Meant To Be

Album: Unconditional Love (2014)
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Songfacts®:

  • This is the lead single and one of two original songs from Unconditional Love. Studdard performed the song on the February 4, 2014 finale of the NBC weight loss competition show The Biggest Loser. An alumnus of that show's season, the singer lost 119 pounds during the series.
  • The song was co-written and produced by David Foster ("Glory Of Love," "You'll See"), who also served as the executive producer of Unconditional Love. Studdard told Billboard magazine: "David and I had talked about working together when he was at Warner Bros. And I'd accompanied him on various Foster & Friends tours. But it just never was the right time [to do an album]. Finally getting the opportunity to work with a friend and mentor—someone who helped shaped my musical tastes while cleaning house with my parents on Saturdays— has been cool. Also because David knows how to produce great vocals. He knows what to say and how to suggest what to do when you're not singing well or feeling well."
  • Billboard commented to Studdard that his passionate delivery on the song felt like an aural autobiography. He replied: "Being on the Biggest Loser was definitely a time and place for a lot of self-reflection. To think about your accomplishments, mistakes, all the things that have made you who you are; about being on a reality show to get your life together."

    "When David and I wrote 'Meant,' I was thinking about where I'm trying to get to and that's what came out," he added. "Starting out, I was this wide-eyed, immature 23-year-old with a slight direction as to where I wanted to go. Now I'm grown up with full direction and scope as to where I want to be in the next five-10 years: musical supremacy [laughs]."

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