“The Beautiful Ones” was originally written and recorded by Prince, from his 1984 album Purple Rain. Mariah covered the song on her 1997 album Butterfly as a duet with R&B group Dru Hill. “‘The Beautiful Ones’ is my favorite Prince song ever,” Mariah told Blues & Soul in 1997. “It makes me think over growing up, when the Purple Rain soundtrack was so big. I used to sit at home and think about this kid, Matt who I was in love with and cry listening to ‘The Beautiful Ones.’ It's really the only remake that I've done that's from that period — teenage years. It works well because Sisqo from Dru Hill, who sings the first verse, has that gruff, masculine sound and I'm doing a lot of airy stuff, so the contrast works and Devante produced it, which gave it another element.”
Baby, baby, baby
What's it gonna be?
Oh baby, baby, baby
Is it him or is it me?
Don't make me waste my time
Don't make me lose my mind
Baby, baby, baby
Can't you stay with me tonight?
Oh baby, baby, baby
Come one, don't my kisses please you right?
You were so hard to find
The beautiful ones, they hurt you
Every time
Paint a perfect picture
And bring to life a vision in one's mind
The beautiful ones
The beautiful ones
Always smash the picture
Always, every time
If I told you baby
That I was in love with you
Oh baby, baby, baby
If we got married
Would that be cool?
You make me so confused
The beautiful ones
You always seem to lose
The beautiful ones
The beautiful ones
Listen, do you want him
Or do you want me?
Cause I want you
Cause I do, baby
I want you
I want you
I want you
Baby, baby, baby, baby, yeah
I may not know where I'm going baby
I may not know, said I may not know
See I may not know what I need
But I need, but I need, but I need
But one thing, one thing is for certain baby
I know what I want
And it's to please you baby
To please you baby
And I'm begging down on my knees
I want you, I want you
You're so bad to me
And I want you
Why oh why, why oh why
Why oh why
Baby I, oh baby, baby, baby
Need you, yeah
Do you wanna love me
Or do you wanna throw me away?
I gotta know, I gotta know baby
Gotta know, baby baby baby
I need you
I want you
Tell me why
The beautiful ones
They hurt you every time
Lyrics and music: Prince.
Produced by Mariah Carey, Cory Rooney.
