We Belong Together

Vorlage:Infobox Single "We Belong Together" is a pop–R&B song recorded by Mariah Carey for her ninth studio album The Emancipation of Mimi (2005) and released as the album's second single in 2005 (see 2005 in music). 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 considerable success with "We Belong Together" as the song topped the charts in many countries, including Australia, Brazil, South Africa, and the United States Billboard Hot 100 for fourteen non-consecutive weeks. In the U.S., the song also repeatedly broke many BDS Airplay records. The song was warmly received by critics, and won Carey a number of industry awards, including two Grammy Awards in 2006.

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. 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 its more popular tracks had yet to be written. 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.'"

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.

Music and structure

"We Belong Together" is a pop ballad that exhibits strong influences from hip-hop, R&B and soul. 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. 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. Besides hip hop, the song incorporates 1980s retro-soul music by "cleverly" 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...'." 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. 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.

Remixes and other versions

Carey has often recorded remixes for some of her more popular songs, some of which have eclipsed the success of 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.

Both remixes were offered through 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.

A techno version of the hit was played at clothing store Abercrombie & Fitch.

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. 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.

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 also awarded "We Belong Together" it's #1 Video of the Year accolade for 2005. By July 25 2005 it was LAUNCHcast's most-watched video of the year, with 7.5 million streamed performances. The video was nominated for "Best R&B Video" and "Best Female Video" at the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards. Also, the video has garnered over 5 million views on Youtube.

Reception

"We Belong Together" became a "career re-defining" 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, it also became one of her most critically acclaimed singles.

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. A review for Slant magazine writes, "the...diva [keeps] cool with breathy, rapid-fire verses until the final full-voiced climax that... proves that 'The Voice' has indeed returned." Other critics commended Carey on her novel singing style which, according to Kelefa Sanneh of New York Times, gives the song its propulsion. Similarly, Billboard magazine and Johnny Loftus of Metrotimes characterized the song as "perfect," "classy," and "sublime." 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." In the United States, it went to #1 for an amazing 14 weeks, selling 900,000 copies of the single.

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," and a critic from Virgin.net found the song boring, clichéd and uninspired.

Commercial reception

Between 2001 and 2003, Carey's popularity had substantially declined and many had considered her career over. 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. 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. 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. 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" 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.

Free downloads controversy

During the week that "We Belong Together" ascended to number one in the United States, iTunes had exclusively offered the DJ Clue remix of the song as a free digital download through Carey's official website. In response to letters of complaint, Billboard columnist Fred Bronson admitted in his Chart Beat Chat column that the free downloads had indeed helped the song reach number one; correct filtering of the statistics resulting from free downloads would probably have prevented "We Belong Together" from reaching number-one until the following week.

However, the song that had kept it at number two (despite its phenomenal airplay) was Gwen Stefani's "Hollaback Girl", a track that had also been accused of using free downloads to maintain its chart position.Vorlage:Weasel-inline

Formats and track listings

These are the formats and track listings of major single releases of "We Belong Together". Vorlage:Col-begin Vorlage:Col-2

• UK CD maxi single

1. "We Belong Together" (album version)
2. "We Belong Together" (Reconstruction radio mix)
3. "We Belong Together" (Reconstruction club mix)
4. "We Belong Together" (Atlantic Soul vocal)
5. "We Belong Together" (Atlantic Soul instrumental)

• Australian/Canadian/European CD single

1. "We Belong Together" (album version)
2. "We Belong Together" (DJ Clue remix)

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

Charts

National and international chart positions for "We Belong Together."

Chart (2005)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	1 (14 weeks)
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Airplay	1 (16 weeks)
U.S. Billboard Pop 100	1 (3 weeks)
U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs	1 (14 weeks)
U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play 1	1 (1 week)
U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary	3
U.S. Billboard Adult R&B Airplay	1
U.S. Billboard Adult Top 40	16
United World Singles Chart	1 (5 weeks)
Australian ARIA Singles Chart	1 (2 weeks)
Brazilian Singles Chart	1 (1 week)
Polish Charts: Hot Lista 70	1 (8 weeks)
Canadian BDS Airplay Chart	2
Dutch Singles Chart	2
Lithuania Airplay Chart	2
New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart	2
UK Singles Chart	2
Spanish Singles Chart	3
Irish Singles Chart	3
Denmark Singles Chart	3
Croatia (e!Hot50 Singles Chart)	1 (11 weeks)
Switzerland Singles Chart	4
Norway Singles Chart	9
German Singles Chart	11
Belgium Ultratop 50	11
French Singles Chart	12

• (¹ Atlantic Soul/P. Rauhofer remixes)
• (² DJ Clue remix)

Notes and references

References

• ARC Weekly Top 40. In: Rock on the Net. Abgerufen im 1. Januar 1 
• ARIA.com. In: Australian airplay and sales charts. Abgerufen im 1. Januar 1 
• Billboard.com. In: Billboard Hot 100 chart. Abgerufen . 
• Chart Singles.net. In: Week 28 Chart Ronudup. Abgerufen im 1. Januar 1 
• IFop.com. In: French sales chart. Abgerufen im 1. Januar 1 
• Jam Canoe.ca. In: Canadian airplay and sales charts. Abgerufen im 1. Januar 1 
• Mariahdaily. In: Chartlogs. Abgerufen . 
• Mariahdaily. Abgerufen . 
• MC Archives. In: Jermaine Dupri: How he turned Mariah into a hit Machine. Abgerufen im 1. Januar 1 
• Mediatraffic. In: United World charts. Abgerufen . 
• Oricon.co.jp. In: Japanese sales chart. Abgerufen . 
• Recording Industry Association of New Zealand. In: New Zealand sales chart. Abgerufen im 1. Januar 1