I was going to put a live version of Hero on the album, but they wanted me to just put the regular version. I like to sing ‘Hero’ live ‘cause it’s pretty easy to sing and I can do different things with it - I don’t do it like the record. “Mariah Carey: Revisited” by Chris Nickson, 1998

MC: “One person could say that 'Hero' is a schmaltzy piece of garbage, but another person can write to me a letter and say, 'I've considered committing suicide every day of my life for the last ten years until I heard that song, and I realized, after all, I can be my own hero,' and that, that's an unexplainable feeling, like I've done something with my life, you know? It meant something to someone.” ‘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… Jet Magazine ‘Mariah Carey Says: My Mom Taught Me To Believe In Myself” by Robert E. She adds: 'I do this because there is a lot of negativity out there and lot of people are singing about how screwed up the world is, and I don't think that everybody wants to hear about that all the time.” like with the songs Make It Happen and Hero,' the singer/songwriter notes. 'I like to try and give positive messages, if I can in my music, whenever I can.

“‘Hero’ is about being your own role model,” Mariah explains, “about looking inside yourself to gather strength.” There’s not really one specific inspiration for the song, ‘Hero’ but the basic theme is looking inside yourself - being your own role model.

Mariah carey hero