My Love

Album: Love Vs. Money (2009)
Charted: 82
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This love anthem features Mariah Carey. In 2008 The-Dream penned for Carey her #1 single "Touch My Body."
  • The-Dream told DJ Jojo Wright of the LA radio station KIIS-FM the story of how he hooked up with Carey for this song. He explained: "I was at Legacy Studios in New York and I started the chords on a keyboard and I was like, '[hums] Okay, this is gonna be pretty good.' Nobody knows my process. This is how it goes. Usually I start a track, I put a kick on it and a snare, then it's really simple that in the beginning stages and I just go into the booth because it actually comes from what I already have in my head as far as the hook that I may hear. So I walk into the booth and the engineer's there, we start it off and I'm like, [sings] 'Tell me what they know about my love, this would be a great record for Mariah Carey to be on.' Little did I know, it was like 50 people in the studio at that particular time that I invited to kind of like just kick it in and just chill out while I was writing.

    One of the girls was Constance from Billboard magazine online. She writes for them. So she calls me the next morning and she's like, 'Yeah, I heard all the stuff that you was doin'. I heard the Kelly's 12 Flavor record,' and this and that, and that the record, 'Is that supposed to be a record with you and Mariah?' I was like, 'Yeah, I already got Mariah on that. Mariah's on that,' So she printed it, like, the same day [laughs]. Mariah hadn't even heard it. Mariah hadn't even heard it! So I just found out last night Mariah was like, 'Yeah, Nick (Cannon) brought me this' and he was like, 'You did a record with Dream?' She's like, 'I don't think so.'

    So this is crazy. L.A. Reid was calling me, the Chairman and CEO of Def Jam, calling me like, 'Are you crazy? Have you lost your mind? Are you on drugs?' And I had to think about that, then I was like, 'No, I'm not on drugs.' I was being very optimistic, you know. I was thinking so positive and if it didn't happen for me, nobody would care anyway. It's more that it did happen. So it did end up happening and now she's on my record and everybody was like, 'How did you do that?' 'cause she hadn't done a duet since Bone Thugs-N-Harmony."

    I went to Def Jam and Karen Kwak is a great friend of mine. She's the president basically up on the L.A. Reid and she's the one that brought 'Umbrella' in and I went up to the building acting like a big kid. I was like, 'I ain't writing no record for nobody else if Mariah don't get on this record. Period.' And so L.A. looked at her like, 'Go get them, Tiger.'" (Source: Mariah Daily)
  • This was Carey's second appearance on the Hot 100 as a featured artist. In 2004, she assisted Jadakiss on his #21 charting hit "U Make Me Wanna."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Robert DeLeo of Stone Temple Pilots

Robert DeLeo of Stone Temple PilotsSongwriter Interviews

Stone Temple Pilots bass player Robert DeLeo names the songs that have most connected with fans and tells the stories behind tracks from their Tiny Music album.

Petula Clark

Petula ClarkSongwriter Interviews

Petula talks about her hits "Downtown" and "Don't Sleep In The Subway," and explains her Michael Jackson connection.

Donald Fagen

Donald FagenSongwriter Interviews

Fagen talks about how the Steely Dan songwriting strategy has changed over the years, and explains why you don't hear many covers of their songs.

What Musicians Are Related to Other Musicians?

What Musicians Are Related to Other Musicians?Song Writing

A big list of musical marriages and family relations ranging from the simple to the truly dysfunctional.

Bible Lyrics

Bible LyricsMusic Quiz

Rockers, rappers and pop stars have been known to quote the Bible in their songs. See if you match the artist to the biblical lyric.

Tanita Tikaram

Tanita TikaramSongwriter Interviews

When she released her first album in 1988, Tanita became a UK singing sensation at age 19. She talks about her darkly sensual voice and quirky songwriting style.