Saving a certain day in 2020 is quite an order, but if you combine the powers of Mariah Carey and Mrs. Lauryn Hill, you are off to a strong start.
This new music Friday (August 21) marks the release of ‘Save the Day’, a new track by Mariah Carey starring Mrs. Lauryn Hill. “Save the Day” is the first release from Mimi’s double-disc archive Deep Dive The Rarities (Oct. 2), who gets hot on the heels of her memoir The Meaning of Mariah Carey (from Sept. 29).
With passionate, influential vocals that deliver a timely message (“We’re in this together”; “it’s interesting, fear still keeps us down”), a few classic Mariah high notes and a sick beat drop courtesy Jermaine Dupri who accompanies the entrance from the voice of Mrs. Lauryn Hill (sampled from the Grammy-winning “Killing Me Softly With His Song” by the Fugees), “Save the Day” is pure MC goodness .
At a Zoom audition with fans, journalists and friends just hours before the song’s release, Carey said she was always a fan of Roberta Flack’s original recording of the song and that the Fugees’ version returned her “go-to record” was in the 90s while on tour. “I love Lauryn, I think she’s an incredible artist,” Carey said. “I was glad Lauryn wanted to do this moment with me … I just wanted to do it with her approval and excitement.”
“Save the Day” dates back to a 2011 studio with Carey, Dupri and Randy Jackson, but it wasn’t until recently when Carey and Dupri realized separately how appropriate the lyrics of the song were to the world at the time. “It happened organically that the lyrics are so apropos at this exact moment,” Carey said, with Zoom guest Dupri adding, “For me, this is a Mariah Carey record from her heart.”
As before The Rarities, Carey revealed that it was touched “every era”, with “a song that could have made it into an album.” As an added bonus to the Zoom listening party, she played a piece of a Jackson 5-esque song that dates back to her 1990 debut. “We went to the skins and found a lot of what I consider treasures,” she said.
