Photo Headline Planet
Photo Headline Planet

Released as the second single from The Emancipation of Mimi on March 29, “We Belong Together” had all the elements to lure the naysayers back under her spell while giving her fans, the Lambs, what they’d come to love from her. It’s a perfectly structured ballad: built around a delicate piano melody, “We Belong Together” finds Mariah longing for her lover to return while utilizing every bit of her iconic five-octave vocal range. The accompanying Brett Ratner-directed music video shows Mariah getting ready to wed an older man, a rumored allusion to real life. But in the end, Carey runs away from the wedding to reunite with an ex-lover.

It’s clear that Carey was in her comfort zone while recording. She worked with longtime collaborator Jermaine Dupri and Johntá Austin (whose songwriting hits include Mary J. Blige’s “Be Without You” and Aaliyah’s “Miss You”). Austin was a crucial partner. For a while, “the second verse was different. Jermaine wasn’t blown away,” Austin told Vogue in 2015. “He came to me and he said, ‘I need you to come up with one of those verses that I know you could do.’ I threw the Bobby Womack line out there, and it was received pretty well.”

“We Belong Together” was a smash. It was Mariah’s 16th No.1 single, reached the summit of the Billboard Hot 100 for 14 non-consecutive weeks, and eventually was named Billboard’s “song of the decade.” “I don’t know that we’ve ever actually been able to top it,” Carey explained in 2018. “I get goosebumps thinking about it because it really was such a special time in my life when we did that record.”

Despite the circumstances that led up to it, Carey proved she was an unstoppable force with “We Belong Together.” From the annual, inevitable chart climb of “All I Want For Christmas Is You” to 2020’s acclaimed memoir The Meaning of Mariah Carey Carey’s reign continues to this day — and it’s all due to her emancipating herself from the music industry’s expectations.

Full Lyrics of ‘We Belong Together’ by Mariah Carey

I didn't mean it

When I said I didn't love you so

I should have held on tight

I never should've let you go

I didnt know nothing

I was stupid

I was foolish

I was lying to myself

I could not fathom that I`d ever

Be without your love

Never imagined I'd be

Sitting here beside myself

Cause I didn't know you

Cause I didn't know me

But I thought I knew everything

I`ve never felt.

The feeling that I'm feeling now

That I don't hear your voice

Or have you touch and kiss your lips

Cause I don't have a choice

Or what I wouldn't give

To have you lying by my side

Right here

Cause baby

When you left

I lost a part of me

It's still so hard to believe

Come back baby please cause

We belong together

Who else am I gonna lean on

When times get rough

Who's gonna talk to me on the phone

Till the sun comes up

Who's gonna take your place

There aint nobody better

Ohh baby, baby

We belong together

I can't sleep at night

When you are on my mind

Bobby Womack's on the radio

Sing to me

'If you think you're lonely now'

Wait a minute

This is too deep (too deep)

I gotta change the station

So I turn the dial

Trying to catch a break

And then I hear Babyface

I only think of you

As breaking my heart

I'm trying to keep it together

But I'm falling apart

I'm feeling all out of my element

Throwing things

Crying

Trying 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 you

Need you back in my life baby

When you left

I lost a part of me

It's still so hard to believe

Come back baby please cause

We belong together

Who else am I gonna lean on

When times get rough

Who's gonna talk to me on the phone

Till the sun comes up

Who's gonna take your place

There ain't nobody better

Ohh baby, baby

We belong together

[Bridge]

Ohh , Baby , Baby

We Belong together baby

When you left

I lost a part of me

It's still so hard to believe

Come back baby please

Cause we belong together

Who am i going to lean on

When times get rough

Who's going to talk to me

Til the sun comes up

Who's going to take your place

There ain't nobody better

Ohh baby, baby

We belong together

This song about heartbreak makes reference to some R&B songs that share a similar theme: you can't stop thinking about the person you broke up with.

In the song, Mariah is listening to the radio when Bobby Womack's "If You Think You're Lonely Now" comes on.

Womack is a very influential Soul singer who recorded that song on his 1981 album The Poet. It gets a little intense, so Mariah changes the station, only to hear Babyface singing "Two Occasions," a song he recorded with The Deele, a group formed by L.A. Reid (Babyface and Reid went on to form LaFace records).

This won 2005 Grammys for Best R&B Song and Best Female R&B Vocal Performance. Carey performed this on the show in 2006.

Mariah Carey and Love for Music

Photo PopSugar
Photo PopSugar

Carey is in love with hip-hop music and wanted to intensify the urban flavor on this track, but Dupri talked her out of it. He recalled in his 2007 book Young, Rich, and Dangerous: The Making of a Music Mogul: "The songwriting went smoothly, but, musically, me and Mariah had some back-and-forth. At first Mariah was pushing for something more ghetto. 'No it's too out there, too urban,' I said. 'Lean it more towards the middle.' I didn't want her doing all the syrupy ballad stuff her past label executives tried to push her into. She also needed to hold herself back from trilling up and down the scales. I wanted to keep the power of her voice inside the framework of a great song. We finally agreed on what she called a 'thugged-out ballad.'"

The wedding dress that Mariah wears in the video is the same one in which she got married to Tommy Mottola in 1993. Mottola and Carey divorced in 1998, but she held onto the wedding dress, and when the video's director needed a dress, she volunteered the use of it.
Full Lyrics Full Lyrics "SugarCrash!" by ElyOtto

ElyOtto is a rapper from Calgary, Canada, who first came to attention with this electronic Auto-Tuned track, “SugarCrash!”, which is very viral on TikTok. Check ...

Full Lyrics Full Lyrics 'Melon Cake' by Demi Lovato

“Melon Cake” is one of the beautiful songs on Demi Lovato's seventh album, Dancing With the Devil... the Art of Starting Over. Check out the ...

Full Lyrics of Full Lyrics of 'Die for you' - Justin Bieber feat. Dominic Fike

Die For You is a song interpreted by Justin Bieber, featuring Dominic Fike, released on the album Justice in 2021. Stay tuned to check out ...

Full Lyrics of Full Lyrics of 'no sense' - Baby Keem

On March 24, Baby Keem dropped off a new clip for his latest single “no sense", which is produced by Keem and Jahaan Sweet, and ...