Songfacts®:

• Brenda K. Starr pours her heart out in this pop ballad about an ex-boyfriend she's sure she'll reunite with someday. The lyrics were written by Antonina Armato, a teenager who'd just had her heart broken and consoled herself by turning her pain into a song.
  
  "I wrote it about my first love, and I felt every word of it," Armato told Billboard in 1999. "Some things don't come from a personal space, but this one definitely did."
  
  Armato, who went on to write for The Jonas Brothers, Selena Gomez, and Miley Cyrus, collaborated with Italian composer Giuseppe Cantarelli on the instrumentation.
• A few years before she released the hit ballad, Starr caught her big break when she landed a role in the 1984 hip-hop film Beat Street, which helped her land a record deal. The following year, she released her debut album and notched a Top 10 Dance hit with "Pickin' Up The Pieces." When she first heard "I Still Believe," the song was still in its early stages, but it struck a chord with her. She told TrueExclusives in 2022:
  
  "It was my very first time knowing what it is to date and have a boyfriend, and I did get my heart broken. We eventually ended up having two children together. I was very, very young when I met this young man. I think I was about 12 or 13. We stayed together for many years, never got married, but when I heard the lyrics as a young girl, I was learning about what it was to fall in love, and then I had my heart broken. So when going into the studio and listening to the lyrics, I was like, 'Wow, I could really live these lyrics.' I just really put my heart and soul [into it].
  
  I think what really caught me in the song was where the part was, 'If we believe that true love never has to end, we must know that we will love again...' I was like, 'I have to sing this song,' because I still had no type of reservation that this relationship would totally last. When I went in the studio to sing it, I just remember my producer Eumir Deodato saying, 'This is going to be a #1 hit and don't forget that I said that.' And I believed him because he produced Kool & The Gang."
  
  Deodato's chart-topping prediction didn't come true, but the single did reach the Top 20 and became Starr's signature song.
• "I Still Believe" went to greater heights when Mariah Carey, Starr's former back-up singer, took it to #4 on the Hot 100 in 1999. Carey chose to record the tune for her #1s compilation as a tribute to Starr, who took her under her wing and showed interest in her songwriting. She also brought Carey to the industry party that set the course for the young singer's career after her demo tape landed in the hands of Columbia executive Tommy Mottola.
  
  Around the time she released the compilation, Carey told Entertainment Tonight why the song holds a special place in her heart. "I'm really glad that I got a chance to remake the song 'I Still Believe,' because the album is called #1's and this is the first song that I sang as a professional singer," she explained.
  
  "I would go on the road with Brenda. I was a little skinny kid with no money that she took under her wing and she was so nice to me. I auditioned to be her backup singer and she hired me and she used to bring me clothes and food, and she really took care of me like a big sister. A lot of people wouldn't have done that. The main thing was that she believed in me and it's really hard to get people to listen to your tapes. First off, if they're the star, they are like, 'I don't have time for such things.' She was always real cool and helpful and supportive. I always loved this song. When I sing it now, it reminds me of those times."
• In the US, Carey's version also went to #8 Adult Contemporary, #3 R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, and #1 Dance Club Play. It peaked at #16 in the UK.
• Inspired by old footage of Hollywood stars performing for troops overseas, Carey visited Edwards Air Force Base in California to shoot the music video, directed by Brent Ratner. She was particularly influenced by Marilyn Monroe's performance for US troops in Korea during a 1953 USO Tour. Standing on a fighter jet, a la Monroe, she emulated the blonde bombshell's style and mannerisms as she entertained the airmen and soldiers at the base.
  
  In an on-set interview, Carey explained how she and Ratner brainstormed the concept:
  
  "We were talking and I wanted it to be a live performance and we just started going back and forth and I was saying how a lot of people in the service had written me letters and talked about various songs. 'Hero ' being one of them. I remember when I put my first album out, people would write who were stationed overseas. It was in the winter of 1990, which was around the time of the Gulf War, so a lot of people were writing about listening to the album. I always used to watch old footage of performers going overseas, from Bob Hope to Marilyn Monroe singing for people in the service. I thought this would be a nice thing to do. So, we're doing the video but I'm going to do some more songs if I have it in me."
• Carey's single also included a remix, co-produced by Damizza, called "I Still Believe/Pure Imagination." Featuring Krayzie Bone of Bone Thugs-N-Harmony and rapper Da Brat, its melody was based on interpolations of "Pure Imagination," as sung by Gene Wilder's title character in the 1971 movie Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. Carey directed a music video for the remix, where she's cast as a Mexican peasant girl who hangs out with Krayzie until Da Brat rolls into town in her flashy convertible.
  
  Krayzie also included a version without Da Brat on the album Thug Mentality 1999. Several other remixes followed, with each one boasting re-recorded vocals from Carey.
• Disco singer Amii Stewart recorded this for her 1988 album, Time For Fantasy. The following year, Hong Kong singer Sandy Lam sang a Cantonese version and covered it again in English in 1990.
• Starr's daughter Gianna Isabella performed this on season 15 of American Idol during Showcase Week, which earned her a spot in the Top 24. She eventually made it to the Top 10 before she was eliminated.