Get Your Number

Album: The Emancipation Of Mimi (2005)
Charted: 9
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Jermaine Dupri performs on this song and helped Carey write it. The song takes place in a club where at closing time, Dupri asks Carey for her phone number. >>>
    Suggestion credit:
    sum sum - New Delhi, India
  • Dupri originally wrote a rap song on top of the beat of "Just An Illusion," an R&B dance hit by the British trio Imagination, with the idea of putting it on his own album. Once he asked Carey to sing on it, they rewrote the verses and it became "Get Your Number," her fourth US single from The Emancipation Of Mimi.

    Carey told AOL Music in 2005 how both singers ended up on the track: "When I started to re-sing the hook, it just didn't have the same quality as when Jermaine was singing it because obviously we have very different voices. So I made it into a duet where Jermaine is singing his part on the hook and I do the verses. A lot of people like it because it's giving you a 'Fantasy'-like feeling."
  • Dupri also shows up in the music video, but it's not Carey's number he's after at the nightclub. While he's collecting info on multiple girls, Carey doles out her digits one at a time to a potential love interest, played by Barbershop actor Michael Ealy. The clip was directed by Jake Nava, who also helmed the video for Carey's "Shake It Off."
  • The Emancipation Of Mimi, Carey's 10th studio album, revived the singer's career after a series of personal and professional struggles that included her failed Glitter project and a highly publicized nervous breakdown. The album brought her back to the top of the albums chart for the first time in eight years and sold 6 million copies in the US.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Meshell Ndegeocello

Meshell NdegeocelloSongwriter Interviews

Meshell Ndegeocello talks about recording "Wild Night" with John Mellencamp, and explains why she shied away from the spotlight.

Steve Morse of Deep Purple

Steve Morse of Deep PurpleSongwriter Interviews

Deep Purple's guitarist since 1994, Steve talks about writing songs with the band and how he puts his own spin on "Smoke On The Water."

Have Mercy! It's Wolfman Jack

Have Mercy! It's Wolfman JackSong Writing

The story of the legendary lupine DJ through the songs he inspired.

Donald Fagen

Donald FagenSongwriter Interviews

Fagen talks about how the Steely Dan songwriting strategy has changed over the years, and explains why you don't hear many covers of their songs.

Joe Jackson

Joe JacksonSongwriter Interviews

Joe talks about the challenges of of making a Duke Ellington tribute album, and tells the stories behind some of his hits.

Gavin Rossdale of Bush

Gavin Rossdale of BushSongwriter Interviews

On the "schizoid element" of his lyrics, and a famous line from "Everything Zen."