Love Takes Time
"Love Takes Time" is a pop song written by Mariah Carey and Ben Margulies, and produced by Walter Afanasieff for Carey's debut album, Mariah Carey (1990). It was released as the album's second single in the third quarter of 1990 (see 1990 in music). It was the first of several adult contemporary-influenced Carey ballads to be released as a single, and its protagonist informs others to take things easy in a relationship as "love takes time". It became Carey's second number-one single in the United States and Canada, but was only a moderate success elsewhere.
Recording
Carey and Margulies had written "Love Takes Time" while Mariah Carey was being produced, but intended to save it for Carey's second album (which became Emotions, 1991). Carey played a demo of the track to Tommy Mottola and other Sony/Columbia executives on a promotional tour after her album was sent to be pressed. The executives insisted that Carey recorded it for the album because they were impressed with it. As their decision was made as Carey's debut was about to be printed, then-struggling producer Walter Afanasieff was forced to produce the song in time for the pressing of the album. Carey had lobbied to co-produce the song, but was denied permission by her record label. Afanasieff had minimal experience in production, but he met the production deadline and went on to enjoy a career of almost ten years co-writing and co-producing with Carey. Some copies of her debut album include the song, but don't list it.
Commercial release
"Love Takes Time" was another success like Carey's debut single "Vision of Love" in the United States: it reached number one in its ninth week on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent three weeks at the top of the chart, from November 10 to November 24 1990. It spent seventeen weeks in the top forty and the RIAA certified it gold. It topped every other Billboard chart for which it was eligible (including the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks and Adult Contemporary charts), a record few singles can claim. Because its success was divided over two calendar years it did not rank high on Billboard's year-end charts, making seventy-sixth on the 1990 chart and sixty-ninth on the 1991 chart.
However, "Love Takes Time" failed to emulate the popularity of "Vision of Love" in any other market except Canada, where it topped the singles chart for one week, and the Philippines, where it became Carey's second number-one single. It not make much of an impact elsewhere, becoming a moderate top twenty hit in Australia, and almost failing to make the top forty altogether in the UK.
The song did not receive as many awards as "Vision of Love", but it too managed a BMI Pop Award for "Song of the Year". The single's video, directed by Jeb Bien and Walter Maser, features Carey (after we see a man walking away with a luggage) walking around a beach. Like the video for "Vision of Love", Carey lacked creative control in its production and, ashamed of the result, did not include it on the DVD/home video #1's (1999).
Track listings
- U.S. CD single (cassette single/7" single)
- "Love Takes Time" (album version)
- "Sent from up Above" (album version)
- UK CD 5" single
- "Love Takes Time" (album version)
- "Vanishing" (album version)
- "You Need Me" (album version)
Remixes and Other Versions
- Love Takes Time [Album Version] - 3:49
- Love Takes Time [Back to Love Mix] 3:45
Charts
| Chart (1990) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australia ARIA Singles Chart | 14 |
| Canadian Singles Chart | 1 |
| German Singles Chart | 75 |
| New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart | 9 |
| Philippine Singles Chart | 1 |
| Israel Singles Chart | 1 |
| UK Singles Chart | 37 |
| U.S. ARC Weekly Top 40 | 1 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 1 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks | 1 |
| U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary | 1 |
External links
See also
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