"Hero" is a song by American singer Mariah Carey, released on October 18, 1993, via Columbia Records as the second single from her third studio album, Music Box (1993). The song was written and produced by Carey and Walter Afanasieff. While writing the song, Carey did not connect to its style or sound; subsequently it was offered to Gloria Estefan, who then was intended to sing it for the soundtrack of the film of the same title (1992). However, after being convinced by Sony executive Tommy Mottola to keep it for herself, she changed some of the lyrics to more precisely fit her personality. Lyrically, the song is regarded as one of Carey's most inspirational and personal ballads, with its protagonist declaring that even though people may feel discouraged or down at times, in reality, they are "heroes" if they look inside themselves and see their own inner strength; in time, it will help them "find the way".
The song initially received mixed reviews from contemporary music critics, with praise for Carey's vocal performance and its message, and criticism for its lyrical content; however, critical opinion of the song has improved over time. Aside from its lyrics, "Hero" derived its hook and sound from several musical instruments, including guitar, piano, and organ. The song was a global success, reaching the top five in Canada, France, Ireland, New Zealand and Norway, and the top ten in Australia and the United Kingdom, and becoming Carey's eighth chart topper on the US Billboard Hot 100. Additionally, it was ranked number 5 on the 1994 year-end chart and number 53 on the Decade-End Chart.
Due to fan requests and letters, as well as their connection to its personal meaning and content, the song remains one of Carey's most performed (and is deemed by many to be her signature song). It was originally performed on The Arsenio Hall Show, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and Hey Hey It's Saturday during its original chart run. Additionally, Carey has performed "Hero" at several special live telethons, memorials and benefit concerts; in 1996, Mariah sang the song at Capitol Hill's Peace Officers Memorial Day service in Washington, D.C. (with the Clinton family in attendance), as well as Pavarotti and Friends in 1999, Michael Jackson & Friends also in 1999, America: A Tribute to Heroes in 2001, Live 8 in 2005, and the inaugural ball for Barack Obama in 2009. Additionally, the song has been featured on all of Carey's tours, usually serving as the encore or closing number, and making its debut during the album's accompanying set of concerts, the Music Box Tour. The song was included on several of Carey's compilation albums, #1's (1998), Greatest Hits (2001), The Ballads (2008), and #1 to Infinity (2015).
Throughout the course of her career, Carey has re-recorded the song twice, and filmed other music videos, aside from the original. The first music video for the song was filmed by Larry Jordan in July 1993, during a private concert at Proctor's Theatre, later released on the home video Here Is Mariah Carey. In 2001, following the September 11 attacks, Carey re-recorded the song as a mash-up single titled "Never Too Far/Hero Medley", a medley with her single at the time, "Never Too Far". Additionally, prior to the release of her compilation album The Ballads, Carey re-recorded "Hero" and filmed a new video featuring behind the scenes footage of the studio. "Hero" won two ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Music Awards, one ASCAP Pop Music Award and one BMI Pop Award for the Songwriter Award. The song has been covered many times during both studio and live recordings, such as on global singing competitions.
Background Mariah Carey's second studio album, Emotions (1991), contained influences from mostly 1950s, 1960s and 1970s balladry and gospel, as well as her continued work of R&B and soul. The album, while praised by some as more mature and raw, failed to reach the critical or commercial heights of her debut effort, and could not introduce Carey to a different market. Following these events, Columbia decided to market the singer in a similar fashion to her debut, only have her produce a more commercial and radio-friendly album. Their plans were to tone down Carey's vocals, and soften the album's production, leaving a more contemporary pop record. Agreeing to the change, Carey and producer Walter Afanasieff began writing and recording material for her third studio effort, Music Box (1993).
Writing and recording Aside from her work as a vocalist and record artist, Carey was becoming known as a songwriter, having penned and co-produced all of her own material throughout her career. During the production of Music Box, she was approached by Epic Records to write and record a song alongside Afanasieff, and release it on the soundtrack to the 1992 film Hero, featuring Dustin Hoffman and Geena Davis. While Carey was interested in the project, Mottola was very adamant over not allowing Carey to take part in anything involving film, fearing it would hurt her career. Additionally, Columbia felt uneasy about allowing their highest-selling recording artist to contribute to another label, even a branch of the same parent company, Sony. Instead, it was agreed upon that Carey would write a song for the soundtrack that would instead be recorded by another artist. Still interested in working for the film, Carey agreed to pen the feature song for the film, intended for fellow female singer, Gloria Estefan. Carey and Afanasieff sat together in a studio in New York, and over the course of two hours, composed the song's melody, lyric and concept. In an interview with Fred Bronson, Afanasieff discussed the process in which they had completed the rough version of the song: I went to New York and we were in the studio and came to a break. I was sitting at the piano and told Mariah about this movie. Within two hours, we had this incredible seed for this song, 'Hero'. It was never meant for Mariah to sing. In her mind, we were writing a song for Gloria Estefan for this movie. And we went into an area that Mariah didn't really go into-in her words, it was a little bit too schmaltzy or too ballady or too old-fashioned as far as melody and lyrics.
