We Belong Together
| "We Belong Together" | ||
|---|---|---|
| Datei:Webelongtogether.jpg | ||
| Single by Mariah Carey | ||
| From the album The Emancipation of Mimi | ||
| Released | 2005 | |
| Format | Digital download 12" single | |
| Genre | Pop/R&B | |
| Length | 3:23 | |
| Label | Island/Def Jam | |
| Writers | Mariah Carey Jermaine Dupri Manuel Seal Johnta Austin Babyface Darnell Bristol Sidney DeWayne Bobby Womack Patrick Moten Sandra Sully | |
| Producers | Mariah Carey Jermaine Dupri Manuel Seal | |
| Director | Brett Ratner | |
| Certification | Platinum | |
| Chart positions | #1 (USA) #1 (AU) #1 (CAN) #2 (UK) | |
| Professional reviews | ||
| NY Times | Link | |
| Mariah Carey single chronology | ||
| "It's Like That" 2005 |
"We Belong Together" 2005 |
"Shake It Off" 2005 |
"We Belong Together" is the second single from Mariah Carey's fourteenth album, The Emancipation of Mimi.
The single, released in 2005, was written by Carey, Jermaine Dupri, Manuel Seal, and Johnta Austin, and was produced by Carey, Dupri, and Seal. "We Belong Together" was among the last songs recorded for The Emancipation of Mimi. After recording nearly twenty tracks for the album, Carey was satisfied with her output, but president of Island Def Jam, L.A. Reid, felt that something was missing and asked her to write more songs with Jermaine Dupri. The results were the hit singles "It's Like That" and "We Belong Together". In this mid-tempo ballad, Mariah declares herself stupid and foolish for ending a relationship on the wrong terms. She wants her ex-lover to come back to her, as when he left, she lost a part of herself. The song features an interesting blend of quiet storm ambience and hip-hop-style singing, leading to a traditional Carey climax in which the pitch raises an octave and Carey belts the chorus, then ends the song on a note held for nearly twenty seconds.
References to other songs
In the middle of the song, Carey makes a reference to soul singer Bobby Womack's 1981 hit "If You Think You're Lonely Now". She sings:
- "I can't sleep at night
- When you are on my mind
- Bobby Womack's on the radio
- Singing to me, 'If you think you're lonely now'"
Immediately after that, her character changes radio stations and makes a reference to Babyface' 1987 song recorded by The Deele, "Two Occasions". She sings:
- "And then I hear Babyface
- 'I only think of you,'"
The latter line is the first line of the song's chorus. The reference is clearer on the Jadakiss–Styles remix, where she continues singing the rest of the chorus of "Two Occasions", in which she sings:
- "I only think of you on two occasions
- That's day and night
- I'd go for broke if I could be with you
- Only you can make it right"
Because of the interpolation of these songs, the songwriters of both have also been given co-writing credit on "We Belong Together".
Chart success
This song is Carey's record-breaking sixteenth number one on the Billboard Hot 100, and it is also her ninth number one on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart. It was officially released to radio on March 26 2005, and is not only Carey's biggest hit in eight years, but the biggest hit of her career. This is Carey's first single to reach number one since "Thank God I Found You" in 2000, and it is her first to top the Hot 100 Airplay Chart since "One Sweet Day" in 1995.
Critics, especially after the turn of the millennium, had criticized Carey for having lost her "radio magic" as her positions on the airplay chart slowly declined, but this single seems to prove them wrong. Her sixteenth number one makes her the only artist who might surpass The Beatles (with twenty number ones) and Elvis Presley (eighteen number ones) in the modern era. (With seventy-two weeks of number-one hits since 1990, Carey also ranks second only to Presley's eighty weeks.)
Besides the Hot 100, the Hot 100 Airplay, and the Hot R&B/Hip Hop Singles charts, "We Belong Together" has also reached number one on the Rhythmic Top 40 chart, the Mainstream Top 40, the Pop 100, the Pop 100 Airplay, the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, the Hot Dance Music/Club Play, the Adult R&B, the Hot Videoclips, the Hot Ringtones charts. It has also reached number one on other non-Billboard charts, such as the Streaming Audio chart (for six weeks) and the AOL Music Network's top eleven.
