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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] Carey wrote the song with Marc Shemer and the latter produced it with her under the stage name Scram Jones. All work occurred at various locations in New York City. Dana Jon Chapelle and Brian Garten engineered the song with assistance from Rufus Morgen at Honeywest Studios. After Pat "Pat 'Em Down" Viala mixed it at Right Track Studios, Herb Powers mastered "Your Girl" at The Hit Factory. It features background vocals from Carey and Mary Ann Tatum.[12]

"Your Girl" contains a sample from the 2003 Adeaze song "A Life with You", written and performed by New Zealanders Feagaigafou and Logovi'i Tupa'i.[13] It uses the same acoustic guitar and speeds up a few lines of the duo's voices in the chorus.[14] Scram Jones obtained clearance after performing at a party for the group's record label, Dawn Raid Entertainment.[15] The arranger and guitarist of "A Life with You", Dominique Leauga, alleged he was not credited for his contributions.[16]

Carey's singing incorporates belting early on in "Your Girl".[17] The lyrics are about her confidently addressing a prospective lover.[18] She says "I'm gonna make you want to get with me tonight"[17] and assures him she will "put naughty thoughts into your mind".[19] For Pitchfork's Julianne Escobedo Shepherd, the focus is on Carey's assertiveness rather than a relationship.[18] In The New York Times, Jon Pareles said she uses an impersonal delivery.[20] The song is "innocent, yet still a bit grimy" according to Carey.[4]

Critics interpreted the composition differently. According to Clayton Smales of the Townsville Bulletin, "Your Girl" is a pop song.[19] Guy Blackman of the Sunday Age felt it has a "down-tempo disco feel"[21] and Sal Cinequemani of Slant Magazine said it is a derivative of the Motown sound.[22] 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[23] and Nick Marino called it "a simple old-school jam" in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.[24] Escobedo Shepherd said it was "based on the Kanye [West]-style, sped-up soul record trend that was aflame at the time" of recording.[18] Todd Burns of Stylus Magazine also thought the production was influenced by West,[25] while BBC Music writer Adam Webb viewed it as a revision of the "classic soul sound" common in Carey's previous work.[26]

Critical reception[edit]

Some music critics called "Your Girl" the best[27] or one of the best tracks on the album.[28] It has appeared on rankings of Carey's music. Slezak listed "Your Girl" among Carey's 10 best songs in 2005.[5] In 2020, Billboard ranked it at number 38 on their list of Carey's 100 greatest songs.[17]

The composition was a subject of positive commentary. Blackman and Slezak called the chorus catchy.[29]

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".[30] In comparing her voice to its state in the 1990s, Burns thought Carey sounded weaker,[25] Milwaukee Journal Sentinel critic Dave Tianen said she used the same excessive style to bad effect,[31] and Orlando Sentinel writer Jim Abbott argued it was better because she exercised more restraint.[32] According to the Sunday Herald Sun, the song serves as a showcase for Carey's vocal range.[33]

Live performances[edit]

Carey has performed "Your Girl" infrequently since its release.[34] She sang it during her 2006 concert tour, The Adventures of Mimi.[35] In 2020, she uploaded an a capella version to her social media accounts for the fifteenth anniversary of The Emancipation of Mimi.[36] This formed part of a series of at-home performances by Carey during the COVID-19 pandemic.[37] It received a positive review from Billboard's Glenn Rowley, who said she "delivers vocals fit for the gods".[36] In 2024, Carey gave her first live performance of the song since 2006 for her Las Vegas concert residency, The Celebration of Mimi.[38]

Credits and personnel[edit]

Recording

Personnel

  • Mariah Carey – songwriting, production, background vocals
  • Marc Shemer/Scram Jones – songwriting, production
  • Mary Ann Tatum – background vocals
  • Dana Jon Chappelle, Brian Garten – engineering
  • Rufus Morgen – assistant engineering
  • Pat "Pat 'Em Down" Viala – mixing
  • Herb Powers – mastering[12]

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. ^ a b c Carey 2005.
  13. ^ Carey 2005; Hume 2006, p. A3.
  14. ^ Barry Hill 2005; Escobdo Shepherd 2024.
  15. ^ Barry Hill 2005.
  16. ^ Hume 2006, p. A3.
  17. ^ a b c Feeney 2020.
  18. ^ a b c Escobedo Shepherd 2024.
  19. ^ a b Smales 2005.
  20. ^ Pareles 2005.
  21. ^ Blackman 2005.
  22. ^ Cinquemani 2005.
  23. ^ Guerra 2005, p. 8; Guerra 2020.
  24. ^ Marino 2005, p. E10.
  25. ^ a b Burns 2005.
  26. ^ Webb 2005.
  27. ^ Escobedo Shepherd 2024; Marino 2005, p. E10.
  28. ^ Cinquemani 2020; Smales 2005, p. 32.
  29. ^ Blackman 2005, p. 27; Slezak 2005.
  30. ^ Gill 2005, p. 22.
  31. ^ Tianen 2005, p. 8B.
  32. ^ Abbott 2005, p. 38.
  33. ^ Sunday Herald Sun 2005, p. F7.
  34. ^ Paul 2024.
  35. ^ Marino 2006.
  36. ^ a b Rowley 2020a.
  37. ^ Rowley 2020b.
  38. ^ Taylor 2024.

Sources[edit]

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