at the time of the video's release, carey and mottola were in the midst of their divorce. tabloids and critics were linking the video's theme to carey's marriage, writing how mottola would lock her in their mansion, although she denied this. in an interview, carey said that "tommy loves the video, he says it's my best video yet." carey's writing partner of six years, afanasieff, felt the video was undeniably about mottola.