It was released as the lead single from Butterfly on July 29, , by Columbia Records. It stayed at number one for three consecutive weeks. The video features Carey being held hostage in a mansion, which she escapes in a James Bond —themed plot. Subsequent scenes see Carey escaping her assailants on a watercraft, dancing aboard a ship with sailors and frolicking on a beautiful island with her lover.
The video garnered much coverage, as many comparisons were made between the video and the rumors of Carey's failing marriage. While Carey denied the comparisons were anything more than coincidence, many close friends including Walter Afanasieff , Carey's long-time writing partner, felt they were more than obvious. After the success of her urban crossover album Daydream , Carey began exerting more control over the creative aspects of her career. They brought the lyrics, samples and melody over to Puff Daddy who, as a producer, had just earned his second number-one single on the Billboard Hot with " Mo Money Mo Problems.
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Puffy explained why Carey recorded her vocals separately, and his feelings regarding having worked with her:. A lot of people feel I'm overbearing, so I wasn't allowed in the studio when she did her vocals. I'm trying to work on that, I'm such a perfectionist, sometimes I don't give people the chance to breathe. So I've been banned from a lot of studios. Mariah [recorded "Honey"] until she thought it was perfect, like a hundred times.
She gave me like a hundred tracks to choose from. Puffy expressed his respect for Carey and her craft, mentioning that she re-did her vocals many times until she felt they were perfect. After they had the vocals, Carey and Puffy began working on the song's hook and incorporating the music samples and blending them into the bridge and chorus. Combs's production gave the song a "light and airy" effect, further distancing it from Carey's contemporary sound.
The song truly embodied a more mature and confident woman, with sultrier lyrics and a thumping hip-hop beat to accompany it. David Browne from Entertainment Weekly described the importance the song held for Carey's musical transition. He wrote "You're prepared for a song on which Carey finally breaks free of her adult-contemporary chains and gets down. Its new pop brilliance doesn't always come easy, where detecting it depends on the audience's newfound ability to apply Carey's pop life to her pop music.
