I had the melody idea for 'Fantasy' and then I was listening to the radio and heard 'Genius of Love,' and I hadn't heard it in a long time," recalls Mariah Carey. "It reminded me of growing up and listening to the radio and the feeling that song gave me seemed to go with the melody and the basic idea I had for 'Fantasy.' I initially told Dave Hall about the idea and we did it." Issued as a single in 1982, "Genius of Love" by Talking Heads spin-off group Tom Tom Club peaked at number 32 on the Hot 100. "We called up the Tom Tom Club and they were really into it," says Mariah of her first single off the Daydream album.
Dave Hall, who also collaborated with Carey on "Dreamlover," recalls that "Fantasy" was "a fun song to do. Mariah brought me 'Genius of Love' and I laid some strings on it and put it to a groove that I felt would really fit her. And that song didn't take us but a minute to do, because she really busted that out within two days. We did a rough copy and let (Sony Music Entertainment CEO) Tommy Mottola hear it and he loved it, so all we had to do was bring it back in and mix it down."
The Daydream album reflected Mariah's love of hip-hop music. She took that influence one step further with "Fantasy," asking Sean "Puffy" Combs to helm a remix that emphasized the bass line more than the original pop version. Carey also invited Ol' Dirty Bastard from the Wu-Tang Clan to add some rap to the track.
"Fantasy" was an important step in Carey's career, and not just because the single was the second ever to debut at number one on the Hot 100, following Michael Jackson's "You Are Not Alone," and the first by a female artist. The video for "Fantasy" marked Carey's debut as a video director. "I've done a lot of videos and wasn't always a hundred percent thrilled," she explains. "For the most part, I was never thrilled with the results, so I figured I would give it a shot." Carey earned high marks for this end result, which featured her Rollerblading in tight shorts, and a clown tied to a pole.
Three weeks after "Fantasy" entered the Hot 100 in pole position, the Daydream album repeated that feat on the Billboard 200. It was the first time that an artist had debuted at number one with an album and that album's first single. But more importantly for Carey, the experience of recording her sixth album was far different from making the first one. "I feel it's a lot easier now," she says. "When I think back to the first album, I wasn't used to the process of working with other people and producers, and I had a different role to play. I was like the guest of the producer in the studio, a kid that had a deal and was hoping to have some success. And now I feel more confident and more in control, because I am. I go in and do what I want. I sing by myself and if the co-producer chooses to come in at the end and give me some critique, that's fine and I'm really open to that. But I feel more free doing it the way I've been doing it for the past couple of albums."
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