We Belong Together
"We Belong Together" is a song by American singer-songwriter Mariah Carey from her tenth studio album, The Emancipation of Mimi (2005). The song was released on March 15, 2005, through Island Records, as the second single from the album. "We Belong Together" was written by Carey, Jermaine Dupri, Manuel Seal, and Johntá Austin and produced by the former three. Since the song interpolates lyrics from Bobby Womack's "If You Think You're Lonely Now" (1981) and the Deele's "Two Occasions" (1987), the songwriters of those respective songs are credited. "We Belong Together" is built on a simple piano arrangement with an understated backbeat. The lyrics chronicle a woman's desperation for her former lover to return.
For other uses, see We Belong Together (disambiguation)."We Belong Together"
"It's Like That" (remix)
March 15, 2005
2004
- Right Track (New York City)
- Southside (Atlanta, Georgia)
3:21
- Mariah Carey
- Jermaine Dupri
- Manuel Seal
Following a relatively unsuccessful period between 2001 and 2004, critics dubbed the song her musical comeback, as many had considered her career over. "We Belong Together" earned her several music industry awards and nominations throughout 2005 and 2006. The song broke chart records in the United States and became Carey's sixteenth topper on the US Billboard Hot 100. After staying at number one for fourteen nonconsecutive weeks, it joined four other songs in a tie as the third longest running number one song in US chart history, behind Carey's own 1995 collaboration with Boyz II Men titled "One Sweet Day". Billboard listed it as the "song of the decade" and the fifteenth most popular song of all time. Additionally, it broke several airplay records, gathering both the largest one-day and one-week audiences in history. "We Belong Together" also topped the charts in Australia; and reached the top-five in more than ten countries, including Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain and the United Kingdom.
The song's music video was filmed as a two-part story with "It's Like That", which featured Carey at her bachelorette party. The video for "We Belong Together" is a continuation, focusing on Carey's wedding to a powerful older man and ending with the singer eloping with her younger ex-lover (played by actor Wentworth Miller of the TV show Prison Break). Rumors arose of the video's connection to her 1993 marriage to then-Sony Music CEO Tommy Mottola, as they did for Carey’s 1997 video for the song “Honey”. Carey performed the song on several award shows and television appearances around the world, namely MTV Movie Awards, MTV Video Music Awards, Macy's Fourth of July Parade, The Oprah Winfrey Show and the 48th Grammy Awards. In Europe the song was performed at the Live 8 charity concert, the Fashion Rocks in Monaco, and the German Bambi Awards. Carey performed the song while on The Adventures of Mimi Tour and the song has been on every tour set list since then.
Awards and nominations[edit]
"We Belong Together" was awarded several prestigious music industry awards throughout 2005 and 2006. At the 2005 Billboard Music Awards ceremony, Carey won five awards, with the song receiving awards in the "Rhythmic Top 40 Title of the Year", "Hot 100 song of the Year" and "Hot 100 Airplay of the Year" categories.[58][59] On November 6, 2005, Carey earned two awards for "We Belong Together" at the Radio Music Awards ceremony, in the "Song of the Year/Mainstream Hit Radio" and "Song of the Year/Urban and Rhythmic Radio" categories.[60] Similarly, "We Belong Together" won the "Best R&B/Soul Single" and "Best R&B/Soul Single, Female" awards at the 20th annual Soul Train Music Awards,[61] "Choice Love Song" at the Teen Choice Awards,[62] "Best R&B Song" at the Vibe Awards,[63] and "World's Most-Played Single" at the 2005 World Music Awards.[64]
At the 48th annual Grammy Awards, held at the Shrine Auditorium on February 8, 2006, Carey was nominated for eight awards, the most she had received in one night throughout her career.[65] "We Belong Together" was nominated for Song of the Year and Record of the Year; however, it won two awards: "Best R&B Song" and "Best Female R&B Vocal Performance".[66] The song was named "Song of the Year" at the ASCAP Awards,[67] and "Song of the Year", "Most Performed Song" and "Number-one Billboard Song" at the BMI Awards.[68] Towards the summer of 2006, Carey took home "Song of the Year", "Best Pop Female Song Performance" and "Best R&B/Soul Female Song Performance" at the GrooveVolt Music & Fashion Awards.[69]
Remixes[edit]
Carey recorded an official remix version for "We Belong Together", which she produced with DJ Clue.[10] The remix is recorded in D-Major (one step up from the original in C-Major) and Carey’s vocals range from B3-E6. The remix features vocals from rappers Jadakiss and Styles P, two-thirds of the hip-hop trio the LOX.[10] The remix is fundamentally different from the original, described as having "a faster, springier backbeat" by Kelefa Sanneh of The New York Times.[10] Lyrically, the song is similar to the album version of the song, in which both rappers' verses contemplate on past memories.[10] Styles P raps "Past is the past, just let it be bygones / Matter of fact I know a fly song that we could vibe on", which Sanneh writes "Cheerfully out of place, he sounds like a man who has wandered into the wrong summertime party, but so what? He figures he might as well stick around and enjoy it."[10] In two separate reviews of The Emancipation of Mimi, Sanneh referred to the song as both "great"[70] and "excellent",[7] in regards to the remix.
