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Thank God I Found You

"Thank God I Found You" is a song by American singer-songwriter Mariah Carey, featuring guest vocals from R&B singer Joe and American boy band 98 Degrees. It was released on November 15, 1999, through Columbia Records, as the second single from her seventh studio album, Rainbow (1999). Written and produced by Carey alongside Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, the song is a soulful pop power ballad with lyrics depicting a powerful love relationship in which the protagonist tells her lover "thank God I found you", that was inspired by a relationship Carey was going through at the time.

Background and recording
Carey and her husband, Tommy Mottola, who was a Sony Music executive, separated in 1997. This resulted in a strained relationship with Sony. By the spring of 1999, Carey had begun work on her last album of her contract with Columbia Records, titled Rainbow. Her relationship with Sony had affected her collaboration with writing partner Walter Afanasieff, who had worked with her throughout the first half of her career. As a result, she worked extensively with many other songwriters and producers for the album, including the duo Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis (known for their work with Janet Jackson), with whom Carey co-wrote and co-produced "Thank God I Found You". When Jam and Lewis first started working with Carey, they did not have a definite idea of what Carey expected from them. One night, Jam and Lewis received a call from Carey's assistant telling them that Carey had an idea for a song. She asked them to meet her at the studio later that night, Jam and Lewis also asked the boy band 98 Degrees to join Carey and Joe on the track, as they wanted male harmonies. Carey talked about the collaboration in an interview with MTV. "It's like when I was writing 'One Sweet Day'. It really cried out for a group to be singing with me and for a strong male-female thing in terms of going back and forth, vocally. So you know, we just naturally came together." The vocals were recorded at Capri Digital Studios, Capri, Italy and Avatar Studios, New York City. == Composition ==
Composition
"Thank God I Found You" was produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, and co-produced by Carey. The song is a moderately-paced R&B power ballad. The song carries an upbeat tone, backed by slow "manufactured pop beats". The beat is set in common time, and is set at a tempo of sixty-five beats per minute. love song, in which the protagonist thanks God for finding her the perfect partner. She stated that she was telling a story through the song. Remixes Carey re-recorded her vocals for the song's main remix titled "Thank God I Found You" (Make It Last Remix). Produced by DJ Clue of Desert Storm Records, the remix is a midtempo tune backed by "R&B-savvy rhythms" over a slow groove. It features vocals from Joe and rapped verses by Columbia Records label-mate Nas. The remix is included on Joe's third studio album My Name Is Joe (2000). Derek Ali of Dayton Daily News commended the collaboration, saying "it works out well." The "Make It Last" remix is featured on Carey's first remix album The Remixes (2003). == Critical response ==
Critical response
"Thank God I Found You" garnered mixed reviews from music critics. Jose F. Promis of Allmusic wrote that the song is "[a] lush, classic Carey-styled adult contemporary ballad, with uplifting lyrics and a sea of soaring vocals." Arion Berger of Rolling Stone praised the song's production and the harmony that 98 Degrees contributed. Steve Jones of USA Today wrote that Carey excelled in the song. Melissa Ruggieri of the Richmond Times-Dispatch noted that Carey found solace in the song. Anthony Johnson, also of the Richmond Times-Dispatch wrote that the track is a "surefire winner". However, a few other critics deemed the song as forgettable. Dan DeLuca of The Philadelphia Inquirer dismissed the song as a "colorless quality romance". Robert Hilburn of Los Angeles Times was also negative in his review, calling it as an "overwrought ballad" and wrote it was un-listenable. Dara Cook of MTV Southeast Asia named the song as "a big-production tragicomedy of hilarious histrionics and absurdly dramatic lyrics." While reviewing Carey's compilation The Ballads (2009), Chuck Campbell of The Press of Atlantic City wrote that at some point in Carey's career, the quality her songs got "iffier" and commented that "Thank God I Found You" is such an example. In 2005 Andrew Unterberger of Stylus gave a negative review, writing the song was "a sub-par, extremely lazy example of an artist reaching the top spot almost solely on reputation." He wrote that the song would have been the end of Carey's career. At the 43rd Grammy Awards held in February 2001, the song was nominated in the category of the Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals, but lost to B.B. King and Dr. John for "Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby". At the First BMI Urban Awards, held in 2001, Jam, Lewis, and Carey received BMI's Urban Songwriter Award. == Commercial performance ==
