You're Mine (Eternal) is a song released by Mariah Carey as the third single from her fourteenth studio album "Me. I Am Mariah… The Elusive Chanteuse."
The song was released on February 12, 2014. A second version of the song (featuring R&B singer-songwriter Trey Songz) was also released.
The song received generally positive reviews from music critics, many of whom compared it to Mariah's 2005 hit song "We Belong Together."
Commercially, the song has had limited success; it was most successful in Hungary and Spain, where it respectively reached the top-fifteen and top-thirty in Hungarian and Spanish singles charts.
In the United States and United Kingdom, the song only managed to reach top-ninety although it was more successful in the United States urban formats where it peaked in the top-thirty on the R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and top-forty on the rhythmic and mainstream/pop airplay charts.
Song Background & Release
Edit
During Mariah's performance on NBC's New Year's Eve with Carson Daly on December 31, 2013, she revealed she would release a new single on Valentine's Day on February 14, 2014.
On February 12th, the song title was revealed as "You're Mine (Eternal)" when it received its radio premiere.
It was made available to download digitally on the iTunes Store in Ireland and Italy through Universal Music Group and the United Kingdom through Mercury Records, amongst others territories.
The song was made available for download on iTunes in Canada through Universal and the United States through The Island Def Jam Music Group a day later on February 13th.
In the United States, "You're Mine (Eternal)" was released to Contemporary, Rhythmic, and Urban adult contemporary radio stations around the country on February 18th.
An urban remix featuring guest vocals by Trey Songz was also made available for digital download alongside the release of the original solo version featuring only Mariah in each territory.
In an interview with MTV News, Mariah praised Songz for his involvement on the song: "I love what he did to the song because I feel like he gave us a lot of different moments artistically ... Most people can't sing, rap, and have a sound that's current yet also classic."
On February 14th, she released three dance remixes onto her official YouTube account.
These remixes include the Jump Smokers Radio Remix, Jump Smokers Extended Remix, and Jermaine Dupri X Kurd Maverick Germany To Southside Remix.
On March 15, 2014 (a month after "You're Mine (Eternal)" debuted), Mariah released an additional three remixes, this time helped by Fedde Le Grand, Gregor Salto and Funkin' Matt and Chus & Ceballos.
CompositionEdit
"You're Mine (Eternal)" is a love song which lasts for a duration of three minutes and forty-two seconds.
The song utilizes an hypnotic and "smooth, steady" beat which slowly but gradually builds to a sudden climax at the end with Mariah sustaining a high note for a long period of time.
Lyrically, the track features her reminiscing about a past lover as she sings the line "I can't seem to live without your love/ Suffocating here by myself/ Dying for your touch."
Music VideoEdit
The official music video for "You're Mine (Eternal)" was filmed at the El Yunque National Forest in Puerto Rico.
It was co-directed by photographer Indrani and Mariah. It premiered on MTV at 7:50 p.m. ET/PT on February 12, 2014.
She explained her directorial involvement and decision to shoot the video in Puerto Rico in an radio interview, saying:
"I would say it was a directorial collaborative effort. We went to the rainforest and that was interesting. Part of the reason was [because] I love Puerto Rico[–it's] one of my favorite places ever and I did one of my favorite videos, 'Honey', in Puerto Rico at the El Conquistador hotel. I was involved every step of the way ... I like[d] a lot of the shots in the video ... There was a moment where I had to do an additional water sequence with no director, just myself and a camera man with an underwater camera. I was looking at the take at 5 in the morning, [they're] ready to kill me. But if we didn't have those shots there wouldn't be anything to cut away to, except me."
Scenes of the music video include Mariah sitting bedside a river in the forest covered in gold glitter, sitting in front of waterfalls & tropical wildlife and imitating a mermaid by swimming underwater while wearing an evening gown.
Critical ReceptionEdit
The song was positively received by music critics. Christina Garibaldi of MTV was complimentary of the song, comparing it to one of Carey's previous singles, "We Belong Together" (The Emancipation of Mimi, 2005).
Garibaldi praised the singer's "impressive" vocal range, specifically drawing attention to the high note that she ends the song with.
Garibaldi stated that "You're Mine (Eternal)" serves as a reminder as to why Mariah is "still the fiercest diva in the game."
Writing for Billboard, Jason Lipshutz noted that the slow structure for the majority of the song "could have hummed forward to turn into a sleepy R&B track," but the "inevitable" high note saves it from becoming so.
Jamieson Cox of Time also compared the song to "We Belong Together": "It's a gaseous, fluffy ballad that feels like a direct descendant of the song that rang in her mid-career renaissance, 2005's mega-hit 'We Belong Together': plinking piano melodies, a typically fluttering Carey vocal take, and a very similar beat. Only time will tell if 'You're Mine (Eternal)' can duplicate that song's record-breaking success."
Melinda Newman of HitFix wondered if Carey could have hit with the love ballad, who described the song as "breathless":
"The mid-tempo tune, co-written and co-produced with Rodney Jerkins, is a breathless, throbbing quiet storm of a song that relies more on its hypnotic charm than Carey's vocal pyrotechnics."
She continued that the song "could get her back on the charts? It's probably not going to fit in at Hot 100, but it could definitely see some love at Adult Contemporary and Adult R&B radio."
Jeff Benjamin of Fuse described Carey as the master on what she's doing: "the new single is placed between the R&B and Pop sound that only Mariah knows how to do."
Benjamin also compared the production of the song to "Touch My Body" and "Always Be My Baby" and noted how impressive the final, "drawn-out whistle" was
Live PerformancesEdit
Four days prior to its release, Mariah performed the song for the first time at the BET Honors on February 8, 2014 and the show premiered on TV on Monday February 24, 2014.
On February 13, 2014, she performed the song live while lighting up the Empire State Building in pink and red.
Mariah appeared with three couples who won a contest that gave them the opportunity to get married at the top of the building on Valentine's Day. The performance is expected to be taped later on TV.
Chart PerformanceEdit
The song made its first chart appearance in the United Kingdom on February 16, 2014, four days after its release. It debuted at number 87 on the UK Singles Chart and number 16 on the UK R&B Chart.
In the United States, it debuted at number 88 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in its first week of release, with 32,000 downloads, accounting for 62% of its charting points.
The song's charting on the Hot 100 makes it Mariah's 46th entry since her debut in 1990.
It is also her first song to enter the chart as a solo lead artist which is a non-festive/non-collaboration/non-cover song, the last time being "Obsessed" in 2009.
On Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, it entered at number 24 while debuting at number at number 12 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Digital Songs. It also entered the Hot R&B Songs chart at number 14.
