3 Ballads From the 1990s That Make Us Wish We Had a Time Machine

These three ballads from the 1990s make us wish we had a time machine. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could return to a time when songs sounded like this? 90s music fans will know exactly what I’m talking about. Revisit these throwback ballads that make everything today pale in comparison.

[RELATED: 3 Songs From the 1990s That Will Instantly Turn You Into a Classic Rock Fan]

“It’s All Coming Back To Me Now” — Celine Dion

Only in the 1990s could a song this earnestly over-the-top fly. Nowadays, a song like “It’s All Coming Back To Me Now” would be considered cheesy. A heartbreaking turn of events. When we listen to modern pop music, it’s majorly lacking a sense of melodrama that this song has. Wouldn’t it be great if pop stars were still laying it all out on the table? With the exception of maybe Ariana Grande, no one even holds a candle to the pure power Celine Dion was delivering in the 1990s.

She had many stellar hits in this era, but “It’s All Coming Back To Me Now” remains a strong point. This song has an energy that modern pop is starved for. If someone invented a time machine, many listeners would likely take the opportunity to go back to 1996 and enjoy this song in its day.

“Hero” — Mariah Carey

Speaking of incredible voices, Mariah Carey’s “Hero” is another song that has us wishing we could go back in time. This simple, dramatic ballad is everything that made the 1990s great. The sweeping musicality, emotional performances, and undeniable vocals were all present. It’s hard not to get chills every time Carey sings, “There’s a hero / If you look inside your heart / You don’t have to be afraid / Of what you are.”

Again, this isn’t a song you’d find readily in modernity. No one is making heartfelt odes quite like this anymore.

“When You Believe” — Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston

They aren’t making duets as they used to either. Carey and Whitney Houston teamed up for perhaps one of the greatest duets of all time in 1998, “When You Believe”. “Many nights we prayed / With no proof, anyone could hear / In our hearts a hopeful song / We barely understood,” the lyrics to this religiously inclined song about perseverance read. Both of these iconic voices sound divine in this context.

Both Carey and Houston could hold a song down on their own, but together, a ballad becomes something bigger than anyone could’ve imagined.

(Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)