Merry Christmas (Mariah Carey album)

Carey has expressed her belief in God and her connection between music and spirituality, and felt the album was finally a way to portray her mysticism into music.[3] After the success of Carey's previous effort, Music Box, there was speculation of a new project in the works; however it was not until October 1994, only one month before the album's release, that Billboard announced Carey would be releasing a holiday album for the Christmas season.[4] Initially, critics were shocked; they did not know how Carey would fare as an entertainer, as she had previously only been viewed as a pop star.[3] Nevertheless, Carey, unaffected by the speculation, continued working on, and promoting the album in high spirits, confident in her work.[3] The idea proved to be wise, earning Carey recognition in various markets including Christian radio and contemporary R&B stations, as well as extended her fame in Japan, where the album experienced much of its success.[3]

Throughout the album's development, Carey worked extensively with Walter Afanasieff, with whom she collaborated extensively on Emotions (1991) and Music Box (1993).[3] Together, they wrote all three of the album's original songs, as well as producing most of the traditional tracks at The Hit Factory, in New York.[3]

Merry Christmas boasted a variety of musical arrangements, sounds and genres. Carey's goal was to provide an album that would have a "Christmas feel", providing a mixture of soulful tracks, as well as fun and joyous holiday treats.[3] The song "Jesus, Oh What a Wonderful Child", produced by Carey, Afannasief, and Holland, was described as an arrangement of a traditional gospel standard that "really took flight". The song was recorded in a church, with many live back-up singers and children playing tambourines and other melodious instruments.[4] The goal was to produce a "real church flavored song", in which Loris Holland played the keyboards and allowed Carey's voice to "cut loose".[4] According to Chris Nickson, Carey's love of gospel music came through on the track, writing, "[she] led the band without pushing herself forward, letting the song develop and work out, trading lines with the chorus until, after the crescendo, the musicians moved into a fast double time to the end."[4]

"All I Want for Christmas Is You", the album's lead single, was described as an "up-tempo love song, one that could have easily been written for Tommy Mottola".[4] "Miss You Most (At Christmas Time)", another one of the album's original tracks, was very different from its whimsical predecessor. The song was described as a "sad ballad", in line with many of Carey's previous hit singles.[4] The song featured a synthesized orchestra, including keyboard notes courtesy of Afanasieff, during which Carey would sing to her "long-gone lover, crystallizing the way that Christmas brought memories of the past into focus."[4] According to Nickson, it was "Jesus Born on This Day", that was the most impressive original track on the album. It was described as a "full-blown production number", which again featured synthesized orchestra, as well as a live children's choir.[4] The song's tune was described as "solemn and hymn-like, but the arrangement, oddly, made it less religious and rather more glitzy, behind the lyrics that overtly praised Jesus."[4]

In addition, Carey recorded a cover of "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" by Darlene Love, as well as classics such as "Silent Night", "O Holy Night" and "Joy to the World".[4] The latter song, which was used as a promotional single, was remixed several times and sent to various clubs; adding to the album's range of listeners.[4] Record producer and composer, Loris Holland, co-produced some of the albums gospel flavored tracks, including "Silent Night", where he arranged the backing vocals and synthesizers.[4] Carey's rendition of "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town", was deemed as "one of the more playful tracks on the album", alongside "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)".[4]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[5]
Entertainment Weekly	C[6]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[7]
Los Angeles Times	[8]
Pitchfork	7.3/10[9]
Q	[10]

In the Los Angeles Times, Chris Willman wrote that Carey "attempts her share of girl-group pop amid the quasi-gospel melisma, though still not evidencing as much personality as talent in either style".[8] The New York Times journalist Jon Pareles was more critical in his review. "Regardless of backup, Ms. Carey oversings, glutting songs with her vocal tics—like sliding down from the note above the melody note—and turning expressions of devotion into narcissistic displays."[11] Chris Dickinson from the Chicago Tribune called the singer a "trilling songbird" and "over-the-top irritant" throughout the album, particularly on "All I Want for Christmas Is You", where she "sounds like a bush-league Petula Clark".[12] The newspaper later named it the seventh worst Christmas album ever.[13]