The single has also broken numerous airplay records on both major forms of radio airplay collection, Mediabase and Nielsen BDS. When the song reached 192.3 audience impressions as counted by Nielsen BDS, Carey's "We Belong Together" broke the previous airplay record held by Mario's "Let Me Love You", whose airplay peaked at 191.6 million impressions; this made "We Belong Together" the most heard song (in a week) on American radio stations. On the week it broke the BDS record, it also broke the record for the largest gap between a number-one song and a number-two song on the Hot 100 Airplay chart, having over sixty million impressions more than its nearest competitor (Gwen Stefani's "Hollaback Girl").
Furthermore, on the week ending June 17 2005, "We Belong Together" broke its own record of 192.3 million audience impressions as it peaked at 195.8 million audience impressions. On the weeks ending June 24, July 1, July 15, the song continued to break its own record as it reached 202.1 million, 212.2 million, and 223 million impressions respectively. It is the first song in history to break the 200 million one-week BDS audience barrier. The song also repeatedly broke its own record for the largest gap between a number-one song and a number-two song on the Hot 100 Airplay, and its highest gap was a difference of nearly 119 million impressions. The week of its highest peak, it had 223 million impressions, while the number-two song, "Hollaback Girl", had only 104.1 million impressions)
As for Mediabase, "We Belong Together" has reached more than 254.6 million weekly audience impressions (until July 13 2005), which is the highest in the history of Mediabase, breaking the record previously held by Mario's "Let Me Love You". It is one of only a handful of songs to reach number one on the three major component charts of CHR/Pop, CHR/Rhythmic, and CHR/Urban. The song later broke new records when it became the first song in Mediabase history to reach number one on CHR/Pop, CHR/Rhythmic, CHR/Urban, and Urban AC.
With its continued record breaking success, critics and industry experts have been hailing "We Belong Together" as one of the biggest hits of Carey's career, and it has even been named the biggest single in the history of both Carey and her record company, Island Def Jam.
The song entered Australia's ARIA Singles Chart on June 27 at number one, making this Carey's first single since 1995's "Fantasy" to top the chart, and only her second number-one single in Australia. In the U.K. the song debuted at number two, being kept out of the top spot by 2Pac and Elton John's duet, "Ghetto Gospel". Although "We Belong Together" had sold many more physical singles than "Ghetto Gospel", digital downloads now count towards the U.K. Singles charts, too, and with relatively weak downloads in the U.K., "We Belong Together" lost the number one spot to "Ghetto Gospel" by 400 singles (combined total of physical singles and downloads).
The song's successful run at the number-one position on the Hot 100 was briefly interrupted by American Idol winner Carrie Underwood, with her new single, "Inside Your Heaven". This debut at the top distinguishes it as one of the few singles to debut at the peak position. This interruption was due to its strong first-week sales, but its airplay was only moderate. Also, it is not a surprise for an American Idol winner's single to debut at the top, as this was displayed in the past few years with previous winners Fantasia and Kelly Clarkson. The following week (ending July 2 2005), however, Carey's smash song returned to the top. This return to the zenith of the Hot 100 continues Carey's comeback, with a total of eleven non-consecutive weeks at the top so far. "We Belong Together" is Carey's first number-one single to have a non-consecutive run at the top, and it is also her longest run at number one as a solo artist. (Previously, the songs with the longest run at number one with her as a solo artist were "Dreamlover" and "Fantasy", both with eight-week runs at the top of the chart.)
When "We Belong Together" went to number one on The Billboard Hot 100, the Hot 100 Airplay, Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks, Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, the Pop 100, Pop 100 Airplay, Mainstream Top 40, Rhythmic Top 40, and the Adult R&B Billboard Radio Monitor chart, it became the only song in Billboard history to top all nine charts concurrently. The song was recently certified 3N for detections of over 300,000 detections on monitored Billboard/BDS stations.
