Recording
Mariah Carey had originally been recorded in Margulies' father's basement, with old and minimal equipment. After being signed to Columbia, the songs that would be used for the album were re-mastered and re-recorded in professional studios. However, due to Sony's involvement in the project, they did not allow Carey to produce most of the album, hoping the aid of several famed record producers would be able to ensure Carey's already deemed "exquisite" songs would become popular. After the album's success however, Carey was allowed more freedom on Emotions than on her debut. Since she no longer had a working or personal relationship with Margulies, she chose to work with mostly different musicians than those of her previous effort, with the exception of Walter Afanasieff, the only hold over from Mariah Carey. Even though he had only co-written "Love Takes Time", and had only produced part of the album, Carey felt a strong working chemistry with him, soon developing a unique form of songwriting alongside him. Aside from Afanasieff, Carey worked with Robert Clivillés and David Cole from the dance-music influenced production duo, C+C Music Factory. Working with the duo was originally Mottola's suggestion, but after meeting the pair, Carey agreed and wrote four songs together with them.
Additionally, aside from the three men, Carey worked with Carole King, a female singer-songwriter who had been predominantly popular in the 1970s. However, unlike with C+C Music Factory, King approached Carey, hoping to work with her after hearing her perform live on The Arsenio Hall Show. During a conversation with Carey, King suggested that she cover "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman", a song she had written with Gerry Goffin for Aretha Franklin. After giving it some thought, Carey declined the offer, feeling uncomfortable about recording a song she felt one of her musical influences performed so perfectly. Still determined on working with Carey, King flew to New York for one day, to try to create a ballad of some sort. The two ladies sat together by a piano over the course of the day, and by nightfall, had written and arranged a song titled "If It's Over". After working with Carey, King said in an interview "I love her voice. She's very expressive. She gives a lot of meaning to what she sings." After recording "If It's Over", Carey expressed the musical connection she shared with Afanasieff, as well as the creative format in which she wrote and produced her music when with him, or working with C+C Music Factory. When working with Afanasieff, the duo would sit by a piano, and lead each other vocally and musically, until they would reach the right note and arrangement. During an interview in 1992, Afanasieff described how Carey would stand next to him, and begin singing different notes and tunes she was thinking of, while he would follow her with the piano. In doing so, he would help lead her to the right note and vice versa. Carey described their working relationship as "very unique," and felt it to be very similar to the form in which she had worked with Margulies. While similar, Carey's creative process with Cole and Clivillés proved different; they would bring her several different tapes and tunes, of which she would choose from. Afterwards, they would work on building the already created melody, and have Carey add and build onto it, as well as writing the lyrics and key.
Read more about this topic: Emotions (Mariah Carey Album)
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