Can't Let Go (Mariah Carey song)
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| “Can't Let Go” | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Single by Mariah Carey from the album Emotions |
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| B-side | "To Be Around You" | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Released | October 23, 1991 (U.S.) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Format | CD single, cassette single, 7" single | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Genre | Pop, R&B | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Length | 4:27 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Label | Sony | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Writer(s) | Mariah Carey, Walter Afanasieff | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Producer | Mariah Carey, Walter Afanasieff | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Certification | Gold (RIAA) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mariah Carey singles chronology | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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"Can't Let Go" is a ballad written and produced by Mariah Carey and Walter Afanasieff, and recorded for Carey's second album Emotions (1991). It was released as the album's second single in the fourth quarter of 1991 in the United States and the first quarter of 1992 elsewhere (see 1991 in music and 1992 in music). The protagonist of this synthesizer-heavy ballad laments an ex-lover who has moved on, and though she tries she "can't let go".
Carey had fallen out with her songwriting partner Ben Margulies following a financial dispute, and her record label suggested that she work with the other producers of her debut album such as Rhett Lawrence, Ric Wake and Narada Michael Walden. She chose Walter Afanasieff, who had produced her second single "Love Takes Time" (1990), and "Can't Let Go" was one of the songs they created. After the release of the single "Emotions", "Can't Let Go" was promoted on both the Arsenio Hall Show in September 1991 and Saturday Night Live in November 1991.
Carey's first five U.S. singles (most recently "Emotions") had reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100, and although she was the only act to achieve this, Carey had not broken other records such as the highest number of consecutive number-one singles (Whitney Houston had released seven). "Can't Let Go" peaked at number two and spent seventeen weeks in the top forty, and the RIAA certified the single gold. The only Billboard magazine chart it topped was the Adult Contemporary chart, where it became Carey's fourth consecutive number-one single. Although the single broke her streak of number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100, it was still another big hit for Carey in the U.S., and was ranked twenty-third on the 1992 Hot 100 year-end charts.
"Can't Let Go" reached the UK top twenty and the Canadian top ten. It became her lowest peaking single at the time in all of the major Anglophone singles markets (with the exception of the UK), and failed to make the Australian top fifty.
The single's video, directed by Jim Sonzero, features Carey wearing an evening gown and her hair in a bun. Filmed in black and white, the video starts and closes with shots of a rose open and closed respectively. A radio edit of the song was promoted to radio and used for the video instead of the original song, and the edit eliminates the lengthy pre-intro and removes all of Carey's high notes at the song's beginning and end. Like Carey's previous U.S. singles, "Can't Let Go" won a BMI Pop Award in 1993.
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[edit] Copyright Issues
In 1992, writers Sharon Taber and Ron Gonzalez filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Carey and Afanasieff citing that "Can't Let Go" was taken from their unknown song, "Right Before My Eyes." The plaintiffs demanded to obtain copies of the studio recording tapes to see if conversation between Carey and Afanasieff would prove them guilty. However, after being reviewed, the only guilty fear apparent was Mariah Carey quoted as saying "Can't Let Go" was sounding "too much like our other song." The lawsuit was later dropped or settled out of court.1
[edit] Track listings
- U.S. CD single (cassette single/7" single)
- "Can't Let Go" (Edit)
- "To Be Around You"
- UK CD Single Part 1
- "Can't Let Go" (Edit)
- "To Be Around You"
- "The Wind"
- UK CD Single Part 2
- "Can't Let Go" (Edit)
- "I Don't Wanna Cry"
- "All In Your Mind"
- UK cassette single
- "Can't Let Go" (Edit)
- "To Be Around You"
[edit] Charts
| Chart (1991) | Peak position |
No. of chart topper |
|---|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 2 | - |
| U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks | 2 | — |
| U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary | 1 (3 weeks) | 4th |
| Australian ARIA Singles Chart | 63 | — |
| Chart (1992) | Peak position |
No. of chart topper |
| U.S. ARC Weekly Top 40 | 1 (2 weeks) | 6th |
| Canadian Singles Chart | 7 | — |
| Israeli Singles Chart | 17 | — |
| UK Singles Chart | 20 | — |
[edit] Citation
1Mariah Carey Accused of Plagiarism. Friedman, Roger. "Mariah: Songwriters Get Permission to Sue". (August 10, 2004).
