Written and produced by Carey alongside Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, the song is a soulful pop power ballad with lyrics depicting a powerful love relationship in which the protagonist tells her lover "thank God I found you", that was inspired by a relationship Carey was going through at the time.

"Thank God I Found You" received mixed reviews from contemporary music critics; some felt it was a great album closer while others deemed it "un-listenable" and "forgettable".

The remix is a remake of Keith Sweat's song "Make It Last Forever" (1988), transforming it into a slow groove R&B number, while incorporating a few verses from the original version of "Thank God I Found You".

A music video for "Thank God I Found You", directed by Brett Ratner, features Carey, Joe and 98 Degrees performing the song at an outdoor concert.

The Make It Last Remix had its own video commissioned, which was shot in a grainy fashion in Hamburg, Germany, and shows Carey and the song's featured artists performing at a small club.

Carey performed the song's original version and accompanying remix live at the 27th Annual American Music Awards.

Her relationship with Sony had affected her collaboration with writing partner Walter Afanasieff, who had worked with her throughout the first half of her career.

[8] In an interview with Fred Bronson, Jam and Lewis explained: It wasn't like Janet [Jackson], where we all grew up together.

[8] Although Jam and Lewis wanted to feature K-Ci & JoJo on the song, they dropped the idea because they are signed to a different record label.

[9] Jam and Lewis also asked the boy band 98 Degrees to join Carey and Joe on the track, as they wanted male harmonies.

[15] Composed in verse–chorus–bridge form, the chorus of "Thank God I Found You" is sung in the key of B♭ major;[16] Carey also makes use of melisma in the song.

[20] The remix is a remake of Keith Sweat's "Make It Last Forever" (1988), and bears few lyrical similarities to the original version of the song.

[21] Produced by DJ Clue of Desert Storm Records, the remix is a midtempo tune backed by "R&B-savvy rhythms" over a slow groove.

He added that could have "simply covered the song and kept its integrity intact, instead of meshing it into a sort of half-"Thank God I Found You"/"Make It Last Forever" creation.

He wrote "Nas' grit and Carey's expert emoting make Joe sing with unexpected feeling.

Jose F. Promis of Allmusic wrote that the song is "[a] lush, classic Carey-styled adult contemporary ballad, with uplifting lyrics and a sea of soaring vocals.

[35] Robert Hilburn of Los Angeles Times was also negative in his review, calling it as an "overwrought ballad" and wrote it was un-listenable.

[36] Dara Cook of MTV Southeast Asia named the song as "a big-production tragicomedy of hilarious histrionics and absurdly dramatic lyrics.

[38] In 2005 Andrew Unterberger of Stylus gave a negative review, writing the song was "a sub-par, extremely lazy example of an artist reaching the top spot almost solely on reputation."

[39] At the 43rd Grammy Awards held in February 2001, the song was nominated in the category of the Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals, but lost to B.B.

[41] In the United States, Columbia released "Thank God I Found You" to radio stations as the second single from Rainbow in November 1999.

[51][52] In Australia, it entered the Australian Singles Chart at its peak of number twenty-seven, on the week dated March 12, 2000.

The video shows saturated blue skies and behind-the-scenes footage of Carey carousing with her dog Jack and writing lyrics on a notepad.

Carey opened the 27th Annual American Music Awards, held at the Shrine Auditorium, with a medley of the original and remix versions of the song.

[74] Vibe commended the performance, writing that it "offered an insight into how a little girl from Long Island, New York became hip hop's answer to Celine Dion.

[citation needed] On several stops of the tour, Carey performed the song as part of the set-list, usually towards the end of the show.

[citation needed] On September 15, 2000, US songwriters Seth Swirsky and Warren Campbell filed a lawsuit against Carey at the 9th Circuit for copyright infringement, "reverse passing off"[76] and false designation, claiming that "Thank God I Found You" borrowed heavily from a song they composed called "One of Those Love Songs".

[14] According to the district court, an expert witness (chair of the Musicology Department at the University of California at Los Angeles) determined that the songs shared a "substantially similar chorus".

[16] The lawsuit was settled in favor of Carey by the US District Judge, who noted that there was no similarity in key, harmonic structure, tempo, or genre between the two songs.

In the precedent-setting[2] Swirsky v. Carey decision,[3] which clarified the standard for proving copyright infringement, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit overturned the initial 2002 dismissal of the case, finding that Swirsky's expert did in fact adequately define the similarities between the two songs.