"Someday" | ||||
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Single by Mariah Carey | ||||
from the album Mariah Carey | ||||
A-side | "Someday" | |||
B-side | "Alone in Love" | |||
Released | November 15, 1990 | |||
Format | ||||
Studio | The Power Station | |||
Genre | Dance-pop | |||
Length | 4:06 | |||
Label | Columbia | |||
Songwriter(s) | ||||
Producer(s) | Ric Wake | |||
Mariah Carey singles chronology | ||||
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"Someday" is a song by American singer and songwriter Mariah Carey from her self-titled debut studio album (1990). It is a dance-pop song with new jack swing influences. Prior to Carey signing a record contract, she and producer Ben Margulies had written and produced a four-track demo which included "Someday". After signing a contract with Columbia Records, Carey began work on her debut album and she reached out to Ric Wake to ask if he would produce the song, to which he agreed. The composition of the demo recording was changed during the recording process, most notably replacing the horns with a guitar, which Carey disapproved of.
"Someday" was released as the album's third single on November 15, 1990, in the United Kingdom and was released the following month in the United States with multiple remixes. The song was a critical and commercial success, being described as an album highlight and becoming Carey's third consecutive number-one single on the US Billboard Hot 100. "Someday" was subsequently included on many of Carey's compilation albums and greatest hits releases, including MTV Unplugged (1992), #1's (1998), Greatest Hits (2001), The Essential Mariah Carey (2011) and #1 To Infinity (2015).
In 1988, an 18-year-old Mariah Carey moved out from her mother's house in Long Island and into an apartment in Manhattan. She had composed a four-track demo tape with her writing partner Ben Margulies while she was attending high school. As 1988 progressed, Carey struggled to impress record executives with the tape and had failed in securing a record deal. She worked several jobs, including as a waitress and coat-checker, in order to pay for studio sessions with Margulies to make changes to the demo. After several months, Carey befriended singer Brenda K. Starr, and soon became one of her back-up vocalists. During recording sessions and rehearsals, Starr began to notice "glimpses" of Carey's "gifted" vocals. She thought that Carey was capable of achieving mainstream success and that she needed some guidance to break into the industry.