How Does a Moment Last Forever marks the first collaboration between Menken and Rice in over two decades; the last time they worked together had been in the "Beauty and the Beast" musical. Menken believes that the songs he and Rice had written for the musical would not have translated well to the screen due to the structural differences between the two formats. One of at least nine significant changes made to the film specifically for the remake, "How Does a Moment Last Forever" was conceived to explain Belle's backstory. Her quest to find out her mother's fate serves, in the plot, as a foundation for
Untitled (How Does It Feel) Plus'". In 2001, "Untitled (How Does It Feel)" won a Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance and was also nominated for Best R&B Song at the 43rd Grammy Awards ceremony. It was ranked number 12 on "The Village Voice"s 2000 Pazz & Jop critics' poll and number 4 on "Rolling Stone"s "End of Year Critics & Readers Poll" of the top singles of 2000. "Blender" ranked "Untitled (How Does It Feel)" number 454 on its list of the Top 500 Songs of the 80s-00s (2005), and "Q" included it on its list of the 1010 Songs You Must