 " Forever " is a song by American singer and songwriter Mariah Carey from her fifth studio album , Daydream . It was released by Columbia Records on March 10 , 1996 , as an airplay @-@ only single from the album . The song was written and produced by Carey and Walter Afanasieff , and was composed throughout 1995 . Its lyrics describe the singer's desire to spend the rest of her life with her lover . The song was the first single from Daydream to be released in the United Kingdom and Germany , and was later reissued in the United States on July 16 , 1996 . " Forever " received