"Love Takes Time" is a song recorded by Mariah Carey. It was written by Carey and Ben Margulies, and was produced by Walter Afanasieff for Carey's debut album, Mariah Carey (1990). It was released as the album's second single on September 11, 1990 through CBS Records. It was the first of several adult contemporary-influenced Carey ballads to be released as a single, and its protagonist laments the loss of a lover and confesses that "love takes time" to heal and that their feelings for their ex-lover remain.

Carey quickly recorded the song at the very last minute prior to when her debut album was already "completed" and being processed for release. She played the "Love Takes Time" demo to CBS Records former CEO Don Ienner while on an airplane. Although very impressed with the song, Ienner and other officials were slightly reluctant to include the recording on her upcoming album because it was already going through final stages of completion. Eventually the song made the cut to the album because Carey successfully protested. Famously, "Love Takes Time" is not seen on track lists of early pressings of her 1990 debut album but is heard on the album. Her debut album track-lists containing "Love Takes Time" is later seen on re-issues of the album released by Sony.

"Love Takes Time" was well received by critics and went to become another success very similar to her debut single "Vision of Love" in the United States and Canada. It became her second number-one single in the United States on its ninth week, attaining the position for three weeks. However, it failed to match the foreign success of "Vision of Love", this time charting weakly in Europe, Australia and the United Kingdom. A music video was provided for the song, filmed in black and white at a beach. "Love Takes Time" has been included on Carey's compilation album Greatest Hits (2001), as well as her 2015 compilation album Number 1 To Infinity, among others. "Love Takes Time" was heavily promoted in the U.S., being performed live on shows such as The Arsenio Hall Show, Mariah's Thanksgiving NBC Special and The Des O'Connor Show. She performed the song live at various locations such as, MTV Unplugged in 1992, the Music Box Tour, and recently her Number 1's tour in Las Vegas.

...
Wikipedia