It Can Happen!


Written and produced by Mariah Carey with David Cole and Robert Clivill?s of the C&C Music Factory, and recorded for Carey's second album, Emotions (1991). It is a dance/gospel hybrid in which Carey sings 'if you believe in yourself enough and know what you want, you're going to make it happen'. It was released as the album's third and final single in the U.S. in 1992.

Carey's first five U.S. singles had reached number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100; her sixth, 'Can't Let Go', had reached number two. Pressure was put on 'Make It Happen' to become Carey's next number-one hit, but it peaked at number five. It remained in the top forty for sixteen weeks and was one of the year's bigger hits, being ranked forty-second on the 1992 Hot 100 year-end chart. It received heavy radio airplay but sold moderately, and its high peak on the U.S. charts was because airplay statistics were beginning to be given more consideration in the compiling of Billboard magazine charts than sales statistics. The single became Carey's first in the U.S. not to top any other Billboard chart, and underperformed outside the U.S. like 'Can't Let Go'. It became her first single to miss the top ten in Canada, but it fared better than the previous single in the United Kingdom and Australia.

Like every earlier U.S. single release from Carey, it won a BMI Pop Award. This made every single from Emotions a BMI award winner, matching the record set by her debut album, Mariah Carey. The single's video, directed by Marcus Nispel, features Carey holding an impromptu benefit concert inside a church slated for closing.

Detroit songwriter Kevin McCord filed a lawsuit in Michigan alleging that Mariah Carey and Columbia Records used a sample of McCord's composition 'I Want to Thank You', performed by Alicia Myers.

It was later discovered that Carey had obtained clearance through her publishing connection to BMI under M Carey Songs (BMI) [Under license from Universal Music Enterprises(BMI)] to use a similar sample of the composition, so the lawsuit was dismissed immediately.

As of 2006, the song continued to receive heavy airplay on U.S. adult contemporary radio stations such as Los Angeles's K-BIG. Carey frequently performs 'Make It Happen' in concert, as well as at charity and fundraising events. One of her most widely seen performances was at Live 8 in London's Hyde Park in July 2005, as part of the multicontinental awareness-raising project to reduce poverty in Africa. 'Make It Happen' was the usual set-closing number on Carey's 2006 The Adventures of Mimi Tour.



Chart Positions 1992:

• Australian ARIA Singles Chart #35
• Canadian Singles Chart #16
• UK Singles Chart #17
• U.S. ARC Weekly Top 40 #2
• U.S. Billboard Hot 100 #5
• U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary #13
• U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play #16
• U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks #7

Single Information:
Label: Columbia
Catalog#: 44K 74189
Format: CD, Maxi-Single
Country: US
Released: 1992
Genre: Electronic
Style: House
Credits: Bass - Carl James (tracks: 1 to 4)
Drum Programming - Clivill?s & Cole (tracks: 1 to 5)
Engineer [Engineer Recording] - Barbara Aimes (tracks: 1 to 4) , Richard Joseph (tracks: 1 to 4)
Executive Producer - Tommy Mottola
Guitar [Acoustic Guitar] - Paul Pesco (tracks: 1 to 5)
Keyboards [Keyboards Arrangements] - David Cole (tracks: 1 to 5)
Lyrics By - Mariah Carey
Music By - Clivill?s & Cole , Mariah Carey
Producer, Arranged By, Mixed By - Clivill?s & Cole , Mariah Carey
Programmed By - Alan Friedman (tracks: 1 to 5) , James T. Alfano (tracks: 1 to 5)

Bitrate Info:
High Quality/Mp3/V0/Variable Bitrate

Tracklisting: