Often Imitated, Never Duplicated: The influence of “Heartbreaker” by Mariah & Jay-Z
September 21, 1999.
Almost exactly 16 years ago, Mariah Carey hit #1 with “Heartbreaker,” the lead single from her 7th studio album Rainbow; a track Pitchfork has referred to as an “untouchable roller-rink jam.”
The track is notable for featuring Jay-Z delivering a rap verse as the male counterpoint to the female protagonist, and it’s even more notable for being the first Hot 100 #1 by a solo singer to feature a guest rapper. It was Jay-Z’s first #1 on the Hot 100, and he was featured on the main version of “Heartbreaker” and not as an add-on for a remix.
“Heartbreaker” may have been the first #1 by a solo artist to feature a rapper, but it was by no means the last. “Heartbreaker” began a string of #1s by female singers with a guest rapper, several of which also featured Jay-Z. A couple of years after “Heartbreaker” ascended to #1, Jennifer Lopez hit #1 with “I’m Real,” a track that featured rapper Ja Rule. “I’m Real” was an extension of “Heartbreaker” and other Mariah collaborations in that Ja Rule mattered to the song thematically. Lopez is probably the main example of an artist who emulated and benefited from Carey’s hybrid of sounds; she would have two more #1 hits that featured a male rap artist. Lopez isn’t the only one, though. In 2003 Beyoncé hit #1 with “Crazy In Love,” a song that featured Jay-Z. Rihanna’s career defining #1 hit “Umbrella” also featured Jay-Z, and in 2014 Katy Perry hit #1 with the Juicy-J assisted “Dark Horse.” That all helps explains Sasha Frere-Jones stating in The New Yorker that Mariah, “more than any other musician, established R&B and hip-hop as the sound of pop.” He noted that in the early ’00s young white pop stars like Britney Spears and N’Sync were making “pop music that is unmistakably R&B” while urban artists like Missy Elliott and Beyoncé were combining melodies with rapped verses. Joe Levy of Rolling Stone crafted a similar sentiment in stating Carey “brought a lot of street hip-hop energy into the pop charts, and into this pop/R&B world.”
If Cow really going to do her city like that and break the tradition of the yearly beacon shows by replacing them with Vegas xmas shows?
Unless shes doing both in 2017, otherwise.... okay werk Stella
Her name is Mariah Carey
Falalalalalalalala
She's the facking Queen of Christmas
Falalalalalalalala
She's Mariah, Queen Of Christmas
FALALA FALALA LALALA!!