As they completed the song's demo, Tommy Mottola, CEO of Sony Music Entertainment and Carey's fiancé, walked into the studio. After hearing the rough version of the song, on which they were still working, he became interested in it, asking what project the song belonged to. Carey explained to him the concept and how the song would be used for the film Hero. Mottola immediately took an intense liking to the song, responding, "Are you kidding me? You can't give this song to this movie. This is too good. Mariah, you have to take this song. You have to do it." Initially, Carey was guided by the subject of the film, but Afanasieff acknowledged that she made it a very personal song after deciding to keep it, altering some of the lyrics, key and instrumentation. After their decision to keep "Hero", Afanasieff went back to the staff at Epic and told them that they had failed to come up with a song for the soundtrack. Estefan never heard the tune was originally meant for her, and the song that ended up in the soundtrack was "Heart of a Hero", written, produced and recorded by Luther Vandross. In the following weeks, after completing the song, Afanasieff spoke with Bronson about its recording, and how Carey created several versions of the track: There was a simpler performance on tape and a more difficult one, with Mariah singing out more, with more licks. But we chose a happy medium. The song really calls for not anything really fancy. But she's always fighting the forces inside of her because she's her own devil's advocate. She wants to do something that's so over the top and use her talents and the voice she has. But she also knows she has to restrain herself and do what the music really calls for.
Composition and lyrical content
"Hero" is a mid-tempo ballad. It was written and produced by Carey and Afanasieff, and was released as the second single from her third studio album, Music Box. It incorporates music from several musical instruments, including the piano, guitar and organ. The song is set in common time with a tempo of 60 beats per minute. Carey's vocal range spans one octave and eight semitones from the low note of G3 to the high note of E5. Originally, Carey felt the song was "too schmaltzy" and over the top for her, and not in line with her other work. However, after being convinced by Mottola to keep the song, Carey changed the song and personalized it, during which time she grew to feel a connection to the song and its lyrics. According to author Chris Nickson, "Hero" is one of Carey's most personal and inspirational ballads. Carey has described how the song was never her favorite, however, after all the fan letters and messages she received about the song, she felt the need to perform it as often as possible. In an interview with Fred Bronson, Carey described the song's meaning to her and to fans: One person could say that 'Hero' is a schmaltzy piece of garbage, but another person can write to me a letter and say, 'I've considered committing suicide every day of my life for the last ten years until I heard that song, and I realized, after all, I can be my own hero,' and that, that's an unexplainable feeling, like I've done something with my life, you know? It meant something to someone.
The song's lyrics describe of the individual power that lies inside every person, their ability to be their own hero. According to author Carol K. Ingall, the song inspires anyone to be a hero. Ingall continued how due to a hero's power to transform and inspire those around them, so too every person has inside of them the light and force needed to help change the world. Similarly, author Darlene Wade connects the song's lyrical content to the power within the soul, however also with the inclusion of God.
According to Maryellen Moffitt, author of "See It, Be It, Write It", "Hero" is about looking into oneself and discovering the inner courage inside each individual, and being strong and believing in oneself through times of trouble and adversity. Moffitt claims the song personally helped him get through difficult moments when "the answers seemed so far away". Following her taped performance of "One Sweet Day" at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California during The Adventures of Mimi Tour, Carey described the song's importance to her and her fans: I wrote a song a while back even before "One Sweet Day" and it was not my favorite song in the world, but I wrote it. Someone asked me to write a song and they told me the story, and you know it was kind of a moving concept or whatever. And I did it, and I was like you know it's not necessarily what I like per se, but after doing the song over and over again and having people coming up to and saying, thank you for writing 'Hero' because it saved my life or it saved my father's life or my brothers or sisters life, or something of that nature, I said I always have to sing that song when I'm performing because if I don't, you never know who I'm leaving out and you know what, in times of my life I've had to turn to that song lyrically and flip it onto my own life and sing it to myself. So its from the 'Music Box' album, and it’s called 'Hero', this is for you.
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