As of the second week of August, Carey's "We Belong Together" broke new boundaries by having spent eleven weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 summit, the seventh song to have a double-digit stay at number one since the turn of the century, and thus becoming Carey's second single to have spent more than ten weeks at number one, the first being her collaboration with Boyz II Men on "One Sweet Day".
Free-downloads controversy
During the last week of May 2005, the DJ Clue remix of the song, which was being sold exclusively through iTunes, was offered as a free download through Carey's official website. According to the iTunes discount purchase plan, a record label has to purchase 25,000 copies of a single to offer it for free. That week, the reported numbers suggested that the remix sold about 27,000 copies. Chart experts were puzzed, as the remix had never entered the top fifty of the iTunes chart. The reported numbers also looked similar to the number of copies of the single a record label had to purchase in order to offer it for free. Readers were also puzzled, as records of the Hot 100 that week showed that the ranking of the songs had been submitted for final publishing but were then changed at the last minute.
Chart followers became divided over the nature of this dilemma. Because there had not been much precedent for free-download controversy before, many believed that, even if free downloads were counted, they would not have been that great a number. Others maintained that the last-minute change was due to a technical error on iTunes; at iTunes, the DJ Clue remix lists Jadakiss before Carey, causing many to believe that this was the reason for the last-minute change.
With no clear consensus, this situation prompted chart followers to write to Billboard columnist Fred Bronson, asking if it was possible that free downloads were accidentally counted while compiling that week's Hot 100 chart. At first, Bronson claimed that the downloads did not help the song reach its position. However, chart watchers were still dubious, and continued to write to him.
The persistent letter-writing seemed to have had an effect, as on June 3 2005 Bronson replied in his "Chart Beat Chat" column that Billboard had indeed made a mistake. He included a statement from Billboard's director of charts, Geoff Mayfield, claiming that their filters were not in place at the time to enforce their policy about free downloads not counting towards the charts. Had the correct filters been in place, "We Belong Together" would probably not have climbed to number one until the following week.
With the situation explained, controversy broke out among some chart watchers as they accused Carey of using manipulative chart tricks that they believed she had employed with previous singles. The only evidence for this is when Virgin sold Carey's "Loverboy" single for an extremely low price (though this does not break any Billboard rule, as an artist's label is free to set the price of a commercial single). In regard to this accusation, Bronson also stated in his column that all Carey's previous singles had reached number one legitimately and fairly. It should also be noted that other songs such as Gwen Stefani's "Hollaback Girl", Will Smith's "Switch", and Gorillaz' "Feel Good Inc." had also employed the usage of free downloads to succeed on the charts. Despite this controversy, "We Belong Together" has broken numerous records in airplay and on other Billboard charts, and has maintained a healthy level of purchased downloads to succeed with great longevity. Although its first week at the top may be questionable, the song can still boast ten other weeks at number-one. All in all, the song should be noted for being the single that enforced the new digital filters in Billboard's charts; free downloads no longer count.
The remixes
The DJ Clue remix of "We Belong Together" (produced by DJ Clue and Jovonn Alexander) was released on May 17 2005 on iTunes. The remix includes raps from Jadakiss and Styles P.
The hope was that the remix would help propel the song to number one (and based on sales data, it appears that that task has been accomplished). Although the remix was initially an exclusive track for iTunes, it has now been released to other legal downloading services like Rhapsody and Napster. It has even received some radio airplay, such as on New York's Z-100. DJ Clue also shouts a bit on the record, and although not listed as a featured artist on the track listing of the CD or vinyl singles of the song, he was given credit when the song charted on the Hot Digital Tracks chart.
Promotional copies of remixes by Peter Rauhofer and Atlantic Soul have been released, and the U.K. CD singles were released on July 5. The 12" vinyl single was released on July 19 in the USA, causing the song to chart on the Hot 100 Singles Sales and the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles Sales charts. Although these positions may seem low compared to the rest of the chart positions of "We Belong Together", as noted above, the song has only been released on the 12" vinyl single format (a format which only sells a few thousand copies at best per week).
