Hero

Mariah isn't waiting for a "Dreamlover" to come rescue her on this song because she's her own hero. She explained in a promo video for the album: "'Hero' is a song that's basically about looking inside yourself and being your own hero, like not always having to look for some kind of hero to come along and save you, but you can save yourself by looking inside yourself and trying to making it through any situation by really just having yourself to depend on first and look up to, like being your own role model."

Mariah performed this live for the first time during a small concert at Proctor's Theatre in Schenectady, New York, as part of her 1993 Thanksgiving special for NBC. In her 2020 memoir, The Meaning Of Mariah Carey, the singer said it was the first time she realized her popularity. Upon arriving at the venue, she was surprised to see police officers and barricades and wondered if there was something wrong. She was shocked to learn they were preparations for her throng of fans. Despite releasing two hugely successful albums, Mariah hadn't understood the magnitude of her work. Her movements were tightly controlled by her husband, Tommy Mottola, and she spent most of her time in the studio or in seclusion at their mansion in upstate New York. She wrote: "He had my life, but I had my music. It wasn't until that moment in Schenectady that I began to realize the degree of my popularity. I had fans! And soon they would become another source of my strength." The Schenectady concert was also released on video as Here Is Mariah Carey in 1993. The "Hero" segment was also used as the song's music video, directed by Larry Jordan.

This was produced and arranged by Carey's go-to collaborator, Walter Afanasieff, who also wrote the music. Carey wrote the lyrics.