[4] A duet version of "Whenever You Call" with American singer Brian McKnight was recorded for Carey's 1998 compilation album #1's,[5] with the intention that it would be released as a single.

[14] The song moves at a slow tempo[15] toward its climax which, according to Richard Harrington of The Washington Post, is "nonetheless more constrained than similar ventures on previous Carey albums".

With assistance from Mike Scott, Dana Jon Chappelle recorded "Whenever You Call" in New York at Crave Studios and The Hit Factory, and in California at WallyWorld.

[23] Katherine Monk of The Vancouver Sun called it the album's best ballad[24] and Michael Corcoran of the Austin American-Statesman said it approached perfection.

[28] Several critics argued "Whenever You Call" was incompatible with the album's other tracks;[29] The San Diego Union-Tribune writer Gerald Poindexter deemed it an opportunity "to appease fans fearful that she has fallen in with the wrong crowd".

[30] Retrospective reviews also varied: Billboard's Jon O'Brien named "Whenever You Call" the worst track on Butterfly for a perceived lack of artistic growth[31] and the Gay Times considered it the twelfth-best song of Carey's career for being "simple, classic and purposefully under-produced".

[42] In the academic journal Popular Music and Society, Vincent Stephens said the collaboration "does not detract from nor enhance the song, though they are an appealing pair".

[47] With regular rotation on the VH1 television channel in the United States, it reached the top twenty on the station's weekly airplay chart published by Broadcast Data Systems.

[48] After Carey sang the duet with McKnight at Spy Bar in New York City, Columbia released the performance on the 1999 video album Around the World.