"Dreamlover" is a song written and produced by American
singer Mariah Carey, Dave Hall and Walter Afanasieff, and
recorded for Carey's fourth album
Music Box(1993). Columbia Records executives brought in
Afanasieff to tone the song down, because they felt the
original production was too rough and mellow. It is built
around a sample of The Emotions' "Blind Alley," written by
David Porter, but uses a Hammond organ. Its protagonist
pictures an ideal man, her "dream lover".
It was released as the first single from
Music Boxin the third quarter of 1993, and marked the
start of a trend of Carey's to use samples as backbones for the
lead singles from her studio albums; later examples include
"Fantasy" (1995), "Honey" (1997) and "Heartbreaker" (1999). It
was nominated for the 1994 Grammy Award for Best Female Pop
Vocal Performance, losing to "I Will Always Love You" by
Whitney Houston. It won a BMI Pop Award, as had Carey's every
U.S. single other than "I'll Be There".
"Dreamlover" has been one of Carey's most popular songs in
concert, through 2006 holding a regular slot in all of her
tours' setlists, often near the beginning of the show.
Rock singer Bruce Springsteen sampled "Dreamlover" for his
song "Let's Be Friends," from the album
The Rising(2002).
"Dreamlover" became Carey's seventh number 1 single on the
Billboard Hot 100 and was easily her biggest hit in the U.S. at
the time. It reached number 1 in its sixth week (her quickest
climb prior to her first of three number 1 debuts) and spent
eight weeks at the top (her longest stay at the time), from
September 5 to October 30, 1993. Mariah Carey later bested that
with "One Sweet Day" and "We Belong Together," the first of
which was with Boyz II Men. It replaced "Can't Help Falling in
Love" by UB40 at the number 1 spot, and was replaced by Meat
Loaf's "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)." It
spent twenty-six weeks in the top forty and was ranked number 8
on the Hot 100 1993 year-end charts. The song topped eight
other
Billboardcharts, and was Carey's first single to be
certified platinum by the RIAA.
The single was a success outside the U.S., becoming Carey's
fourth number 1 single in Canada, staying three weeks atop the
chart, and it peaked at number 2 in New Zealand and it was
certified gold there by the RIANZ. It reached the top ten in
several countries including the United Kingdom, Australia, and
the Netherlands. It was certified gold in Australia by the
ARIA. "Dreamlover" was moderately successful across Europe,
making the top twenty in most markets, but failed to reach the
top forty in France.
The single's music video, directed by Diane Martel, was one
of the first over which Carey was given more creative control.
It shows her frolicking around fields in upstate New York on a
summer day with her dog Jack (who would appear in some of her
later videos), before boarding a hot air balloon as a legion of
shirtless male hip hop dancers dance on.
"Dreamlover" marked the first time Carey was given control
over remixes of her songs. She enlisted David Morales to create
the Def club mix, and was the first of Carey's remixes to use
re-recorded vocals. The success of the remix contributed to
Morales' career as a remixer, aided in bridging the gap between
pop and house music, and also started a trend of having
renowned remixers create new versions of pop singles. The Def
club mix of "Dreamlover" is considered a breakthrough record in
the house music industry.
Besides the dubs, edits, and other variations of the Def
club mix, other remixes using the original vocals from the
song's original album version also exist, as created by Brian
Alexander Morgan of Bam Jam Productions: Theo's club joint mix
and Bam jam soul. An officially-released live version of
"Dreamlover," derived from the television special
Here Is Mariah Carey(1994), is also available.
"Dreamlover" B-side track ("Do You Think of Me") was written
and produced by Carey, Walter Afanasieff, Cory Rooney and Mark
Morales.
Worldwide CD single
European CD maxi-single #1
