Can't Let Go (Mariah Carey song)

"Can't Let Go"
US retail cassette variant of the standard worldwide artwork
Single by Mariah Carey
from the album Emotions
B-side	"To Be Around You" "So Blessed"
Released	October 23, 1991
Studio	The Plant Recording Studios (Sausalito, California)
Genre	R&B soul
Length	4:27
Label	Columbia
Songwriter(s)	Mariah Carey Walter Afanasieff
Producer(s)	Mariah Carey Walter Afanasieff
Mariah Carey singles chronology
"Emotions" (1991) "Can't Let Go" (1991) "Make It Happen" (1992)
Music video
"Can't Let Go" on YouTube

"Can't Let Go" is a song by American singer-songwriter Mariah Carey from her second studio album, Emotions (1991). It was released as the album's second single on October 23, 1991, by Columbia Records in the United States and the first quarter of 1992 elsewhere. It was written and produced by Carey and Walter Afanasieff. The protagonist of this synthesizer-heavy ballad laments an ex-lover who has moved on, and though she tries she "can't let go."

Carey had fallen out with her songwriting partner Ben Margulies following a financial dispute, and her record label suggested that she work with the other producers of her debut album such as Rhett Lawrence, Ric Wake and Narada Michael Walden. She chose Afanasieff, who had produced her second single "Love Takes Time" (1990), and "Can't Let Go" was one of the songs they created. After the release of the single "Emotions," "Can't Let Go" was promoted on both The Arsenio Hall Show in September 1991 and Saturday Night Live in November 1991 when she was the musical guest in the episode which featured Linda Hamilton as the host. "Can't Let Go" was later included on Carey's compilation album The Ballads (2008).

Music and lyrics

"Can't Let Go" has a moderate tempo of 80 beats per minute. Carey's vocal range spans three octaves and seven semitones from the low note of F₃ to the high note of C₇.

Critical reception

AllMusic editor Ashley S. Battel wrote that "yearning cries for a lost love in "Can't Let Go" serves to send the listener on a musical journey through time filled with varying emotions. Larry Flick from Billboard described it as a "rhythmic R&B/pop ballad", adding, "Her now-trademark vocal acrobatics are showcased amid gospel-spiced harmonizing and dramatically executed instrumentation." Clark and DeVaney from Cash Box commented, "This time Carey is slowing down the pace from the first single "Emotions". In our opinion, this should have been the first single taken off the album. Her voice still has that crystal-clear sound that has hypnotized listeners of all sorts." Los Angeles Times editor Dennis Hunt felt that in this song, Mariah is playing a wounded lover. Rob Tannenbaum of Rolling Stone wrote that "moody grandeur" of this song will sound great on radio. On the song, Sian Pattenden from Smash Hits described Carey as "the Nanette Newman of pop".

Chart performance

Carey's first five American singles had reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100. "Can't Let Go" ended the streak when it reached number two and spent 17 weeks in the top 40 on January 25, 1992. The song topped the Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks, where it became Carey's fourth number one single.

"Can't Let Go" reached number three in Canada and the top 20 in the UK.

Music video

The single's accompanying music video, directed by Jim Sonzero, features Carey wearing an evening gown and her hair in a bun. Filmed in black and white, the video starts and closes with shots of a rose open and closed respectively.

Usage in other media

A radio edit of the song was promoted to radio and used for the video instead of the original song, and the edit eliminates the seraphic pre-intro and removes all of Carey's high notes at the song's beginning and end. Like Carey's previous U.S. singles, "Can't Let Go" won a BMI Pop Award in 1993. In 2015, Carey appeared on rapper Rick Ross's song "Can't Say No" on his album Black Market, which samples "Can't Let Go".

Track listings

Credits and personnel

Recording

• Recorded at Skywalker Sound, Marin Country; The Plant Recording Studios, Sausalito; Right Track Recording, NYC.
• Mixed at Right Track Recording, NYC.

Personnel

• Lyrics – Mariah Carey
• Music – Mariah Carey, Walter Afanasieff
• Production – Mariah Carey, Walter Afanasieff
• Keyboards, Synthesizers, Synthesizer Bass, Synclavier Acoustic Guitar, Drums and Percussion Arrangement and Programming – Walter Afanasieff
• Guitars – Michael Landau
• Synclavier/Akai Programming – Ren Klyce
• Synclavier/Macintosh Programming – Gary Cirmelli
• Arrangement – Mariah Carey, Walter Afanasieff
• Recording Engineer – Dana Jon Chappelle
• Assistant engineers; Bruce Calder, Craig Silvey
• Mixing – Dana Jon Chappelle
• Vocal arrangement – Mariah Carey, Walter Afanasieff
• Background vocals – Mariah Carey

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Emotions.

Charts and certifications

See also

• List of number-one adult contemporary singles of 1992 (U.S.)