Loverboy (Mariah Carey song)

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"Loverboy"
Single by Mariah Carey featuring Cameo
from the album Glitter
Released	July 16, 2001 (UK)
Format	CD single, CD maxi single, 7" single, 12" single
Genre	Pop/R&B
Length	3:49
Label	Virgin
Writer(s)	Mariah Carey, Larry Blackmon, Thomas Jenkins
Producer(s)	Mariah Carey, Clark Kent
Chart positions
#2 (U.S.) #3 (Canada) #7 (Australia) #12 (UK)
Mariah Carey singles chronology
"Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)" (2000)	"Loverboy" (2001)	"Never Too Far" (2001)

"Loverboy" is a song written by American singer Mariah Carey, Larry Blackmon and Thomas Jenkins, and produced by Carey and Clark Kent for Carey's tenth album Glitter (2001). It is built over a sample of "Candy" by Cameo, who are featured artists on the song. The song's protagonist fantasizes about her "loverboy", and it was released as the album's first single in 2001 (see 2001 in music).

Contents 1 Chart performance 2 Sampling, music videos, and remixes 3 Track listings 4 Charts 5 References 6 See also

[edit] Chart performance

"Loverboy" was Carey's last top forty hit as a lead artist in the U.S. until the release of her fourteenth album, The Emancipation of Mimi, in 2005. As she was the only artist to have a number-one single every year on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in the 1990s (and since the start of her career), pressure was put on her to continue this streak. Carey and her new label Virgin Records, prepared a release schedule for "Loverboy" in which competition would be low, and priced the commercial CD singles for the song at 99 cents or less to help it hit number one.

During this period, Sony Music (Carey's previous label) had changed the release date for Destiny's Child's "Bootylicious", giving it the same pricing and placing it in direct competition with "Loverboy". "Loverboy" sold more strongly than "Bootylicious", but the latter single had received more radio airplay and reached number one. It was believed that the boss, Tommy Mottola (former husband/boss of Mariah Carey) purposely did so, to (as Mariah put it) "sabatoge" her career. Upon the commercial release of the song's CD single which was priced at .49cents[1] (like many of Mariah's previous hit singles), Carey broke a record for having the greatest jump to number two (from number sixty) where it stayed for two weeks. The fact that it was discounted for such a low price helped it become certified gold by the RIAA and was the year's biggest selling single, it remained in the U.S. Hot 100 for fourteen weeks and was ranked eightieth on the Hot 100 2001 year-end charts.

"Loverboy" performed more moderately outside the U.S. It reached the top ten in Canada, Australia and on the United World Chart. It also reached the top twenty in the United Kingdom and Italy, but failed to reach the top forty in Japan and most of Continental Europe.

[edit] Sampling, music videos, and remixes

The sample of Cameo's "Candy" that Carey had used for the song was not her first choice: she had originally wanted to use a sample of the song "Firecracker", originally performed by Martin Denny but popularized by the Yellow Magic Orchestra. Producers of Sony Music artist Jennifer Lopez's song "I'm Real" had used the sample in her song, and because Lopez' album was released first, Carey discarded the "Firecracker" sample. She later used an interpolation of the melody of "Firecracker" in the main remix of "Loverboy". Small snippets of the original version of "Loverboy" featuring the "Firecracker" sample are heard in some advance trailers for the film Glitter, for which the album Glitter served as a soundtrack. In the film, "Loverboy" is the first major hit single by Billie Frank (played by Carey).

According to "Firecracker"'s music publisher, Lopez called to license a sample of the song a month after Carey had. Sony denied reports that record executive and Carey's ex-husband Tommy Mottola shared information about "Loverboy" with Lopez, while "The Inc"'s Irv Gotti said that Mottola contacted him with instructions to create a song that sounded exactly like the track Gotti did for Carey with the sample of "Firecracker".[2]

The single's video, directed by David LaChapelle, uses the album version of the song and features appearances from both Carey and Cameo. Cameo can be seen driving all over a racetrack and vocalizing as Carey, dressed in revealing clothing, is shown singing in various "car girl" positions at the track on a hot summer day. She flags down cars as the "flag girl" and dances as a "tire girl" in a kaleidoscope-inspired sequence, before jumping out of a cake to the roars of the crowd below.

The song's main remix, titled "Loverboy (remix)", uses the same sample as the album version and retains all of Carey's original vocals. It has a different introduction, the singing and spoken parts of Cameo are greatly reduced (and are not credited), and additional raps are included by Da Brat, Ludacris, Shawnna, and 22. A video was also made for the remix and retains most of the shots of the original. In it, Ludacris and Shawnna can be seen rapping together as they ride in an old car, while Da Brat and 22 rap together in a more modern car without a hood.

David Morales created some club remixes of the song that contain re-recorded vocals, including "Loverboy (Club of Love remix)". Two-Step producer MJ Cole produced remixes which retain the original vocals of the song, but involve restructuring.

[edit] Track listings

• U.S. CD single (cassette single/7" single)

1. "Loverboy" (album version)
2. "Loverboy" (remix)

• U.S. CD maxi single

1. "Loverboy" (album version)
2. "Loverboy" (remix)
3. "Loverboy" (MJ Cole remix)
4. "Loverboy" (MJ Cole instrumental)
5. "Loverboy" (MJ Cole London dub mix)
6. "Loverboy" (Club of Love remix)
7. "Loverboy" (Dub Love remix)
8. "Loverboy" (Drums of Love)

[edit] Charts

Chart (2001)	Peak position	No. of chart topper
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	2	—
U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks	1 (2 weeks)	8th
U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play	45	—
U.S. Billboard Top 40 Tracks	40	—
U.S. Billboard Mainstream Top 40	37	—
U.S. Billboard Rhythmic Top 40	21	—
U.S. ARC Weekly Top 40	21	—
Canadian Singles Chart	3	—
Australian ARIA Singles Chart	7	—
United World Chart	10	—
UK Singles Chart	12	—
Italy Top 50 Singles	13	—
Netherlands Mega Top 100 Singles	34	—
Brazil Singles Chart	38	—
Sweden Top 60 Singles	44	—
Belgium Top 50 Singles	49	—
Japanese Oricon Singles Chart	52	—
France Top 100 Singles	54	—
Germany Singles Chart	57	—
Switzerland Top 100 Singles	66	—

Preceded by: "U Remind Me" by Usher

Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs number one single August 4, 2001

Succeeded by: "Fallin'" by Alicia Keys

[edit] References

• [3]

[edit] See also

• R&B number-one hits of 2001 (USA)