@nikkysan (
11) — "Growing up, I was awkward and quiet and had little to no friends. I always felt different to everyone else, and people knew that as well. Going through years a lonely teenager still coming to terms with their sexuality was not easy, and I wish I had known about Mariah and this song sooner, because it moves me to tears every time. I think it's a song that a lot us can relate to in one way or another. This song is so important to me and that's why I gave it my 11."
@Veeis (
11) — "One of the best tracks on Butterfly and also from her whole catalogue. Truly divine, breathtaking and emotional. It truly gets me and her vocal delivery here is undeniable. I believe it also takes the crown for being the best album closer."
@Posh Spears (
11) — "Mariah just gets it. There's something extremely validating about knowing that even a mega superstar like Mariah Carey shares the same struggles of being multiracial that I do. And ugh... just the way she articulates the constant pain and confusion of the mixed race experience... only a resilient woman of color who's been THROUGH it could make a song like this. And I'm forever thankful she did. This song has helped me through too many personal identity struggles for me to not 11 it."
@mokitsu (10) — "Possibly the best climax of her discography, I get goosebumps every time that build-up kicks in. I also don't think I have ever related to lyrics more than with this song? It was very nearly my 11."
@Seventeen Days (10) — "A beautiful closing track about feeling like an outcast. I seem to remember Mariah saying this was about her growing up as the child of biracial parents, and feeling like she never quite fit into one community or the other."
@Music Is Life (9.5) — "This is a gorgeous closer. I love the production and the backing vocals are great. Her voice is, of course, amazing. The ending is absolutely the best part though."
@godspeed (9) — "I tend to want to say too many things and, once again, 'Outside' would be the perfect occasion for me to overanalyze the lyrics and praise Mariah Carey's songwriting and lyricism whenever she gets vulnerable and real. But all I really want to point out on 'Outside' is how Mariah was able to pen a song that was so deeply personal and inspired by her own experiences, yet it is extremely relatable. Everyone here knows this was written about growing up as a biracial kid and the struggle of it, yet so many people who are not necessarily biracial can relate to it because it speaks to all of us really - it can speak to the LGBTQI+ community, to POC in general, children of immigrants, etc. And to me, this is really the most wonderful thing about this song and what makes a songwriter a
great songwriter: being able of turning such a personal experience into something universal."
@pop3blow2 (8.2) — "A pretty song, but just not a something I ever really got into."
@Imagineitwasus (8) — "The production drags a bit, but the poignancy of the lyrics. I really felt this."
@abael (7) — "A nicely realised closer is definitely one (if maybe the only) point it has over its predecessors."
@DominoDancing (7) — "Pretty. How funny that she chose to end the album on a song called 'Outside' after ending the last one on 'Looking In'."
@bonnieetclyde (6.5) — "a nothing song. Forgettable."
@WhatKindOfKylie? (6) — "As in the case of Daydream before it, I just can't quite connect with this final song on the album. I gave it a 6 as whilst I can never skip it, it doesn't sit as a song I need to listen to and to be honest only really do when I play the album in full. Which is lots, so it does get lots of play that way."
