09/13/2007: "Mariah's Anthem: "We Belong Together""

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By the time 2005 rolled around, Mariah Carey had gone from being the most successful music artist of the 90s to not having had a genuine hit in 5 years apart from a guest spot on a Busta Rhymes track. If expectations for her 2005 release The Emancipation Of Mimi were shaky, it was with good reason. Little did anyone know that Mariah would release her biggest and most influential song in a decade (if not ever) with "We Belong Together."

As Pop Journalism's Robert Ballantyne wrote in naming it the top song of 2005, on the surface "We Belong Together" seems like a trademark Mariah ballad. There's a piano intro, a plaintive melody and vocal, and lyrics about a man Mariah can't get over. But as Ballantyne points out, "at the eight-second mark, all preconceptions get thrown out the window when that hip-hop beat kicks in." Add in the lyrical references to Bobby Womack and Babyface and Mariah's rapid-fire vocal parts (which Michael Slezak of Entertainment Weekly says is “so devastating you get the urge to create turmoil in your own relationship just to have an excuse to play this track”), and "We Belong Together" becomes the single that best combines Mariah's gifts as a music artist. Kalefah Sanneh writes in New York Times that the song “seems simpler than it is,” and Johnny Loftus of the Metro Times Detroit notes the “classic sensibility” of the song and says it makes for “perfect pop/R&B songwriting.” It's also, as Sal Cinquemani of Slant says, "as innovative as Mariah's been in years."

Great and innovative songs are often overlooked, though, especially by artists who haven't had the favor of radio and consumers in years. This wasn't the case with "We Belong Together." It became the summer song of 2005 and spent 14 weeks total at #1 on the Hot 100. Media sources ranging from New York Times, Metro Times Detroit, Boston Globe, and Chicago Tribune ran articles anointing “We Belong Together” the song of the summer of 2005, and it became a record-breaker. "We Belong Together" broke the BDS record for audience impressions for radio multiple times to become the most-listened to song ever in a week. It would end up spending 16 weeks at the top of the Hot 100 Airplay chart. As Stylus said in naming “We Belong Together” one of the best singles of the year, when the song came on the radio, “none of us dared to change the station.”

Another mark of a great single is often its influence. After the ascension of "We Belong Together," critics have been noting song after song being created in the same mold (i.e. pairing a pop ballad sensibility with a hip-hop beat). Slant magazine has mentioned songs by artists ranging from Jessica Simpson to Christina Milian to Ne-Yo being in the "now-popular 'We Belong Together' mold.” Katharine McPhee has told VH1 her own song "Each Other" reminds her of "We Belong Together," and Amazon.com said Paula DeAnda’s hit “Walk Away” is “like a lost track” from Mariah’s album. Perhaps the most direct evidence of the influence "We Belong Together" has had came when co-writer Johnta Austin told Billboard that he was called by Jimmy Iovine to create a song “in the same lane of ‘We Belong Together’” for Mary J. Blige. Cinquemani was thus correct when he wrote for Slant, if not for “We Belong Together,” “there wouldn’t be [Mary J. Blige’s] “’Be Without You.’” Whether or not "We Belong Together" was the first song of its kind, it's obvious that its success led to the creation of similar songs, none of which have been able to match the success of Mariah's song.

It seems pretty clear that “We Belong Together” is not only a good single and a popular one, but that it led to a trend in music. As Cinquemani stated, "Mariah's finally got her own anthem."