Music video
The music video was directed by Brett Ratner, who also directed some of Carey's other videos including "Heartbreaker", "I Still Believe", "Thank God I Found You", and this video's predecessor, "It's Like That". Initially, Carey had wanted Paul Hunter to direct the video, but he was apparently busy. Carey, who is a close friend of Ratner, was reluctant at first, as he had stopped directing music videos and mostly directed films, but after hearing a proposed treatment, she approved.
The video serves as the dramatic sequel and conclusion to "It's Like That" (the two music videos were filmed simultaneously). In "It's Like That", Carey's character was seen at a party the night before her wedding, when a guest removed his mask, revealing himself as an ex-beau of Carey's. It is revealed that he knew about Carey's engagement, and had come to see her one last time. Without saying anything, he tosses her a flower, which she holds on to.
The "We Belong Together" video starts the next morning. Carey wakes up and is shown getting ready for the wedding. She looks forlorn as she wonders where her heart really belongs. As the wedding begins, Carey nervously walks down the aisle to the smiles of her husband-to-be, played by Eric Roberts. However, Carey's ex-beau, played by Wentworth Miller, is watching the wedding from a distance. He makes eye contact with her, presenting her with a dilemma: to become the wife of the man she is seconds away from marrying, or to run away with her true love. Carey decides that she and her ex belong together. She runs from the wedding into his arms, and they jump into his car. Carey's wedding dress is shown trailing from the car as the couple drives away. Meanwhile, her husband-to-be is shown heartbroken over Carey leaving him at the altar.
The music video triggered much publicity from critics and the media, as the wedding dress seen in the video is the same one that Carey wore at her 1993 wedding to Tommy Mottola. While many have speculated that Carey used the dress as a publicity stunt to help promote her new album, she insists that she had no ulterior motives, and that there was no deeper meaning or symbolism to her wearing the dress. The video treatment called for a wedding dress, and she simply had one in her possession. Parallels have also been made by the media comparing the Roberts character to Mottola and the Wentworth Miller character to Derek Jeter (an ex-boyfriend of Carey's). The parallels can be seen as the Roberts character, like Mottola, was overcontrolling and Carey believed she loved him when she did not. The parallels can also be seen in the Miller character, as both he and Jeter are multiracial, and Jeter was often believed to be the "true love" of Carey.
The "We Belong Together" video was successful on several music-video countdowns. It reached number one on VH1's Top 20 Video Countdown, on BET's 106 & Park, and on MTV's TRL (for ten days). On July 8 2005, the video retired at number one from TRL, after spending fifty days on the countdown. "We Belong Together" is Carey's second video to retire, the other being "Heartbreaker".
"We Belong Together" is also Yahoo Music's most watched video of 2005, with 7.5 million streamed performances.
The music video has not been released on video or DVD.
Track listings of major single-releases
UK CD single/European CD single
- "We Belong Together" (album version)
- "We Belong Together" (remix) featuring Jadakiss And Styles P.
UK CD maxi single
- "We Belong Together" (album version)
- "We Belong Together" (Reconstruction radio mix)
- "We Belong Together" (Reconstruction club mix)
- "We Belong Together" (Atlantic Soul vocal)
- "We Belong Together" (Atlantic Soul instrumental)
European CD maxi single
- "We Belong Together" (album version)
- "We Belong Together" (Reconstruction radio mix)
- "It's Like That" (remix) featuring Fat Joe
- "We Belong Together" (video — enhanced CD)
Chart trajectory
| Billboard Hot 100 Chart trajectory — "We Belong Together" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Week | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | |||||
| Chart position | 81 | 61 | 30 | 12 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||
Comprehensive charts
"We Belong Together" entered the Billboard Hot 100 at eighty-one, and has stayed in the chart for over nineteen weeks.
