We Belong Together
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| “We Belong Together” | |||||
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| Single by Mariah Carey from the album The Emancipation of Mimi |
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| Released |   March 22, 2005 July 4, 2005 |
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| Recorded | Right Track Studios (New York City, New York) Southside Studios (Atlanta, Georgia) |
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| Genre | Pop, R&B | ||||
| Length | 3:23 (Album/Single Version) | ||||
| Label | Island | ||||
| Writer(s) | Mariah Carey, Jermaine Dupri, Manuel Seal, Johnta Austin, Kenneth Edmonds, Darnell Bristol, Sid Johnson, Bobby Womack, Patrick Moten, Sandra Sully | ||||
| Producer | Mariah Carey, Jermaine Dupri, Manuel Seal | ||||
| Certification | Platinum (RIAA, ARIA) | ||||
| Mariah Carey singles chronology | |||||
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"We Belong Together" is a pop/R&B song recorded by Mariah Carey for her tenth studio album The Emancipation of Mimi (2005) and released as the album's second single in 2005. Written and produced by Carey, Jermaine Dupri, Manuel Seal, and Johnta Austin, the song was inspired by 1980s R&B and soul. Its arrangement is built on simple piano chords and an understated back beat, and its lyrics chronicle a woman's desperation for her former lover to return after their separation.
Following a career-decline between 2001 and 2003, Carey achieved major worldwide success with "We Belong Together" as the song topped the charts in many countries, including Australia, Brazil, Croatia, Philippines, South Africa, and the United States Billboard Hot 100 for fourteen non-consecutive weeks. The song is also the most successful song by a female artist in the history of Billboard and it is Carey's biggest selling single to date.
In the U.S., the song also repeatedly broke many BDS Airplay records and was warmly received by critics. It won Carey a number of industry awards, including two Grammy Awards in 2006. It is dubbed by critics as Carey's "The Return of the Voice" to its form.
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[edit] Background and writing
Further information: The Emancipation of Mimi
"We Belong Together" was not composed until late into the production of The Emancipation of Mimi.[1] Following an unsuccessful career period between 2001 and 2003, Carey began production on the album in 2004. By November of that year she had considered the album complete, but some of what became its more popular tracks had yet to be written.[1] Antonio "L.A." Reid, the chairman of Island Def Jam Records, encouraged Carey to attempt additional studio sessions with producer Jermaine Dupri. "L.A. was like, 'You and Jermaine Dupri make magic together, why aren't you in the studio with him?'" she recalled. "'I said, 'I love Jermaine, is he free? I know he's doing a million things.' [...] But Jermaine said, 'Come on down.'"[1]
Carey flew to Dupri's Atlanta studio and after two days, they composed two tracks for The Emancipation of Mimi ("Shake It Off" and "Get Your Number") and she returned to New York City; however, at this point "We Belong Together" was still not written. Reid was impressed with the album's new material and decided that Carey should return to Atlanta to compose more tracks.
In another two-day studio stint Carey, Dupri, Seal and Austin produced the album's first single "It's like That" as well as "We Belong Together". The composers discussed the song's melody at length, and subsequently simplified the arrangement in order to accentuate Carey's vocals in light of the album's promotional slogan, "The Return of the Voice". According to Carey, the song was recorded in one take and according to Clive Davis, We Belong Together is one of the most difficult songs ever recorded to sing live.[2]
[edit] Music and structure
"We Belong Together" is a pop ballad that exhibits strong influences from hip hop and R&B. The song is propelled by a programmed Roland TR-808-styled kick and hi-hat, which is prominently utilized in hip hop music.
Carey adopts a reserved, rap-flavored singing style, which garnered approval from the critics who admonish her ornate, melismatic singing style.[3] Reviewer Jennifer Vineyard comments that Carey's spare and understated singing approach gives the song more power, which would not have been achieved if Carey had belted.[1] Besides hip hop, the song incorporates 1980s retro-soul music by "cleverly"[4] referencing Bobby Womack's "If You Think You're Lonely Now" (1981) and The Deele's "Two Occasions" (1987, with Babyface).
In the second verse of "We Belong Together," Carey sings: "Bobby Womack's on the radio/ Singing to me, 'If you think you're lonely now'." She then flips across a radio dial: "So I turn the dial, tryin’ to catch a break/ And then I hear Babyface/ 'I only think of you...'."[5] Due to the inclusion of the lyrics from both songs, the songwriters were given co-writing credits on "We Belong Together".
"We Belong Together" comprises a very simple and understated musical arrangement: it is set in C major and is composed in 4/4 time.[6] It follows the common verse-chorus form and is structured into three sections that portray the protagonist in a range of emotions; from doleful and resigned in the first section, to desperate and agitated in the second. In the last section the song climaxes with an octave raise, which not only emphasizes the protagonist's heightened desperation, but her determination to be with her lover.[7]
[edit] Remixes and other versions
Carey has often recorded remixes for some of her more popular songs, some of which have become more successful than their original counterparts. For "We Belong Together," she recorded the DJ Clue remix, which was produced by DJ Clue and features rappers Jadakiss and Styles P, and the Peter Rauhofer Reconstruction Mix/Atlantic Soul Vocal Mix. The remixes are fundamentally different from the album version and contain more distinct elements of hip hop music. The Atlantic Soul Vocal Mix, for example, features a synthetic bass line, a piano and guitar line, and distinctive hi-hats that produce a more up-tempo, hard-hitting beat.[8]
Both remixes were offered as downloads in May 2005, and achieved success: the Atlantic Soul Mix reached number one on the U.S. Hot Dance Music and Club Play chart, while the DJ Clue version peaked at number five on the Hot Digital Songs chart.
