Songfacts®:

• Blige penned this song for the movie Precious, which is an adaptation of the book Push by African-American author Sapphire. The harrowing film tells the story of a young woman growing up in a cycle of incest, rape and domestic abuse.
• Blige told Billboard magazine why she decided to contribute to the movie: "[Director] Lee Daniels wanted me to get involved with this film. I saw the movie and I was like, 'why wouldn't I want to be involved? Why wouldn't I want to do a song for this film?'" She added: "I didn't have lyrics as far as writing, but I saw the film and I was able to relate automatically because I've lived some of that girl's life and I know people who have lived most of her life." Blige continued: "My first impression of the film was that it was going to shock a lot of people. It's a very powerful film. I've been coming from a personal place ever since I spoke on the My Life album. But we never look back into the why - why is all this happening to us? And that is what Precious is about. Getting that song out, I had to dig back into the 'why,' and digging back into the why is what hurts the most."
• Blige showed up on another soundtrack in 2009 when "Stronger" was used in the basketball documentary More Than A Game.
• The singer wrote and produced this with Raphael Saadiq, who was a member of the popular '90s R&B group Tony! Toni! Tone! before embarking on a solo career. LaNeah Menzies, aka Starshell, is also credited as a co-writer. She helped Blige write "Closer" for Blige's 2009 album, Stronger With Each Tear.