 The "emotional punch" of "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" led him to ask the musical team for "Dreamgirls" "to create a new and equally moving song to energize the second act".Led by Henry Krieger, the composer of the original 1981 Broadway musical version of "Dreamgirls", "Listen" was written with help from Scott Cutler, Preven, and Beyoncé; it was one of four songs written for the film version of "Dreamgirls".