In 2001 , following the September 11 attacks , Carey re-recorded the song as a medley with " Never Too Far " , her single at the time . Titled " Never Too Far/Hero Medley " , it was released as a charity single throughout October of that year . In an interview with MTV , Carey described the idea behind the medley : " I started performing at different charity events where I did a combination 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
September 11 attacks
September 11 attacks
Hero (Mariah Carey song)