Mariah Carey made chart history when "Emotions" went to number one on the Billboard Hot 100. She became the first artist to have her first five singles all make number one, breaking the record of four established by the Jackson Five 21 years earlier.
"Emotions," the title track from her second album, was one of four songs on the disc co-produced by the team of David Cole and Robert Clivilles, who had recently visited the top of the chart on their own as C & C Music Factory.
Cole credited CBS Records Group president Tommy Mottola for suggesting the collaboration with Mariah. "Working with Mariah was, first of all, fun," he exclaimed. "Robert and I bounced off ideas. We came up with a whole bunch of grooves. If this worked, cool, if this doesn't work, next. And that's how we did the whole project. We would all come together and decide on what worked and what didn't.
"What was funny was both Robert and Mariah came up with the 'Emotions' groove separately. She had an idea for it and so did Robert. They both had mentioned doing something similar to the (group) Emotions. I mean, the Emotions were an inspiration for the song 'Emotions,' there's no way to deny that or get around it. It definitely has the feeling from the Emotions, but we're not dumb enough to go and steal the damn record."
According to Cole, it was Mariah who came up with the song's title. "We thought maybe that's a bit much. And we all decided, 'No, why not?' There's nothing wrong with calling it 'Emotions'...it's a great name for a song."
The first song Cole and Clivilles worked on with Carey was "You're So Cold," which was being considered for the album's first single until they came up with "Emotions."
Cole talked about Mariah's octave range. "The high stuff? Oh, that's what she's known for. We had to include it, but as we started working, we decided we didn't want to use it as much as we could have. We didn't want it to become a gimmick instead of the fact that she could sing. But it's amazing. Listen to the very end of the song: she's hitting this very low note, and you compare that to the high note she hits. She's got an incredible range."
"Emotions" was Mariah's highest debut yet, leaping on to the Hot 100 at number 35 the week of August 31, 1991. Six weeks later, it was number one, where it remained for three weeks. For a follow-up, Columbia released "Can't Let Go," written and produced by Mariah and Walter Afanasieff.
"Mariah and I started writing together for the album a few months before starting to record," says Afanasieff. "I was doing Michael Bolton's album. And during the time that Michael would do a small little tour or take a break over the holidays, I would have the opportunity to write with Mariah." Soon they had a large collection of songs which they played for Columbia executives to see which ones should be recorded. "Can't Let Go," one of the first songs they had written, made the cut.
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