Commercial performance
In the United States, Columbia released "Thank God I Found You" to radio stations as the second single from Rainbow in November 1999. A physical single was later released on January 25, 2000, in the US and on February 28, 2000, in the United Kingdom. The issue dated December 11, 1999, debuted at number eighty-two on the Billboard Hot 100—Carey's lowest debut at the time. On the week dated February 19, 2000, the song reached number-one on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, becoming Carey's fifteenth number-one single and marking her eleventh consecutive year with a number-one song. It remained Carey's last number-one hit in the US until 2005's "We Belong Together" and, to date, remains 98 Degrees' only number-one song; Joe, meanwhile, would only receive one more number-one hit later in his career: 2001's "Stutter". It was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in February 2000. By February 2001 the single had sold 687,000 copies in the US alone. In Canada, the single debuted and peaked at number two on the Canadian Singles Chart. In Australia, it entered the Australian Singles Chart at its peak of number twenty-seven, on the week dated March 12, 2000. The next week it dropped to number forty-seven. The song went down to number thirty-five next week, before dropping to number forty-four. The single stayed on the chart for ten weeks, including one re-entry at number seventy-one on the week dated May 20, 2000. In the Wallonia region, it debuted at number thirty-five and peaked at number twenty-three three weeks after its debut. In France, the single entered the singles chart at number thirty-one, the week dated March 4, 2000. The next week it ascended to its peak of number twenty-eight. The song also peaked at number twenty-eight in Germany, forty-three in Sweden, thirty-one in Ireland, and at number seventeen in Switzerland. == Music video ==
Music video
The music video for "Thank God I Found You" was filmed by Brett Ratner in Minneapolis. The video is a tape of the performance Carey, Joe and 98 Degrees gave at the Last Chance Summer Dance summer music concert, organized by 101.3 KDWB-FM. It premiered on October 14, 1999, on MTV's Total Request Live (TRL). The video opens with scenes of Carey and Joe in the studio. Carey is with her puppy and talking on a mobile phone. The video shows saturated blue skies and behind-the-scenes footage of Carey carousing with her dog Jack and writing lyrics on a notepad. As the song starts, Carey is shown lying on red sofa, writing the lyrics on the notepad. Then she performs the song on the stage, joined by Joe and 98 Degrees. Additionally, there is a video for the "Make It Last Remix" that features Carey with braids in a nightclub with Joe and Nas. Directed by Sanaa Hamri. The video is grainy; it was shot at Bar Rosso in Hamburg, Germany on October 16 and 17, 1999. == Live performances ==
Live performances
Tour. Her backup singer Trey Lorenz sang the verses of Joe on the tour.|alt=A woman is performing a song on stage. She is wearing a greenish dress. "Thank God I Found You" was performed a number of times between 2000 and 2005. Carey opened the 27th Annual American Music Awards, held at the Shrine Auditorium, with a medley of the original and remix versions of the song. After performing the first verse and chorus, Nas joined the duo on stage for the Make It Last Remix. Later on in the show, she was honored with the "Award of Achievement" for earning a number one single in every year of the 1990s. Vibe commended the performance, writing that it "offered an insight into how a little girl from Long Island, New York became hip hop's answer to Celine Dion." Aside from the several televised and the award show performance, Carey included the song on the set-list of her concert tours, starting with the Rainbow World Tour. During the tour, Trey Lorenz, her only male background singer, replaced Joe as the song's main male vocalist. At the show at Madison Square Garden on April 11, 2000, Carey wore a long orange