Jackson wrote “Together Again” with the R&B songwriting/production team Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis and her then-husband Rene Elizondo Jr. Elizondo also directed one of the music videos for the song, which shows Jackson reminiscing in her apartment about a friend she lost.

In Billboard’s Book of Number Ones, Jimmy Jam explained there were two different versions of the intro to this song:

We did one where there was a long intro inspired by Donna Summer’s ‘Last Dance,’ where it started off really slow before kicking into the beat. We thought it was a cool contrast, kicking into the more uptempo, house beat. We always figured radio would play the version that’s immediately fast, but surprisingly enough, a lot of stations played the slow version.

The disco motif was Jackson’s idea. After hearing Nuyorican Soul’s “Runaway,” Jackson was inspired to capture a sound reminiscent of the club scene in New York. She told MTV News:

I listened to that all the time earlier this year—it reminded me of being ten years old in Studio 54 in New York.

The song came together quickly in the studio. Jackson already had the concept, the song title, and the first line “There are times when I look above and beyond.” Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis and Jackson had a long history of working together (they collaborated on her previous album Rhythm Nation but this song’s process was different from anything they had worked on previously. Usually Jackson will sit with an instrumental for a while and come back with an idea. This song began with Jackson, and was done after a half-hour studio session.

“Together Again” became an international hit, and earned Jackson a Grammy in 1998 (and the rest of the Velvet Rope album earned her another Grammy). This track also helped solidify her reputation as an LGBT ally and a gay icon. Critics speculated about her own sexuality, which she discussed in Ebony in 2001:

I don’t mind people thinking that I’m gay or calling me gay. I love people regardless of sexual preference, regardless of race.

This song brings up ideas of reincarnation. Jackson confirmed in an interview that she doesn’t believe that life definitively ends when someone dies. This is why, despite the song’s elegiac theme, it remains a uplifting, joyous track. She told MTV:

Well I decided that I wanted to do a song about my friends. I wanted to do a song that was uplifting, rejoiceful—that would reflect their personalities. I do believe that it just end here. That they’ve gone into another life. And that I will see them again.