Butterfly is the sixth
studio album by American
singer-songwriter Mariah Carey, released on September 16, 1997, by
Columbia Records. The album contained both
hip-hop and
urban adult contemporary sounds, as well as some softer and more contemporary melodies. Throughout the project, Carey worked with
Walter Afanasieff, with whom she had written and produced most of the material from her previous albums. She also worked with many famed hip-hop producers and
rappers, such as
Sean "Puffy" Combs,
Kamaal Fareed,
Missy Elliott and the
Trackmasters. With the latter acts producing most of the album,
Butterfly deviated from the contemporary sound of Carey's older work, and was hailed as a defining album of the 1990s and of pop and R&B music.