cocktail gown with a long cascading neck line. Lorenz, wearing a black leather sports jacket and matching pants, made another featured appearance on the tour, performing his song "Make You Happy" during an interval of costume changes following the performance. Following the release of her tenth studio effort The Emancipation of Mimi in 2005, Carey embarked on The Adventures of Mimi Tour in mid 2006. On several stops of the tour, Carey performed the song as part of the set-list, usually towards the end of the show. Similar to the Rainbow World Tour, Lorenz performed the song alongside Carey instead of Joe. Carey, wearing a midsection-baring turquoise evening gown, introduced the song to the audience by telling of its conception, concept and featured artists, followed by a performance of the song's remix. == Lawsuit ==
Lawsuit
On September 15, 2000, US songwriters Seth Swirsky and Warren Campbell filed a lawsuit against Carey at the 9th Circuit for copyright infringement, "reverse passing off" and false designation, claiming that "Thank God I Found You" borrowed heavily from a song they composed called "One of Those Love Songs". It was recorded by the R&B group Xscape in 1998 for their album Traces of My Lipstick. The lawsuit claimed that Carey wrongfully gave the songwriting credits to Jam and Lewis. Swirsky and Campbell had sold the rights of the song to So So Def Recordings in 1998. According to the district court, an expert witness (chair of the Musicology Department at UCLA) determined that the songs shared a "substantially similar chorus". The expert stated that although the lyrics and verse melodies of the two songs were different, the songs' choruses "shared a 'basic shape and pitch emphasis' in their melodies, which were played over 'highly similar basslines' and chord changes, at very nearly the same tempo and in the same generic style." However, this judgement was later reversed by a higher court. In the precedent-setting Swirsky v. Carey decision, which clarified the standard for proving copyright infringement, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit overturned the initial 2002 dismissal of the case, finding that Swirsky's expert did in fact adequately define the similarities between the two songs. The lawsuit was reinstated in 2004; Carey and Swirsky settled out of court in 2006. == Track listing ==
Track listing
European maxi-CD single • "Thank God I Found You" – 4:17 • "Thank God I Found You" (Celebratory Mix) – 4:19 • "Thank God I Found You" (Make It Last Remix feat. Joe & Nas) – 5:10 • "Thank God I Found You" (Make It Last Remix Instrumental) – 5:10 • UK 12-inch vinyl • "Thank God I Found You" (Make It Last Remix feat. Joe & Nas) – 5:10 • "Thank God I Found You" (Make It Last Remix without Rap feat. Joe) – 5:10 • "Thank God I Found You" (Make It Last Instrumental) – 5:10 • "Thank God I Found You" (Celebratory Mix) – 4:19 • UK CD single 1 • "Thank God I Found You" (Stargate Radio Edit) – 4:20 • "Thank God I Found You" (Make It Last Remix) – 5:10 • "Babydoll" – 5:06 • UK CD single 2 (limited edition) • "Thank God I Found You" (Celebratory Mix) – 4:19 • "One Sweet Day" – 4:41 • "I'll Be There" – 4:24 • US CD single and 7-inch vinyl single • "Thank God I Found You" – 4:17 • "Thank God I Found You" (Celebratory Mix) – 4:19 • US maxi-CD single • "Thank God I Found You" (Make It Last Remix Edit feat. Nas & Joe) – 4:13 • "Thank God I Found You" (Make It Last Remix without Rap feat. Joe) – 5:10 • "Thank God I Found You" (Album Version) – 4:17 • "Babydoll" – 5:06 • US 12-inch vinyl • "Thank God I Found You" (Make It Last Remix) – 5:09 • "Thank God I Found You" (Make It Last Remix Edit) – 4:12 • "Thank God I Found You" (Make It Last Remix w/o Rap) – 5:09 • "Thank God I Found You" (Make It Last Remix Instrumental) – 5:09 • "Thank God I Found You" (Celebratory Mix) – 4:16 • "Thank God I Found You" (StarGate Radio Edit) – 4:19 == Credits and personnel ==
Credits and personnel
Credits adapted from Rainbow liner notes. • Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis – writing, production • Mariah Carey – writing, vocals, backing vocals, production • Joe – vocals, backing vocals • 98 Degrees – vocals, backing vocals • Nicki Richards – backing vocals • Trey Lorenz – backing vocals • Melonie Daniels – backing vocals • Daryl Skobba – cello • Joshua Koestenbaum – cello • Mike Scott – guitar • Dana Jon Chappelle – engineering • Pete Karem – engineering (98 Degrees' vocals) • Steve Hodge – mixingBob Ludwigmastering == Charts ==
Charts
Weekly charts Year-end charts ==Certifications==
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