Dreamlover (song) - Recording

Recording

While recording Music Box, Carey began to alter her songwriting style and genre choices, most notably in "Dreamlover". The song is different from anything she had recorded on her previous album, as it leans on pop and light R&B influences. While searching for new record producers for the album, Carey came across Dave Hall, a New York native who was known from his work on Mary J. Blige's debut album, What's the 411? (1992). Carey wanted to incorporate a sampled loop from an older song into "Dreamlover", her first song to do so. The pair reviewed several older tunes and melodies, and chose "Blind Alley", performed by The Emotions in 1972. In an interview with Fred Bronson, Carey described working with Hall:

"I wanted to do something that had a happy feeling, something that was more open and released, and that's really not Dave. It's very anti what he's about. So he said, 'Oh, you want to do that happy stuff? All right, all right.' He was not into doing it. Then we started listening to a lot of different and old loops and we used the 'Blind Alley' loop and I started singing the melody over it."

Although Carey had heard the hook used in several other songs over the years, she felt her use of the sample was done in a more innovative way. "We built the song from there and I wrote the lyrics and the melody and Dave ended up liking it," she continued. After having completed the song, Hall complimented Carey's work ethic and form of writing, calling her a "perfectionist" and "very professional." He explained that they incorporated the hook, a melody, and the sample into the song over the course of one night. The song's title was not added until the end of production. Hall said Carey works in a unique fashion, usually developing the song's instrumentals and hook prior to the lyrics and title. Carey describes the songwriting process:

"The way I usually work is I do an untitled song. We'll grab the hook, whether sampled or created, and use it as the working title. I wrote the verses first, as well as the melody and the inclusion of several instrumentals. Sometimes I'll have an idea for a lyrics. If I'm collaborating with someone, I'll direct them in the direction that I'm going chord wise, because I get all these melody ideas and then I lose them if I don't have someone really good with the keyboard with me. That's why I tend to collaborate because I lose the ideas by the time I figure out the chord. All these melody ideas just go."

When Carey's fiancé at the time, Tommy Mottola, came to hear the song in the studio, he had mixed feelings. He approached Walter Afanasieff and asked him to add some additional instrumentation and flavor. Afanasieff changed the song at the production level, altering the way in which the hook sample was incorporated into the song, as well as adding several new instruments. He described the changes to Bronson in an interview:

"Mariah and Dave did this loop thing which was new to us pop producers at the time. Their version of 'Dreamlover' was missing a lot of stuff. The spirit of the song was up but it wasn't hitting hard enough. I re-worked the drums, organ and keyboard. The organ and hi-hat part I changed made it a bit more swinging and a little bit more driving. I put a whole new shade of colors to it."