniversary of his seventh studio album, “Around the World in a Day.”
One of my most significant decisions late last year was to pledge to Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, Inc. At the time of this writing, I am in Atlantic City for my fraternity’s Regional Conference, where I will represent my chapter, Beta Alpha Omega. In that regard, I believe the perfect song for this week’s Slow Jam Saturday is “The Best Man I Can Be.”