Additionally, the faster pace of the remix showcases Carey’s own talents, in regards to rapping/rhyming and fast, lyrical singing; she sings the song’s second verse very nimbly — “I can’t sleep at night, when you are on my mind; Bobby Womack’s on the radio, singin’ to me, ‘If you think you’re lonely now, wait until tonight…’ Boy, I’m feelin’ all out-of-my-element; I’m throwin’ things, cryin’, tryin’ to figure out where the hell I went wrong. The pain reflected in this song ain’t even half of what I’m feeling inside; I need ya-need ya back in my life, Baby.” In contrast to the original slower version of the song (which ends in Mariah sustaining one long note, on the word “…(we belong) together…” sung at a C5), the remix features the same sustained ending note sung an octave higher, at a D6, showcasing her whistle register. The song then fades out, with Mariah singing, “…this is so hard to believe…”, which starts in her fourth octave, before jumping octaves to another D6 on the word “believe”.
Aside from the album version's main remix, several others were commissioned and released, although none contained new vocals from Carey.[71] Peter Rauhofer created the "Reconstruction Mix/Atlantic Soul Vocal Mix" and "Atlantic Soul Vocal Mix", which both feature a synthetic bass line, a piano and guitar line, and distinctive hi-hats that produce a more up-tempo, hard-hitting beat.[71]
On February 17, 2021, Carey released a new version of the song, the "Mimi's Late Night Valentine's Mix", in EP format, along with a seven-minute extended version of the song. Then, four days prior to the release, she performed on Live with Kelly and Ryan.[72]
Music video[edit]
Background[edit]
The song's music video premiered worldwide on April 11, 2005, although MSN offered an exclusive look at the music video on April 9. Carey's "We Belong Together" is Yahoo! Music's most watched video of 2005 with 7.5 million streamed performances. The video was shot by film director Brett Ratner in Los Angeles alongside the video for Carey's previous single, "It's Like That".[4] Carey had collaborated with Ratner several times in the past, having worked on the video for "Heartbreaker", which became one of the most expensive of all time, costing an estimated $2.5 million.[4] The video was filmed through February 9 to 10, 2005, in conjunction with "It's Like That" and serves as the second half to the two-part story. The music video for "It's Like That" features Carey at her bachelorette party set to wed an older and powerful man, played by Eric Roberts.[73] Towards the end of the video, her ex-lover, played by Wentworth Miller, arrives at the event, and the video concludes with them staring into each other's eyes as Carey's soon-to-be husband watches from a balcony. The video for "We Belong Together" finishes their tale of love, and features Carey on her wedding day.[74] For the scenes of Carey's wedding to the older man, she wore her Vera Wang gown she originally wore during her nuptials to Tommy Mottola in 1993.[75] In an interview with MSNBC, when asked if there was a connection to the use of the dress in the video and reality, Carey responded:
Credits for The Emancipation of Mimi are adapted from the album's liner notes.[123]