Dress 16: You have become a butterfly

When I was little you would either find me talking or singing .. and I guess not much has changed!  My first love was Whitney Houston when I was 5 years old.  I would get in trouble for singing along to ‘Greatest Love or all’ with my fisher price tape player in my room when I was meant to be asleep.  At the time Whitney had a shaved head and still a respectable reputation. 

As the years went by I found a new love: Mariah Carey.  Funnily enough after ready a biography on Mariah many years ago she was actually marketed as the one to match and out sell Whitney.  In Grade 6 I bought a tape of Mariah Carey’s ‘Music Box’ from Brashes with a voucher I had received for a Birthday and it cost me $19.95, CD prices haven’t changed much.  That tape was played backwards, forwards and repeated as I sang into my hair brush.  I loved the variety in her vocal range and the way her voice could tell a story just in its tone.

Growing up my tapes morphed into CD’s and I continued my admiration for Mariah, poor Whitney didn’t get another look in, until the Waiting to Exhale Soundtrack in 1995.  I took singing lessons and one of my proudest moments was when the singing teacher asked me to come and help in another students lesson who was trying to sing Always be my Baby – a challenge for any singer.   Still at school Mariah featured.  The song Butterfly I remember was played at a year 12 camp when the religious teacher said she would play us a reflection song in religious class.  I cringed at the time thinking oh no not another Jesus song, but it was quickly replaced by a smile – from me at least – when Butterfly by Mariah came out of the stereo. 

Moving to America in 2002 there was a big hope that we would be able to see big musical acts that never made it to Australia.  At Christmas time in the US all the State local radio Stations like Fox FM each host a ‘Jingle Ball’.  At this concert big name recording artists come together to sing a few songs each to span over a few hours for a Christmas celebration.  When Kirsty and I moved to California we tuned into their equivalent of Fox FM – KISS FM.  When we heard about Jingle Ball we immediately wanted to go, the line up (at the time) sounded amazing!!  It was: Destiny’s Child, Goo Goo Dolls, Kylie Minogue (go Aussie!), Avril Lavigne, Kelly Osborne (still no idea why she was there), Nick Carter (oh Backstreet Boys!) and the two main acts were Justin Timberlake and ………… Mariah Carey!  I was so excited .. Mariah Carey was in town and I could see her live in Anaheim.. there was only one slight problem; you couldn’t buy tickets you had to win them!!

The night after we heard about the concert we immediately went into action mode.  We called the radio station and asked to win tickets, they advised that they had already given tickets away for that night but they thought our Aussie accents were cute so they instructed us to call back at a certain time the next night and we would be the winners!!  I wish we had of recorded that conversation the next night, two Aussies girls on LA radio explaining to the DJ how to say G’Day ..while excitedly screaming down the phone we had won.

The Concert was a lot of fun, Kirsty and I danced along to Kylie and screamed for Justin.  When Mariah came out she was bigger than life bringing a massive entourage with her.  From memory I think she only sang 3 songs, it was very short!  But I had finally seen her live.  I can’t say it as a life changing moment but it was something I look back and still can’t believe that the little girl who used to sing along to Vision of Love was seeing her sing in real life.  Many years from that day I did get to see her again in her own concert only this time it was in Madison Square Garden in New York.  Nobody would come with me to the show but I went anyway by myself.  Sean Paul was the support act and it was quite strange because everyone around me was smoking weed and when Mariah did come out and sing ‘Hero’ it felt very weird to be sitting there by myself with pot smokers and one of my greatest singing idols there in front of me.

I have sang Mariah on occasions and Whitney especially at karaoke in New York.  I generally get requests for Dream lover or I Still Believe by Mariah .. I generally pull out Greatest Love when I want to win a free drink at the karaoke place that scores you on how well you sing!  Dream lover is especially fun to sing because it is now the polar opposite of songs I general sing – Steve once commented that I only sing sad or angry songs haha .. but I think he was happy when I would put in some Delta or Mariah to lighten it up.  Mariah may have now been replaced with Amy Lee but I feel lucky that I have been able to have such diverse powerful beautiful women singers to inspire me to sing.  I am nowhere near where they are vocally and never will be but I still have my hair brush and my mum can still tell me to be quiet when I sing too much.

Day 16 You have become a butterfly
Bought: 1 year ago
Price Range: 39.00
From: Boutique in the Royal Arcade in Melbourne CBD
What I like about this dress: I LOVE the butterflies and the ruffle on the neckline
Tag Info: Made in China, Sunny Girl, 100% Spun Rayon
Photo Credit: KMcKinnon