"We Belong Together" was Carey's sixteenth number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100 (the most for a female artist), her eleventh on the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay, first on the Billboard Pop 100, the Billboard Pop 100 Airplay, the Billboard Hot Ringtones, and the Billboard Adult R&B, ninth on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks, sixth on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles Airplay, tenth on the Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play, fifth on the Billboard Mainstream Top 40 (the most for any artist at that format), and her sixth on the Billboard Rhythmic Top 40.
USA
| Year | Single | Chart | Peak position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | "We Belong Together" | Billboard Hot 100 | #1 (eleven weeks) |
| 2005 | "We Belong Together" | Billboard Hot 100 Airplay | #1 (thirteen weeks) |
| 2005 | "We Belong Together" | Billboard Hot 100 Singles Sales | #19 |
| 2005 | "We Belong Together" | Billboard Pop 100 | #1 (three weeks) |
| 2005 | "We Belong Together" | Billboard Pop 100 Airplay | #1 (eight weeks) |
| 2005 | "We Belong Together" | Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks | #1 (twelve weeks) |
| 2005 | "We Belong Together" | Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay | #1 (twelve weeks) |
| 2005 | "We Belong Together" | Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Single Sales | #10 |
| 2005 | "We Belong Together" | Billboard Hot Digital Songs | #2 |
| 2005 | "We Belong Together" | Billboard Hot Digital Tracks | #2 |
| 2005 | "We Belong Together" (remix) featuring DJ Clue, Jadakiss, & Styles P |
Billboard Hot Digital Tracks | #5 |
| 2005 | "We Belong Together" (P. Rauhofer/Atlantic Soul Mixes) |
Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play | #1 (one week) |
| 2005 | "We Belong Together" | Billboard Dance Radio Airplay | #1 (one week) |
| 2005 | "We Belong Together" | Billboard Mainstream Top 40 | #1 (eight weeks) |
| 2005 | "We Belong Together" | Billboard Rhythmic Top 40 | #1 (ten weeks) |
| 2005 | "We Belong Together" | Billboard Adult Top 40 | #19 |
| 2005 | "We Belong Together" | Billboard Adult Contemporary | #12 |
| 2005 | "We Belong Together" | Billboard Adult R&B | #1 (two week) |
| 2005 | "We Belong Together" | Billboard Hot Ringtones | #1 (three weeks) |
| 2005 | "We Belong Together" | Billboard Hot Videoclips | #1 (two weeks) |
| 2005 | "We Belong Together" | Billboard Latin Tropical Airplay | #34 |
International
"We Belong Together" was Carey's second number-one single on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart.
| Year | Single | Chart | Peak position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | "We Belong Together" | World Singles Chart | #5 |
| 2005 | "We Belong Together" | Worldwide Tracks Chart | #1 (one week) |
| 2005 | "We Belong Together" | Euro top 20 | #1 (??? week) |
| 2005 | "We Belong Together" | UK Top 40 | #2 |
| 2005 | "We Belong Together" | Australian ARIA Singles Chart | #1 (two weeks) |
| 2005 | "We Belong Together" | Canadian Airplay Chart | #2 (one week) [1] |
| 2005 | "We Belong Together" | German Singles Chart | #11 |
| 2005 | "We Belong Together" | Spanish Singles Chart | #3 |
| 2005 | "We Belong Together" | Dutch Top 40 | #2 |
Official remixes/versions list
- "We Belong Together" (album version)
- "We Belong Together" (instrumental)
- "We Belong Together" (remix) featuring DJ Clue, Jadakiss, & Styles P. ^
- "We Belong Together" (remix instrumental) (From 12" Vinyl Only) ^
- "We Belong Together" (Atlantic Soul vocal) ^^
- "We Belong Together" (Atlantic Soul radio edit) ^^
- "We Belong Together" (Atlantic Soul instrumental) ^^
- "We Belong Together" (Reconstruction club mix) ^^^
- "We Belong Together" (Reconstruction radio mix)^^^
Remix credits
All songs follow writing credits as listed above unless otherwises stated.
- ^Remix produced by DJ Clue and Jovonn Alexander
- ^^Remix produced by Atlantic Soul
- ^^^Remix produced by Peter Rahoufer