Mariah Carey drops video for 'Save the Day' honoring female tennis heroes

Mariah Carey unleashed the video for her song "Save the Day" on Saturday, featuring a killer sample from the Fugees 1996 smash hit "Killing Me Softly."

The video served as the official kick-off for ESPN's coverage of the 2020 U.S. Open Women's Singles Championship and was shot at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center days before the opening of the event. As Carey belts out each note, the imagery of female tennis competitors from the past and present are interwoven with shots of the superstar in and around a classic Cadillac convertible.

"Thank you U.S. Open for this amazing TV premiere of my song 'Save the Day,'" she wrote on Twitter. "Couldn't be more honored and moved to share the message of the song with these incredible female champions."

Carey seizes the final moments of the video to show viewers they could help "Save the Day," by wearing a mask amidst the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

"Killing Me Softly" was a huge hit for the '90s hip hop ensemble, featuring Lauren Hill, Wyclef Jean, and Pras Michel, off their second and final studio album The Score. The track is a remake of Roberta Flack's "Killing Me Softly With His Song" released in 1973, which was inspired by Lori Liberman's original (composed by Charles Fox) of the same name a year prior. Liberman has long credited Don McLean as the inspiration behind the song after seeing him perform "Empty Chairs" at L.A.'s The Troubadour in 1971.

Related content:

• Mariah Carey says she was 'uncomfortable' with Ellen DeGeneres outing her pregnancy in 2008 interview
• Mariah Carey to release 'unfiltered' memoir in September — here are all the details
• Mariah Carey performs on GMA, shares details of new album, memoir, and single