Bye Bye

This song is loosely based around Mariah Carey's loss of her own father, Alfred Roy, who died of cancer in 2002. In her 2020 memoir, The Meaning Of Mariah Carey, the singer recalled her complicated relationship with her father, a US Army veteran who had an extremely disciplined approach to life that he tried to pass on to his children ("I didn't get it, but you kept me alive," she sings). But after divorcing Mariah's mother, Alfred wasn't as disciplined when it came to seeing his youngest daughter. In the song, she remembers being sad when he stopped showing up for their Sunday dates and laments over all the things he's missing out on after his death. Father and daughter eventually drifted apart but reunited when Alfred was on his deathbed.

This was co-produced by Norwegian production team Stargate and co-written by Johnta Austin, one of the writers behind Carey's 2005 smash hit "We Belong Together."

Carey: "Sometimes when I'm writing a song like 'Bye Bye,' it does come from such a raw place that I'm like, I'm actually crying while writing it, or thinking about it. But sometimes I will hear it and go 'I feel like this is gonna touch a lot of people.' And that's why it's important, that no matter what's ever happened to me throughout my career, that I stay the course and continue to write and try and reach people who need it, because I know that I'm one of those people. When someone does that and they write something that touches me, I'm like indebted to them forever."