Once enthralled in the groove, the song’s climax sneaks up on you unexpectedly without any key change or big band arrangement. The words roll off the tongue as Mariah rhymes 3 to 5 syllable words every other line, making it a fun song to sing along to: immediately, similarly, reality, gradually, convincingly, unyieldingly. The lyrics are honest, yet don’t denote your typical breakup song. The vocal arrangements are heavily layered, yet digestible. The arrangement of the instruments is repetitive yet effective. The song is comprised of simple ingredients but stirred enough times to pack a powerful punch. Yet interestingly, contemporary critics and fans from the song’s heyday remember it as definitive. So why has the song mostly been forgotten today? For example, at the time of writing, it doesn’t even appear on Apple Music’s Mariah Carey Essentials playlist. This is the height of her elegance and maybe hip-hop-soul's, too.” In 1998, music journalist Chris Nickson described the song as “the album’s backbone, its real declaration of independence.” Speak to any avid R&B fan who listened to the radio or watched MTV in the 90s, and they’ll concur that this song is one of Mariah’s best. With the song, he said, “she lunges toward musical maturity by embracing, not shunning hip-hop. Billboard listed the song as one of Mariah Carey’s classics in a recent retrospective piece, and Rich Juzwiak, writing for Slant, deemed it “the song of Carey's career” only five years after its initial release. Since then I’ve made up for the lost time, as I listen to “Breakdown” on a regular basis ever since that day and I can safely say it’s one of my top 5 favorite songs ever, by any artist in any genre.Īs I’ve read up on the lore of “Breakdown” throughout the years, I’ve learned these sentiments are not unique to me alone. I wasn’t sure how a song that everybody at a party knew simply never crossed my path in my 20 years of living. I also heard “Hero” played in graduations and talent shows so much in elementary and middle school that I hadn’t realized the song was about a decade old at that time. For example, as a kid, I first heard “Always Be My Baby” played on the radio back to back with a Joss Stone song, so my dumb ass credited the song to Joss for a while. The shock came from the fact that I had assumed I was fairly familiar with Mariah’s repertoire, since even her 90s hits found their way into my childhood in the 2000s. Krayzie Bone and Wish Bone.” “Mariah Carey?!” I thought. I did, however, quickly ask and write down the name of the song to search for it later. And if I had heard it in the past, at this point in time, it was scrubbed from my subconscious. My friend’s voice trilled: “You called yesterday / To basically say…” Other Gen-X party-goers joined the chorus: “That you care for me but / That you’re just not in love.” Though every voice in the room sang along, this was definitely not a song I was able to locate in my memory bank. They tested me further, “Hold up, let me play another one you should know.” Suddenly a smooth, mid-tempo hip-hop beat pounded through the speakers. “I just don’t know them well enough to sing along.” Having been born in the 90s, “Motownphilly” and “Doo-Wop (That Thing)” were somehow ingrained into my subconscious, even though I had no recollection of where or how I heard these songs (a testament to how enduring a classic truly is). “I’ve definitely heard these songs before,” I said. “You really don’t know these songs?” They looked at me mouth and eyes equally agape. I was embarrassed to admit that our karaoke party was also a crash course for me in essential 90s R&B listening. I happily sang along to Alicia Keys and Usher hits from the aughts, while the rest chose Boyz II Men and Lauryn Hill classics from before I was even in grade school. Not until the day our karaoke song selections came into question. I never paid much attention to the differences that were present in our age groups. We became friends when I was in my teens, but having friends who were in their 20s and 30s was the norm for me.
Being that it’s her b-day, I’m reminded that we’re almost 15 years apart in age, and therefore the other handful of people coming to this intimate gathering will also be older than me. We’re celebrating her birthday at a karaoke lounge in Union Square - mediocre food and drinks, but the private rooms are worth it. It’s 2013 and I’m meeting up with a good friend I haven’t seen in a while.
Listen to the audio version of this essay on the podcast.