Down the Rabbit Hole with "Fourth of July" and "Underneath the Stars"

Like every other patriot, I took the opportunity this past Friday to celebrate the 238th birthday of the American experiment by listening to Mims's cooing slow jam from 1997's Butterfly, "Fourth of July."



While generally pleasant, I have always found this tune to be relatively unmemorable. In fact, the only reason it ever comes to mind for me is the somewhat uncomfortably close resemblance it bears to a tune from Mims's previous 1995 album Daydream -- "Underneath the Stars." A superior song musically and vocally, and supposedly one of Mims's personal favorites (which is why it was included on the two-disc 2001 Greatest Hits compilation), "UTS" is undoubtedly the sonic predecessor of "Fourth of July."

Curious about the similarities between the two songs, I did a bit of googling and was unsurprised to learn that the songs shared a co-producer (other than Carey) -- Walter Afanasieff, a Grammy-winning songwriter and producer with whom Carey worked on her debut album through 1997's Butterfly. Incidentally, Afanasieff also co-produced one of Mims's biggest hits of all-time, "One Sweet Day." Perhaps thankfully, Jermaine Dupri pretty much took over the role of Mims's star co-producer after she rerouted her musical direction in the late 1990s, collaborating with her on 2005's "We Belong Together."

So, mystery solved. However, while I was on Butterfly's Wikipedia page (yeah yeah), I came across nothing less than a bombshell, readers: the collaborator on Butterfly's cover of Prince's "Beautiful Ones" -- one of the album's strongest tracks -- is no one less than SisQo, the man responsible for 1999's aural affront, "Thong Song." How? Why? I will be available for dialogue as we all struggle to regroup after this troubling revelation.



In closure, and with America in mind, I'd like to share this pic I found on Tumblr a few years ago:

The picture's caption reads as follows: 

Mariah Carey’s father is Afro-Venezuelan. Her grandfather’s name was Roberto Nuñez but he changed his surname to Carey in order to assimilate upon arrival to the US.

Mariah Carey would’ve been…. Mariah Nuñez. I wonder how that surname change would have altered the course of her career. 

Just some food for thought as we ponder today's vitriolic immigration debate and remember the immigrants (and of course the slaves) that built America's economy.