TBT- Mariah Carey & Dru Hill

Happy Thursday, Musicheads! Now as you may or may not know, I’m not usually one for remakes, because 9 out of 10 times they never usually do the original justice; but there are a select few that I actually rock with. The Beautiful Ones is one of those sacred tunes that I always believed no one should ever come for. After all, they would never be able to equal the amount of emotion that Prince put in the original when he sung it to Apolonia in Purple Rain. However, I was proven wrong.

Upon listening to Mariah Carey’s 1997 Butterfly album, I was taken "all the way aback" when I heard this version of the tune. I mean they took a Prince song and sung the brakes off it! Their harmonies blended in and fit so well together that you would have never known it was a remake. “Mimi” even toned down her usual vocal acrobatics to allow for Sisqo’s regularly-expected over-singing; proving that she can be a team player, if need be…..Hell, they even made sense of that whole ending part- which if you recall in the original version, was just Prince yelling and screaming stuff to the top of his lungs. “Baby, Baby, Baby, I Want You!” Every time I played that song on my stereo back in the day, I used to have to turn that part down because my Grandma would ask, “Who is that woman, and why is she screaming?” Did you know he was saying actual words there? I had no idea until I heard this version….

For your listening pleasure, I have posted both versions so you can hear what I’m talking about…. Which version do you like better?