The accompanying music video for the single was directed by Chris Robinson and filmed at the Park Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles in November 2008.

Depicting Norwood as a singing diva, who remembers moments with her distant lover, the video shifts from black-and-white to color photography during its bridge.

"Long Distance" was written by two-thirds of The Smeezingtons production team, singer Bruno Mars and writer Phillip Lawrence.

Hillary Crosley of Billboard gave the song a positive review, stating: "An old radio wives' tale says that a good ballad will carry an artist through the winter months – and up the charts.

"[6] Talia Kraines, writing for BBC Music, described the song as the soundtrack to "a heartbreaking moment on a Grey's Anatomy finale."

"[7] Jon Pareles, writing for The New York Times described "Long Distance" as "a hymnlike single that distantly echoes Janet Jackson’s "Again.

"[8] Nick Bond from MTV Australia called the song "the album's safest moment" and sumed it as a "bombastic piano ballad worthy of Whitney Houston.

"[11] By contrast, Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine criticized the song's "attempt at recapturing Brandy's past successes," and further wrote that it "sounds like a cliché power ballad that could have been sung by Phil Collins or Peter Cetera in the '80s as the theme for some big Hollywood popcorn flick.

[15] He envisioned a cinematic music video for the song, leading him to select the opulent Park Plaza Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles to depict his vision of taking Norwood "through the feeling of missing the person she's in love with.

"[16] Upon its television debut, it came in at number nine on BET's 106 & Park countdown on December 22, 2008, and peaked at the top position on January 14, 2009 where it held the number-one spot for an entire week.

Then, the camera zooms out of this part of the video to find that it's something that Norwood is watching in a picture frame in her room, which catches on fire while she is singing the second half of the second chorus of the song.