One Sweet Day

"One Sweet Day" is a song by American singer-songwriter Mariah Carey and R&B group Boyz II Men. The song was written by Carey, Walter Afanasieff and the members of Boyz II Men: Wanya Morris, Shawn Stockman, Nathan Morris, and Michael McCary. "One Sweet Day" was produced by Carey and Afanasieff for her fifth studio album Daydream, and was released as the album's second single on November 14, 1995. The song is about losing a loved one, and eventually seeing them, once again, in heaven one day, and how the protagonist took their presence for granted and misses them. Both Carey and Boyz II Men wrote the song about specific people in their lives to include sufferers of the AIDS epidemic so globally prevalent at the time. "One Sweet Day" was positively reviewed by music critics, many of whom complimented its lyrical content and vocals, as well as calling it a standout track from Daydream. The song experienced success in many countries around the world, especially in the United States. It spent 16 weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 and is the longest running number one song in US chart history. The song also achieved strong success around the world, topping the charts in Canada and New Zealand, and reaching the top-ten in Australia, Belgium, France, Ireland, The Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Additionally, "One Sweet Day" was ranked first in Rolling Stone's reader's poll for the Best Collaboration of All Time. Carey performed "One Sweet Day" live on several television and award show appearances around the world. She performed it alongside Boyz II Men at the 38th annual Grammy Awards ceremony, held on February 26, 1996. Additionally, the song was performed at Princess Diana's memorial service in September 1997. "One Sweet Day" was part of the set-lists on several of Carey's succeeding tours, making its debut during the album's accompanying set of concerts, the Daydream World Tour and is featured on her compilation albums, Number 1's (1998), Greatest Hits (2001) and The Ballads (2008). The music video for "One Sweet Day" was filmed in early 1996, and features snippets of Carey and Boyz II Men in and around the studio, and recording the song. Carey explained that due to her and Boyz II Men's busy schedules, they feared there would not be enough time to record a proper video. For this reason, while they wrote and recorded the song, they used video crew footage bits, of the recording process, for the music video. Carey later said that she was content a real music video was never filmed, fearing that no video could truly capture the song's strong lyrical message. Critics felt the video choice was wise, and agreed that the simple concept paid homage to the song's selfless message. (wiki)