J. D. Considine was more enthusiastic in The Baltimore Sun. In his opinion, Merry Christmas "may look like just another attempt to cash in on Christmas cheer, but is actually the work of someone who genuinely loves this music". Considine said while Carey's gospel and soul-inflected vocal exercises worked well with the traditional songs, "the album's real strength is the conviction she brings to otherwise corny fare like 'Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town', while the way she augments 'Joy to the World' with a bit of the Three Dog Night hit is pure genius."[14] Steve Morse from The Boston Globe argued that it was perhaps Carey's best record, on which she abandoned the overly polished sound of her previous albums and "cut loose with unbridled soul".[15]

In a retrospective review, Barry Schwartz of Stylus Magazine believed Merry Christmas may have been "the definitive Mariah Carey album", finding the singer at "her absolute creative and commercial peak, her voice still a marvel, her songs and performances still undeniably brilliant".[16] AllMusic editor Roch Parisien deemed "All I Want for Christmas Is You" the record's highlight while lamenting Carey's "high opera" pretensions on "O Holy Night" and her dance/club rendition of "Joy to the World".[5]

Carey performing "All I Want for Christmas Is You" at the National Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony near the White House on December 6, 2013

Merry Christmas was released on November 1, 1994, in the United States and debuted at number thirty on the US Billboard 200 with 45,000 copies sold in its first week.[3][17] In its fifth week, the album peaked at number three, with sales of 208,000 copies, but experienced its highest sales in its sixth week (when it was at number six), with another 500,000 copies sold. The album was the second best-selling holiday album that year with a total of 1,859,000 copies sold.[18] It remained in the top twenty for eight weeks and on the Billboard 200 for thirteen weeks, reentering the chart three times; peaking at number 149 the first time, 115 the second and at 61 the third (it has spent a total of 100 weeks on the chart).[19] On December 14, 2020, Merry Christmas was certified eight-times Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipment of eight million copies in the US.[1] As of December 2019, the album has sold 5.7 million copies in the US[20] and is one of the best-selling holiday albums in the United States.

Outside the United States, the album experienced its highest sales in Japan, where it sold 2.8 million copies and became the fourth best-selling album by a non-Asian solo artist.[21][22][23] In Europe, Merry Christmas experienced success, being certified Gold in Austria, Germany, Switzerland and United Kingdom. In Australia, the album was certified six-times Platinum, denoting shipments of 420,000 copies and finishing 11th on the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) 1994 End of Year Chart.[24][25]

Merry Christmas has sold 15 million copies worldwide, and is the best-selling Christmas album of all time.[2][26][27]

• "All I Want for Christmas Is You", the album's lead single, was released on October 28, 1994.[28] It was written by Carey and Afanasieff, and was sent to top-forty and adult contemporary stations, with the video having been filmed the year before.[3]
• Another track they wrote, "Miss You Most (At Christmas Time)", was released as the album's second single on November 15, 1994 and sent to R&B radio stations.[3][29]
• "Jesus Born on This Day", another original song, was sent to Christian and gospel radio stations in 1994 as the first promotional single.[3][29]
• Originally released as the second promotional single in 1994,[3][29] "Joy to the World" was later commercially released as the album's third single in Australia on November 27, 1995.[30]

All tracks are produced by Walter Afanasieff and Mariah Carey, except where noted.

Notes

• ^{^a} signifies a co-producer

Sample credits

• "Joy to the World" contains an interpolation of "Joy to the World" by Three Dog Night (1971)

Credits adapted from AllMusic.[34]

• Merry Christmas II You
• List of best-selling albums in Japan
• List of best-selling Christmas albums in the United States

• Nickson, Chris (1998). Mariah Carey revisited: her story. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 978-0-312-19512-0.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)