Songfacts®:

• Mariah Carey's first compilation album, #1's (1998), also featured four new songs, including "I Still Believe," a breakup ballad originally recorded by pop singer Brenda K. Starr in 1988. Carey recorded it as a tribute to Starr, who recruited the up-and-coming singer as her backup vocalist after hearing her sing "I Still Believe" for her audition.
  
  "I sang for my life," Carey recalled in her 2020 memoir, The Meaning Of Mariah Carey. "I did all kinds of runs and belted out the last note. When I was finished, I stood perfectly still, returning back to Earth, heart on fire. Brenda gave me a long, flat stare, then suddenly broke into a mischievous little giggle. In her clipped, nasally accent, she said, 'You trying to steal my job?'"
  
  Starr also helped Carey land a record deal by giving her demo tape to Tommy Mottola, the head of Columbia Records (and Mariah's future husband).
• Carey modeled her '50s glam look from the music video after Marilyn Monroe. She's such a huge fan of the blonde bombshell that she bought her childhood white baby grand piano for $662,500 at a Christie's auction in 1999.