of 'Never Too Far' and 'Hero'. We made it into a medley and kinda put them both in the same key and just made it work, and people responded really well to it. It's been interesting for me, since the events of September 11, the way people have been playing 'Hero' and talking to me about 'Never Too Far', 'cause that song is also about loss. I figured that it would be a nice thing to do, to put them both out for Christmas. ... I feel like it's our responsibility to do what we can right now in terms of music, just being artists and being human beings." In 2008, prior to the release of Carey's compilation album The Ballads, Carey recorded a version of "Hero" with new vocals, releasing it on the stateside version of the album. Additionally, a music video was filmed and released for the 2008 version, featuring behind the scenes footage of the song's recording, as well as Carey's writing music in the studio. The music video on YouTube has 256 million views as of August 2020. Live performances Due to fan requests and its personal lyrical content, Carey has performed "Hero" on several occasions throughout her career. She first performed the song in July 1993 at the Proctor's Theater, later to be released as Here Is Mariah Carey. Later, she performed the song live on The Arsenio Hall Show in November 1993, appearing on stage after a short interview wearing a mid-length black gown and sporting long brown locks. She was joined by three back-up vocalists, Trey Lorenz, Cindi Mizelle and Melodie Daniels. Carey continued stateside promotion of the song with a performance on The Jay Leno Show the following week. Throughout Europe and Australasia, Carey made appearances on Sacrée Soirée in France, Platendaagse in the Netherlands, Sale El Dia in Spain, Sontagsoppet in Sweden, and Hey Hey It's Saturday in Australia. On May 15, 1996, at the Annual National Peace Officers Memorial Service, held in the grounds of the US Capitol Building, Carey performed Hero in tribute to police officers killed in the line of duty. In attendance was the US president at the time, Bill Clinton. Following the release of her sixth studio album Butterfly, Carey performed it alongside "Butterfly" on The Oprah Winfrey Show on September 22, 1997. In between both performances, Winfrey interviewed Carey over her failed marriage to Mottola,