"Merry Christmas" by Mariah Carey
Mariah Carey provides a great mix of original Christmas classics, while retaining her own sonic identity.
Genre: Pop / Traditional Pop / Christmas
Label: Sony Music Entertainment
Reviewed: July 9, 2024
FINAL RATING - 9.7
Continuing my journey of the legendary Mariah Carey’s discography, we’ve reached one of the most important albums of her career, her legendary first Christmas album. This album is a total phenomenon especially the hit single, “All I Want For Christmas Is You,” which now traditionally reaches the number one spot on the Billboard 200. What makes this album so legendary is how easily it blends modern sounds with older, more traditional holiday music. Most Christmas albums tackily try to capitalize on the holiday season, with lazy covers or overtly Christmas-themed songs. At the same time, Mariah paves her lane, reworking holiday classics and penning her own.
This album almost didn’t exist! Mariah was approached by Sony label head and then-husband, Tommy Mottola she was initially weary of the project, as Mariah’s career was still fresh. She only had three albums out, and was riding high after the mammoth success of “Music Box” which became one of the best-selling albums ever, and Mariah’s second best-selling, just behind “Daydream.” Why would a budding pop star create a project usually reserved for more established acts? Well, because she’s Mariah Carey.
Not only does the album cover original tracks, it reworks most of them to become true Mariah Carey songs, not just another flash in the pan of dull Christmas music. One of my favorite deep cuts is from the album closer, “Jesus Oh What a Wonderful Child,” which takes inspiration from black gospel music, especially with the praise break at the end. Mariah breathes so much life into this song and passes it down to the next generation, as was her intent. The vocals on this album are so refined, and hold back compared to “Music Box” but it does so tastefully, only using her incredible belts when needed.
The album is a tight ten tracks, and none of the songs overstay their welcome. All of the tracks flow together seamlessly, and the production never flows together. Every song has its own identity, the vocals, production, and writing (on the original tracks), all have different qualities. The album is certainly 90s-toned, but it remains timeless.
One track that shows Mariah’s artistry is one of the tracks on the later half of the album, “Hark! The Angels Sing / Gloria (In Excelsis Deo).” The track incredibly blends two Christmas classics and has fantastic vocals. This track is one of the more traditional songs on the album, largely due to the age of the original tracks. The track has a fantastic transition and is one of the highlights of the album.
When talking about “Merry Christmas” you can’t help but talk about arguably the biggest Christmas song of the last 100 years, “All I Want For Christmas Is You.” Disguised by an upbeat tempo and fun production, lies a sad song, about a past lover whom you reminisce upon during the holiday season. It’s an annual tradition for this song to go number one, as it’s done so every Christmas season since 2019, and will likely continue to do so. The tracks are expected to pass 2 billion streams a year!
This album is a fantastic example of a modern-day Christmas album, that will continue to inspire generations and penetrate culture for a long time.