Hero (Mariah Carey Song) - Composition and Lyrical Content

Composition and Lyrical Content

"Hero" is a mid-tempo ballad, drawing influence from pop and R&B genres. The song 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. According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by Alfred Music Publishing, the song is set in common time with a moderate tempo of 62 beats per minute. It is composed in the key of E major with Carey's vocal range spanning from the low-note of G♯₃ to the high-note of E₅. The song's chorus has a basic chord progression of G_sus2–G–G/F♯–Em₇–G/D–C-G/B–Am₇. 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 connived 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 an 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 everyday 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, y'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. In her autobiography, Wade tells of the personal meaning the song holds to her, and its connection to the divine spirit inside each individual:

It encourages you to know the hero within. I call it the 'Spirit of God' that dwells within me. I believe we are all born with the hero status down on the inside of us. We spend too much time looking for a hero and when are hero lets us down, we get angry, depressed and feel betrayed. The problem is all people are subject to error, no matter who they are, no matter how anointed they are, or what the call is on their life.

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. Morffitt 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.