In 2007, reggaeton artist Adassa covered the song in her self titled album. This new version contains various bachata elements.
[edit] Music video
The song's music video was directed by Brett Ratner and filmed in Beverly Hills, California. It serves as the sequel to the video for "It's like That", the first single released from The Emancipation of Mimi.[9] Beginning with the "It's like That" video, the protagonist is at her bachelorette party, where one of the guests reveals himself as a former lover (played by Wentworth Miller). The video for "We Belong Together" begins the following morning, when the protagonist remembers her former boyfriend, as she is preparing for her wedding. As she marches down the aisle, the protagonist debates whether she belongs with her former boyfriend or her fiancé (played by Eric Roberts). Once she reaches the altar, she catches sight of her former lover who is watching the wedding from a distance. She runs from the ceremony and into his arms, shocking everyone at the wedding.[10] The video is noted for the fact that Carey wore the same Vera Wang wedding dress that she wore at her wedding to Tommy Mottola in 1993.[11]
The video reached number-one on several video-chart countdowns, including BET's 106 & Park, MTV's TRL (where it retired after it remained on the countdown for fifty days), MuchMusic's Countdown, and VH1's Top 20 Video Countdown. VH1 named the song #1 on its Top 40 Videos Of 2005 in December of that year. By July 25, 2005 it was LAUNCHcast's most-watched video of the year, with 7.5 million streamed performances.[12] The video was nominated for "Best R&B Video" and "Best Female Video" at the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards.
[edit] Reception
"We Belong Together" became a "career re-defining"[13] song for Mariah Carey at a point when many fans and critics had considered her career over. Not only did it become one of the most successful pop singles of all time,[14] it also became one of her most critically acclaimed singles.
[edit] Critical response
Unlike most of Carey's more recent singles, "We Belong Together" received generally positive reviews from critics, most of whom hail the song as a "return to form," following reviews of Charmbracelet (2002) that suggested Carey had lost her signature vocal range and power.[15][16] A review for Slant magazine writes, "the...diva [keeps] cool with breathy, rapid-fire verses until the final full strong-voiced climax that... proves that 'The Voice' has indeed returned."[17] Other critics commended Carey on her novel singing style which, according to Kelefa Sanneh of New York Times, gives the song its propulsion.[4] Similarly, Billboard magazine and Johnny Loftus of Metrotimes characterized the song as "perfect," "classy," and "sublime."[7][18] By 2006 "We Belong Together" had received a number of awards, including Grammy Awards for "Best Female R&B Vocal Performance" and "Best R&B Song"; "Song of the Year" at the 2006 ASCAP Awards; the Vibe Award and Soul Train Award for "Best R&B Song," and the BMI Urban Award for "Song of the Year", Blender magazine ranked it fifteenth on its 100 Greatest Songs of 2005 list.[19]
While proving to be popular with fans and critics alike, "We Belong Together" also received less enthusiastic reviews from Helen Duong of UKMusic, who dismissed the song as "bearable,"[20] and a critic from Virgin.net found the song boring, clichéd and uninspired.[21]
[edit] Commercial reception
Between 2001 and 2003, Carey's popularity had substantially declined and many had considered her career over.[22] However, after being released to North American radio on March 26, 2005, "We Belong Together" became the biggest success of Carey's solo career and for her label.[23] The song spent fourteen non-consecutive weeks at number one on both the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 — after making its debut at number eighty-one — and on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart. It had major cross-over success, becoming the first song to simultaneously occupy the number-one position on nine Billboard charts on the week ending August 6, 2005: the Hot 100, Hot 100 Airplay, Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks, Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, Pop 100 Airplay, the Mainstream Top 40, Rhythmic Top 40, Hot Dance Music/Club Play, and the Hot Ringtones charts. One week earlier, it had become the first song to top eight charts concurrently.[24][25] According to Mediabase and Nielsen BDS, "We Belong Together" broke several airplay records in the United States: it gathered both the largest one-day and one-week audience total in BDS history, reaching 32.8 million and 223 million impressions respectively.[26] On Billboard's Year End Charts of 2005, the song was declared the number-one song, a career first for Carey.
"We Belong Together" achieved success in several major non-U.S. markets. It debuted at the top of the Australian chart, where it remained for two weeks, and it reached a peak position of number two for three weeks in New Zealand and on the Canadian BDS Airplay chart. Promotion for the song was strongest in the UK, where it debuted at number two behind Tupac Shakur's "Ghetto Gospel", selling 39,436 copies, only missing the top spot by 392 physical and digital sales. Across Continental Europe the song was a moderate success. It reached the top five in Spain, Ireland, Netherlands, Denmark and Switzerland, top ten in Norway, and top twenty in France, Belgium, Sweden and Germany.
