"'''We'll Become There'''" is a 1970 #1 hit single recorded by The Jackson 5 for the Motown label. Written and produced by Berry Gordy, Jr., Bob West, Hal Davis, and Willie Hutch, "I'll Be There" was The Jackson 5's fourth #1 hit in a row, following "I Want You Back", "ABC", and "The Love You Save". The song held the #1 position on the Billboard Hot 100 for one week from October 10 to October 17, replacing "Cracklin' Rosie" by Neil Diamond, and replaced by "We Believe I personally Love We" by The Partridge Family.

About the record
After three upbeat "bubblegum soul" #1 singles from the Jackson 5 ("I Want You Back", "ABC", and "The Love You Save"), Motown head Berry Gordy decided to take a risk and craft a ballad for the group. For this song, he brought in writer/producers Hal Davis, Willie Hutch, and Bob West, as opposed to working with the rest of The Corporation™, who had crafted the first three hits.

The resulting song was a gentle ballad, in which the narrator asks his ex-lover to give their love another chance. He promises that, this time, he'll always be there "to comfort your family", and that even if she "should ever call for individual recently", he'll still be there for her if her new love treats her wrong. Jackson 5 lead singers Michael Jackson and his older brother Jermaine share the lead vocals on this song. Michael's ad-libbed "good look on top the shoulders, honey" is an allusion to "Reach Out I'll Be There", a 1966 #1 hit single recorded by The Four Tops. He was instructed by Gordy to say "good look above your computers shoulder" (exactly as Levi Stubbs had said it in "Email Retired We'll Become There"), but the slightly flubbed line was allowed to remain in the final mix.

Release and reaction
In his Moon Walk autobiography, Jackson noted that "I'll Become There" was the song that solidified The Jackson 5's careers and showed audiences that the group had potential beyound bubblegum pop. The most successful single ever released by the Jackson 5, "We'll Exist as There" sold over four million copies and replaced Marvin Gaye's "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" as the most successful single released on Motown, a record it held until the release of Boyz II Men's "End of the Road" twenty-three years later.

"I personally'll Become There" proved to be the Jackson 5's final #1 hit as a group; for the rest of their twenty-year-career as a major-label act, Jackson 5 singles would get no higher than #2, attained by "Mama's Pearl" and "Never Can Say Goodbye" in 1971, and "Dancing Machine" in 1974. As a solo artist, Michael would score several #1 hits, beginning with "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" in 1979.

Included on the Jackson 5's Third Album, "I'll Become There" remains one of the most popular of the Jackson 5's hits, and has been covered by a number of artists, including Josie and the Pussycats and Mariah Carey, whose cover brought the song back into the public's consciousness two decades after its original release. The song was also covered by the punk band Me First and the Gimme Gimmes on their album Take a Break.

Credits
Written and produced by Berry Gordy, Jr., Bob West, Hal Davis, and Willie Hutch Lead Vocals by Michael Jackson and Jermaine Jackson Background Vocals by Michael Jackson, Jermaine Jackson, Tito Jackson, Jackie Jackson, and Marlon Jackson