Composition
Following the success of her self-titled debut album, Carey desired to pen her personal struggles prior to her signing with Columbia. She hoped to give her fans an idea of what her life two years prior and to instill relief or inspiration in them. In the song, Carey sings "Not more than three short years ago / I was abandoned and alone / Without a penny to my name / So very young and so afraid / No proper shoes upon my feet / Sometimes I couldn't even eat / I often cried myself to sleep." Later in the song, Carey sings "But still I had to keep on going / I struggled and I prayed / And finally found my way," retelling how her faith helped guide her until her career blossomed and expressing to listeners the importance of finding and connecting with God. Author Chris Nickson wrote the following regarding the song, its lyrics and composition:
That wasn't just a faith in herself and her talent, but also the ability to let herself go, to pray to God, and to trust in what would happen. These were, by far, her most inspiring words to date, letting others know that no matter what they were doing, no matter how difficult things were, with help they would win through. Musically, the piece had a restrained dance beat, very Mowtownish, that owed a little more to gospel, with a chorus - sung by Mariah, Trey and Patrique - that rose gloriously from the verse to repeat and drive and its very positive message home.
"Make It Happen" is a dance track that draws influence from pop, R&B, gospel, and dance-pop genres; its tempo is 108 beats per minute. The song was written and produced by Carey and C+C Music Factory's David Cole and Robert Clivillés, and it was released as the third and final single from her second studio album, Emotions. It employs several musical instruments, including the piano, guitar, bass, organ, and tambourine. Additionally, Carey incorporated a church choir into the track's bridge, which, according to Nickson, helped the song become even more of an anthem. The song is set in common time and is composed in the key of D major. Carey's vocal range spans from the low-note of A3 to the high-note of G5, while the song's chorus follows a chord progression of Gsus2–G–G/F♯–Em7–G/D–C–G/B–Am7.
Read more about this topic: Make It Happen (Mariah Carey Song)
Famous quotes containing the word composition:
“Vices enter into the composition of virtues as poisons into the composition of certain medicines. Prudence and common sense mix them together, and make excellent use of them against the misfortunes that attend human life.”
—François, Duc De La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680)
“The proposed Constitution ... is, in strictness, neither a national nor a federal constitution; but a composition of both.”
—James Madison (1751–1836)
“If I don’t write to empty my mind, I go mad. As to that regular, uninterrupted love of writing ... I do not understand it. I feel it as a torture, which I must get rid of, but never as a pleasure. On the contrary, I think composition a great pain.”
—George Gordon Noel Byron (1788–1824)