One Sweet Day
"One Sweet Day" is a song by American singer-songwriter Mariah Carey and American vocal group Boyz II Men. The song was released on, as the second single from the former's fifth studio album, Daydream by Columbia Records. The artists co-wrote the song with Walter Afanasieff, who co-produced it with Carey. Lyrically, the song speaks about the death of a loved one, how the protagonist took their presence for granted and misses them, and finally about seeing the person in heaven. The artists wrote the song about specific people in their lives, being inspired by sufferers of the AIDS epidemic, which was globally prevalent at the time.
"One Sweet Day" received universal acclaim from music critics, many of whom praised its lyrical content and vocals while calling it a standout track on Daydream. It was ranked first in Rolling Stones reader's poll for the Best Collaboration of All Time. Debuting at number one, the song spent 16 weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States, becoming the longest-running number-one song in the chart's history at the time, a record it held for 23 years, and remains the longest-running number-one song to debut atop the chart. The song ranked first on Billboard's Hot 100 decade-end chart. Subsequently, the publication ranked it as the ninth best charting single of the 1990s with post-'90s sales and streaming figures incorporated. Internationally, the song topped the charts in Canada and New Zealand and reached the top-ten in Australia, Belgium, Denmark, France, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Panama, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
Carey performed "One Sweet Day" live alongside Boyz II Men at the 38th Grammy Awards ceremony, held on February 26, 1996. Additionally, the song was performed at Princess Diana's memorial service in September 1997. "One Sweet Day" was part of the set list on several of Carey's succeeding tours, making its debut during the album's accompanying set of concerts, the Daydream World Tour. It is featured on her compilation albums, #1's, Greatest Hits, The Ballads, and #1 to Infinity.
The music video for "One Sweet Day" was filmed in February 1995 and directed by Larry Jordan. It features snippets of Carey and Boyz II Men in and around the studio, and recording the song. The busy schedule of both acts did not allow time to shoot a proper video. Carey later said that she was content a real music video was never filmed, fearing that no video could truly capture the song's strong lyrical message. Critics felt the video choice was wise, and agreed that the simple concept paid homage to the song's selfless message.
Background
"One Sweet Day" was a song that Carey wrote with the R&B group Boyz II Men. After Carey's friend and past collaborator David Cole died, she began writing and developing a song that would pay homage to him and all the friends and family her fans had lost along life's journey. Carey had the idea and chorus composed, and after meeting with Boyz II Men, they realized they too had a similar idea in development. Together, using Carey's chorus and idea, as well as the melody they had produced, they wrote and composed the song. The song was produced by Carey and Walter Afanasieff, who built on its melody and added various grooves and beats. Carey expressed how the song was "meant to be" and how all the pieces fit into place:
I wrote the initial idea for 'One Sweet Day' with Walter, and I had the chorus...and I stopped and said, 'I really wanna do this with Boyz II Men,' because...obviously I'm a big fan of theirs and I just thought that the work was crying out for them, the vocals that they do, so I put it away and said, 'Who knows if this could ever happen, but I just don't wanna finish this song because I want it to be our song if we ever do it together. whole idea of when you lose people that are close to you, it changes your life and changes your perspective. When they came into the studio, I played them the idea for the song and when was finished, they looked at each other, a bit stunned, and told me that Nathan "Nate" Morris had written a song for his road manager who had passed away. It had basically the same lyrics and fitted over the same chord changes. It was really, really weird, we finished the song right then and there. We were all kinda flipped about it ourselves. Fate had a lot to do with that. I know some people won't believe it, but we wouldn't make up such a crazy story.
After they began working on the song, Carey began to incorporate other lyrics into the chorus, trying to make the song relatable to the AIDS epidemic that was in full force in the mid-1990s. Additionally, Mariah's sister Alison Carey had been diagnosed with HIV in 1988 when she was 27, an event that ruined their relationship and tore them apart. Carey stated that she wrote the song hoping that all her fans that have lost someone could relate to "One Sweet Day" and maybe help ease the pain of the loss.
