Columbia/LegacyMariah Carey has released the first track from her upcoming The Rarities album.

As she’s explained, the song, “Save the Day, is one she started writing years ago — 2011, to be specific — but, she notes, “The message rings true now more than ever.”

Mariah’s right about that: The lyrics say, “You got a right to your own opinion/But when it comes to the world we live in/Isn’t it the time that we start rebuilding”  and “We all tend to forget that we all cease to exist/if we all live for ourselves/If nobody bothers to find a solution.”

In the chorus, Mariah sings, “If he won’t, and she won’t, and they won’t, then we won’t/We won’t ever learn to save the day.”

The song samples The Fugees‘ hit version of Roberta Flack’s classic song “Killing Me Softly” — you can hear Fugees’ front woman Lauryn Hill‘s “Oh oh oh’s,” which run underneath the chorus.

According to Billboard, Mariah, along with Jermaine Dupri, who produced “Save the Day,” got on a Zoom call with fans and journalists, and Mariah said The Fugees’ song was her “go-to record” back in the ’90s.

“I love Lauryn, I think she’s an incredible artist,” Mariah said, according to Billboard. “I was happy that Lauryn wanted to do this moment with me…. I only wanted to do it with her approval and excitement.”

As for the rest of The Rarities album, Mariah said it includes tracks from “every era,” noting, “We went to the vaults and found a lot of what I consider treasures.” 

The Rarities is out October 2. Her memoir The Meaning of Mariah Carey is due September 29.

By Andrea Dresdale
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