Mariah Carey - I Am Free

Does anyone know the story behind the Mariah Carey track
"I Am Free" coming out as a US single on 7" vinyl and
apparently no other format?

I just picked up the 45 with "Free" labeled as the A-side,
backed with "One Sweet Day". Lots of mid-90s 45s paired a
new single with the prior hit, which seems to be
Columbia's plan here. The catalog number puts this after
"Fantasy" and before "Always Be My Baby," so I wonder if
this was the planned followup before they pivoted to ABMB.

We were getting good promo service at my station at that
time, and I don't recall ever seeing anything this track
until I found this 45. Anyone remember anything?

Edited by eric_a

There’s something lightly fishy here as this is the first I’ve ever heard of
I Am Free ever being considered as a single. All the promo materials I
recall from this era - included an extended MTV interview to launch the
Daydream album - never even highlighted this as an album track.
However, Sony was very hot on the three US physical singles we got
as well as the Journey cover in these pieces. The B side got a lot of
hype even before it was released so I can’t imagine it was a case of
suddenly changing to it from I Am Free. As huge an artist as Carey was
at this point, I can’t imagine word not leaking out that this was being
considered for a single release. It’s also odd that this 45 doesn’t have a
retail bar code on the label like Fantasy or ABMB that followed OSD do.
Perhaps this was just a jukebox only release. Those tended to wind up
listed as an available format on the Hot 100 even though they weren’t
tracked as Soundscan sales towards it chart position (see CEMA
products that say for Jukeboxes only from this same period that were
always listed). Finally, Ms. Carey’s lambs tend to dissect every single or
album era and I’ve never heard anyone mention this track as a
cancelled release like they do Underneath The Stars from the same
album. My vote is mislabeled jukebox 45.