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"Your Girl"
"#MC30" EP artwork
Song by Mariah Carey
from the album The Emancipation of Mimi
StudioHoneywest (New York City)
LabelIsland
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)

"Your Girl" is a song recorded by American singer Mariah Carey for her tenth studio album, The Emancipation of Mimi (2005).

Background and release[edit]

"Your Girl" appears as the tenth track on The Emancipation of Mimi, which Universal Music released on March 30, 2005.[1] It was not released as a single from the album.[2] In April 2020, Carey said this was planned from the beginning despite it being one of her favorite tracks.[3] She wrote that the song "should have been a single" in her memoir later that year.[4] Retrospectively, Entertainment Weekly writer Michael Slezak attributed its lack of radio airplay to the number of other worthy tracks on the album.[5] Chris Gardner of The Hollywood Reporter described the song as a deep cut.[6]

On January 29, 2021, a digital extended play was issued containing a remix featuring Diplomats members Cam'ron and Juelz Santana and a second remix featuring the rapper N.O.R.E.[7] The release formed part of the #MC30 promotional campaign marking three decades of Carey's career.[8]

Composition[edit]

Two minutes and forty-six seconds in length, "Your Girl" is the shortest song on the album.[9] Critics labeled it a slow jam[10] and a power ballad.[11]

"Your Girl" contains a sample from the 2003 Adeaze song "A Life with You", written by New Zealanders Feagaigafou and Logovi'i Tupa'i.[12] It includes an acoustic guitar and the group's sped-up voices during the chorus.[13] Scram Jones obtained permission after performing at a 2003 party for the group's record label, Dawn Raid Entertainment.[14] The arranger and guitarist of "A Life with You", Dominique Leauga, alleged he was not credited for his contributions from the sample.[15]

Carey's singing incorporates belting early on in "Your Girl".[16] The lyrics are about her confidently addressing a prospective lover.[17] She says "I'm gonna make you want to get with me tonight"[16] and assures him she will "put naughty thoughts into your mind".[18] For Pitchfork's Julianne Escobedo Shepherd, the focus is on assertiveness rather than a relationship.[17] In The New York Times, Jon Pareles said Carey uses an impersonal delivery.[19] She described the song as "innocent, yet still a bit grimy".[4]

Critics interpreted the composition differently. According to Clayton Smales of the Townsville Bulletin, "Your Girl" is a pop song.[18] Guy Blackman of the Sunday Age felt it has a "down-tempo disco feel"[20] and Sal Cinequemani of Slant Magazine said it is a derivative of the Motown sound.[21] Slezak stated the chorus contains gospel influences;[5] The Jakarta Post's Tony Hotland thought jazz and soul elements were present.[11] Joey Guerra likened the song to a retro soul record in the Houston Chronicle[22] and Nick Marino called it "a simple old-school jam" in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.[23] Escobedo Shepherd said it was "based on the Kanye [West]-style, sped-up soul record trend that was aflame at the time" of recording.[17] Todd Burns of Stylus Magazine also thought the production was influenced by West,[24] while BBC Music writer Adam Webb viewed it as a revision of the "classic soul sound" common in Carey's previous work.[25]

Critical reception[edit]

Music critics called "Your Girl" the best[26] or one of the best songs on the album.[27] In 2005, Slezak listed it among Carey's 10 best songs.[5] Billboard ranked it at number 38 on their 2020 list of Carey's 100 greatest songs.[16]

The composition was a subject of positive commentary. Blackman and Slezak called the chorus catchy.[28]

Carey's vocals received mixed reviews. Andy Gill of The Independent said they are so histrionic she is "almost as bad as all the Pop Idol wannabes that reflect her disastrous influence".[29] In comparing her voice to its state in the 1990s, Burns thought Carey sounded weaker,[24] Milwaukee Journal Sentinel critic Dave Tianen said she used the same excessive style to bad effect,[30] and Orlando Sentinel writer Jim Abbott argued it was better because she exercised more restraint.[31] According to the Sunday Herald Sun, the song serves as a showcase for Carey's vocal range.[32]

Live performances[edit]

Carey has performed "Your Girl" infrequently since its release.[33] She sang it during her 2006 concert tour, The Adventures of Mimi.[34] In 2020, she uploaded an a capella version to her social media accounts for the fifteenth anniversary of The Emancipation of Mimi.[35] This formed part of a series of at-home performances by Carey during the COVID-19 pandemic.[36] It received a positive review from Billboard's Glenn Rowley, who said she "delivers vocals fit for the gods".[35] In 2024, Carey gave her first live performance of the song since 2006 for her Las Vegas concert residency, The Celebration of Mimi.[37]

Credits and personnel[edit]

Recording

Personnel

  • Mariah Carey, Mary Ann Tatum – background vocals
  • Dana Jon Chappelle, Brian Garten – engineering
  • Rufus Morgen – assistant engineering
  • Pat "Pat 'Em Down" Viala – mixing
  • Herb Powers – mastering[38]

References[edit]

Citations[edit]

  1. ^ Universal Music Japan.
  2. ^ Guerra 2020.
  3. ^ Gabbara 2020.
  4. ^ a b Carey & Davis 2020, p. 189.
  5. ^ a b c Slezak 2005.
  6. ^ Gardner 2024.
  7. ^ Kaufman 2021.
  8. ^ Tuccillo 2021.
  9. ^ Jaxsta.
  10. ^ Blackman 2005, p. 27.
  11. ^ a b Hotland 2005, p. 17.
  12. ^ Carey 2005; Hume 2006, p. A3.
  13. ^ Barry Hill 2005; Escobdo Shepherd 2024.
  14. ^ Barry Hill 2005.
  15. ^ Hume 2006, p. A3.
  16. ^ a b c Feeney 2020.
  17. ^ a b c Escobedo Shepherd 2024.
  18. ^ a b Smales 2005.
  19. ^ Pareles 2005.
  20. ^ Blackman 2005.
  21. ^ Cinquemani 2005.
  22. ^ Guerra 2005, p. 8; Guerra 2020.
  23. ^ Marino 2005, p. E10.
  24. ^ a b Burns 2005.
  25. ^ Webb 2005.
  26. ^ Escobedo Shepherd 2024; Marino 2005, p. E10.
  27. ^ Cinquemani 2020; Smales 2005, p. 32.
  28. ^ Blackman 2005, p. 27; Slezak 2005.
  29. ^ Gill 2005, p. 22.
  30. ^ Tianen 2005, p. 8B.
  31. ^ Abbott 2005, p. 38.
  32. ^ Sunday Herald Sun 2005, p. F7.
  33. ^ Paul 2024.
  34. ^ Marino 2006.
  35. ^ a b Rowley 2020a.
  36. ^ Rowley 2020b.
  37. ^ Taylor 2024.
  38. ^ a b Carey 2005.

Sources[edit]

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