| "Baby Be Mine" | |
|---|---|
| Song byMichael Jackson | |
| from the albumThriller | |
| A-side | "Human Nature" |
| Released | November 29, 1982 (1982-11-29) |
| Recorded | 1982 |
| Studio | Westlake (Los Angeles, California) |
| Genre | |
| Length | 4:20 |
| Label | |
| Songwriter | Rod Temperton |
| Producer | Quincy Jones |
| Audio sample | |
"Baby Be Mine" is a song written byRod Temperton, produced byQuincy Jones and performed byAmerican singer-songwriterMichael Jackson.[1][2] It is included on theThriller album byJackson and along with "The Lady in My Life" is one of only two songs on the project that wasn't initially released as a single.[3] However, the song was the B-side of two of Jackson's singles: for the 1983 release of "Human Nature", as well as for "I Just Can't Stop Loving You", the lead single fromBad in 1987.
In a conversation with publicationVulture that was later adapted into aTime retrospective onThriller, producer Jones mentioned the record paid homage to jazz saxophonistJohn Coltrane.[4] Jones said that "Baby Be Mine" was "the best example of me trying to feed the musical principles of the past — I’m talking about bebop."[4] “Getting the young kids to hear bebop is what I’m talking about,” he said. “Jazz is at the top of the hierarchy of music because the musicians learned everything they could about music.”[4][5][6]Billboard described the song as "...upbeat, danceable and punctuated by twittering keyboards and punchy horn fills."[7]
In a 2016 retrospective forBillboard, writer Andrew Unterberger lauded the song (andThriller′s other non-single, "The Lady in My Life") as "earn[ing] every bit of the real estate they command on the biggest nine-track album in history."[3] In a five-star retrospective review ofThriller,Slant Magazine lauded the song for being a "lush disco paradise."[8] On aBillboard 2022 ranked list of the entire album, the song placed eighth, with writer Chuck Arnold noting the record "shimmers with a soul-disco swag" before highlighting the "smooth, roller-skating groove that the late Heatwave honcho [also] brought to “Rock with You” onOff the Wall."[9]
In a more negative review,Pitchfork thought the song caused the momentum built from opening track “Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'” to fade. "['Wanna Be Startin' Somethin’'] holds up for six minutes and two seconds, during which Jackson and Quincy Jones mix the tension of rock'n'roll with the rapture of disco and hit perfection. But then you get "Baby Be Mine"—one of the original tracks that wasn't a single—and the momentum fades: On the heels of "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'", it should maintain the temperature; instead, it goes nowhere, starts nothing."[10]
Personnel as listed in the album'sliner notes are:[11]