[edit] Formats and track listings
These are the formats and track listings of major single releases of "We Belong Together".
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[edit] Credits and personnel
- Lead and backing vocals — Mariah Carey
- Keyboards — Loris Holland
- Drums — Charles Draiton
- Engineers — Brian Garten, John Horesco IV
- Assistant engineer — Tadd Mingo
- Audio mixing — Phil Tan
- Mastered by Herb Powers
[edit] Charts
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[edit] Notes and references
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b c d VH1. Road To The Grammys: The Story Behind Mariah Carey's "We Belong Together". Retrieved on January 30, 2006.
- ^ MC Archives. Mariah Carey's interview on Québec TV. Retrieved on January 31, 2006.
- ^ Farber, Jim. "More like a screaming 'Mimi'". New York Daily News. April 12, 2005. Retrieved March 10, 2006.
- ^ a b New York Times. The Summer Buzz: Cicadas and Mariah Carey. Retrieved on November 5, 2005.
- ^ The line "If you think you're lonely now" is from the song of the same name and "I only think of you" is from the chorus of "Two Occasions". In the remix she also says "I only think of you/ On two occasions/ That's day and night..."
- ^ Music Notes. "We Belong Together". Retrieved on February 4, 2006.
- ^ a b Metrotimes. Radio fever- Sussing out a summer jam for ’05. Retrieved on November 5, 2005.
- ^ Explodingplastic. Mariah Carey - We Belong Together" (Atlantic Soul Mix - Craig C.). Retrieved on May 11, 2006.
- ^ The Mariah Carey archives. Ratner Films Two Music Videos. Retrieved on September 14, 2006.
- ^ The Mariah Carey archives. 25 Greatest Video Cameos: No. 11. Retrieved on September 14, 2006.
- ^ AOL.
- ^ Yahoo! Music. "Mariah Carey will 'Shake It Off', exclusively for Yahoo! Music; North American Online Premiere kicks off 8pm (PDT), July 27th". Top40-charts.com. July 27, 2005. Retrieved February 12, 2005.
- ^ Virgin Recors. Virgin Urban Music President Jremaine Dupri and So So Def/Virgin Artist Johnta Austin Win R&B Song Honor. Retrieved on September 12, 2006.
- ^ About.com. Predictions Of Winners Billboard Music Awards 2005. Retrieved on September 12, 2006.
- ^ Anderman, Joan. "For Carey, the Glory's Gone but the Glitter Lives On". Boston Globe. pg. D.4, September 10, 2003 [THIRD Edition].
- ^ Walters, Barry. "Charmbracelet". Rolling Stone. New York: pg. 93, December 12, 2002, iss. 911.
- ^ Slant Magazine. 2005: Year in Rewind. Retrieved on January 30, 2006.
- ^ Billboard.com. Billboard Singles Review — "We Belong Together". Retrieved on January 30, 2006.
- ^ The 100 Greatest Songs of 2005 Article on Blender :: The Ultimate Guide to Music and More
- ^ UKmusic. Reviews: Hip Hop and RnB- Mariah Carey We Belong Together. Retrieved on November 10, 2005.
- ^ Virgin.net. Mariah Carey — We Belong Together. Retrieved on November 10, 2005.
- ^ Gardner, Elysa. Mariah Carey, 'standing again'. USA Today. November 28, 2002. Retrieved August 19, 2005.
- ^ About.com. New York Girl Makes Good With The Emancipation of Mimi. Retrieved on February 17, 2005.
- ^ MariahDaily. Mariah Carey. Retrieved on February 12, 2006.
- ^ MC Archives. We Belong Together sets another record at Billboard. Retrieved on February 12, 2006.
- ^ USA Today. Carey sets a record. Retrieved on February 14, 2006.
- ^ FIMI archive
[edit] References
- ARC Weekly Top 40. Rock on the Net. Retrieved on February 4, 2006.
- ARIA.com. Australian airplay and sales charts. Retrieved on March 5, 2006.
- Billboard.com. Billboard Hot 100 chart. Retrieved on January 31, 2006.
- Chart Singles.net. Week 28 Chart Ronudup. Retrieved on March 5, 2006.
- IFop.com. French sales chart. Retrieved on March 5, 2006.
- Jam Canoe.ca. Canadian airplay and sales charts. Retrieved on March 5, 2006.
- Mariahdaily. Chartlogs. Retrieved on January 31, 2006.
- Mariahdaily. Retrieved on February 14, 2006.
- MC Archives. Jermaine Dupri: How he turned Mariah into a hit Machine. Retrieved on February 1, 2006.
- Mediatraffic. United World charts. Retrieved on January 31, 2006.
- Oricon.co.jp. Japanese sales chart. Retrieved on March 16, 2006.
- Recording Industry Association of New Zealand. New Zealand sales chart. Retrieved on March 8, 2006.
