Anytime You Need a Friend

Mariah Carey tapped into her faith in God for this gospel-flavored single from her third studio album. By the time she released Music Box, Carey was a pop superstar but she felt like a prisoner. In July 1993, she married her boyfriend Tommy Mottola, the president of Sony Music, who controlled nearly every aspect of the singer's personal and professional life. She recalled in her 2020 memoir, The Meaning Of Mariah Carey, that "Anytime You Need A Friend" was borne out of the desperation she felt during the relationship, which ended in divorce in 1997. "Among all of my songs that one was especially significant, because I was desperately alone, removed from friends and full of fear," she said. "My belief in God kept me alive - I wrote that song thinking about what I thought God would say to us in times of fear."

Mariah wrote the song with her "Hero" cowriter, Walter Afanasieff. The pair had toyed around with a gospel sound on earlier tracks like "And You Don't Remember" (from Emotions) and "I Don't Wanna Cry" (from Mariah Carey) and wanted something similar for Music Box. He recalled in a 2011 interview with Soul Culture: "The substance of 'I Don't Wanna Cry' and the gospel quality of 'And You Don’t Remember' led this sort of melodic, melancholy theme that we wanted to bust out into some big harmony gospel singing type of chorus. This is how we came up with 'Anytime You Need a Friend.'"

Even though it sounds like a huge choir is backing Mariah, most of the supporting vocals were sung by gospel singers Kelly Price, Shanrae Price, and Melonie Daniels. Said Mariah: "It was a great experience to work with them and to do these gospel arrangements. because they're really from the church and they're really really authentic."