Background
Since her debut in 1990, Carey's career was heavily calculated and controlled by her husband and head of her label Sony Music Entertainment, Tommy Mottola. For years, Carey's albums had consisted of slow and meaningful ballads, devoid of any guest appearances or hip-hop. In January 1995, as she recorded Daydream, Carey began taking more control over her musical style and genre influences. She enlisted the production skills and rap styles of Ol' Dirty Bastard, who was featured on the remix of her song "Fantasy". While Mottola was hesitant at first, Carey's influence paid off: the song became an international chart topper, with critics calling their joint performance one of the pioneering songs of pop and R&B musical collaborations.
During the recording and production of Carey's Butterfly in 1997, the couple separated, leaving Carey an extended amount of control over the unfinished album. Following their separation, Carey began working with younger hip-hop and R&B producers and songwriters, aside from her usual work with balladeers Walter Afanasieff and Kenneth Edmonds. While the album incorporated several different genres and components that were not present in Carey's previous releases, Butterfly also included a balance of her classic ballads and newer R&B-infused jams. While Sony accepted Carey's new collaborations with writers and producers such as P. Diddy and Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, they contiunued to focus their promotion on the ballads. After "Honey", the debut single from Butterfly, was released in September 1997, Sony halted the release of the succeeding R&B-influenced jams, and released the ballad "My All" as the second worldwide single. Rainbow followed in its predecessors' footsteps, becoming even more drenched in modern hip-hop and R&B.
Read more about this topic: Rainbow (Mariah Carey Album)
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