Composition
"One Sweet Day" is a "big" R&B ballad. It incorporates organ instrumentation and different contemporary grooves and beats into its primary arrangement, adding percussion and synthesizers as well, while incorporating "flourishes and harmonies" from both Carey and Boyz II Men. The song is set in the time signature common time and moves at a slow tempo of 64 beats per minute. It is written in the key of A major. The song contains lyrics written by Carey, who also arranged and co-produced the song alongside Walter Afanasieff. Author Chris Nickson complimented the song's instrumentation and arrangement, calling its use of synthesizers "wise" and "efficient." Additionally, he claimed Afanasieff's production and Carey's vocal and production arrangement helped the song's vocals and lyrical content flow together. The song finishes with the last chorus and coda in the key of B major.Reception and accolades
"One Sweet Day" has been met with universal acclaim from contemporary music critics. AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine praised the song for its craft and writing, commenting that " 'One Sweet Day', a duet with Boyz II Men, Carey appeals to both audiences equally because of the sheer amount of craft and hard work she puts into her albums. Steve Baltin from Cash Box wrote, "This single could be thrown at the bottom of the 99 cents bin, buried under the Partridge Family and Starlite Vocal Band, and it would still find its way into the hands of fans. This is as big a guaranteed hit as anything that's come out in some time". He added, "You will never find a surer bet than whether this song will make number one." James Masterton for Dotmusic deemed it "a saccharine piece of American soul slush."Ken Tucker from Entertainment Weekly felt the song truly highlighted the album, " radiates a breezy sexiness that Carey, for all the brazen hussiness of her public persona, rarely permits herself to reveal in song. In 2018, the magazine noted, "Goosebumps, every time. Carey's heavenly vocals, combined with the song's universal message and the sweet harmonies of Boyz II Men." Music & Media named it a "skillful ballad", complimenting Boyz II Men, "who add a soulful touch to Carey's perfectionist vocals." Stephen Holden from The New York Times shared similar sentiments and wrote, "On 'One Sweet Day', the singer joins forces with Boyz II Men, those masters of pleading post-doo-wop vocal harmonies, for a tender eulogy that suggests that the singers have been personally touched by the AIDS crisis." A reviewer from People magazine named the song a "stand-out track" and called Carey's vocal performance "bravura belting." Gina Morris from Smash Hits gave it two out of five, calling it a "soulful, purer-than-pure twee little number".
"One Sweet Day" won many prestigious awards throughout 1996. At the Blockbuster Entertainment Awards, the song won the award for "Favorite Adult Contemporary Single Female 'One Sweet Day'". "One Sweet Day" also won the award for "Song of the Year" at the BMI Awards and a "Special Award for 16 weeks at #1" at the Billboard Music Awards. Together, Daydream and "One Sweet Day" were nominated for six Grammy Awards at the 38th annual ceremony, however, to Carey's surprise, also to the surprise of many critics, they lost all of the nominations. In a readers' poll conducted by Rolling Stone, the song was ranked first for the category of the Best Collaboration of All Time.
Chart performance
"One Sweet Day" debuted at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart dated December 2, 1995, with sales of 204,000 units. Columbia Records sometimes distributed free copies to stores, which was a common practice for all major labels and their artists at the time, and it was occasionally sold for as low as 49 cents. It became Carey's tenth chart topping single on the Hot 100 and Boyz II Men's fourth, debuting at the top spot. "One Sweet Day" became the fourth song to debut at number one after Michael Jackson's "You Are Not Alone", Carey's own "Fantasy", and Whitney Houston's "Exhale ". The song remained at the peak for a record-breaking 16 consecutive weeks, from December 2, 1995, to March 16, 1996. It remained the only song to stay at number one on the chart for 16 weeks until 2017, when the record was tied by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee's "Despacito", featuring Justin Bieber. The record would remain until Lil Nas X's "Old Town Road", featuring Billy Ray Cyrus, broke the record in 2019, spending nineteen weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100. It still remains the only number one debut to spend sixteen consecutive weeks at number one.Boyz II Men had previously held this record twice, with "End of the Road" spending 13 weeks at the top and "I'll Make Love to You" spending 14. The former song shares this record with Brandy and Monica's "The Boy Is Mine", and the latter song shared its record with Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You". Carey's 2005 song "We Belong Together", The Black Eyed Peas's 2009 "I Gotta Feeling" and Mark Ronson's 2014 track, "Uptown Funk", managed to stay at number one for 14 weeks as well. Being the fourth single in history to debut at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, "One Sweet Day" also made Boyz II Men the first group to have a single debut at number one.
"One Sweet Day" unseated "Exhale " by Whitney Houston at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, and was knocked off by Celine Dion's "Because You Loved Me". With the single's debut at number one, it made Carey the first artist to have more than one number-one debut, and one of the four artists ever to have two consecutive singles debut at the top of the chart, along with Britney Spears, with "3" and "Hold It Against Me", and Drake, with "God's Plan" and "Nice for What" and Ariana Grande, with "Thank U, Next" and "7 Rings". "One Sweet Day" was the third best-selling single of 1995 in the US, with sales of over 1,300,000, with the second best-selling single being Carey's "Fantasy". The song spent 26 weeks in the top 40, was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America and was ranked number nine on Billboards Hot 100-decade retrospective.
The song also achieved strong success around the world, topping the charts in Canada and New Zealand, and reaching the top-ten in sixteen countries including Australia, Belgium, France, Ireland, The Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom. In Canada, the song debuted on the RPM Singles Chart at number 89 on the RPM issue dated December 4, 1995, and reached the top of the chart on January 22, 1996. It was present on the chart for a total of 24 weeks, and ranked 12th on the RPM Year-end chart for 1996. It reached the top-two in Australia and the Netherlands; the top-five in France and Ireland and the top-ten in Belgium, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom. In the UK, it is one of Carey's best-selling singles, with estimated sales of over 400,000.