Her first Christmas album was an instant hit. Sixteen Christmases on, Mariah Carey looks set to repeat her success with the follow-up
When Mariah Carey first released the 1994 holiday album Merry Christmas, it became an instant classic, with the song All I Want For Christmas Is You becoming the best-selling holiday ringtone in the United States with total sales of over 10 million copies worldwide.
Naturally, a second Christmas album is in order. Enter Merry Christmas II You, the diva's 13th studio album.
Produced by industry bigwigs such as Antonio L.A. Reid, Bryan-Michael Cox, Jermaine Dupri, Randy Jackson, James Poyser, Marc Shaiman, James "Big Jim" Wright and Carey's longtime collaborator Walter Afanasieff, it has already spawned the hit single Oh Santa!, which Carey co-wrote.
Rolling Stone is full of praises of the album: "Half of the disc's originals are ballads (and) thick with gooey orchestration, but Mariah bops to a schoolyard-chant beat on Oh Santa! and digs out a retro groove for When Christmas Comes", adding that the album's "warm heart is in the right place".
Here Carey, who has earned the title as the world's best-selling recording artiste of the 1990s, gives a lowdown of her new album, courtesy of Island Def Jam Music/Universal Music.
Tell us about this new album
I wrote my first Christmas album when I started my career. The song All I Want For Christmas Is You was written in a little room with a Casio keyboard. So when I decided to do this new Christmas album, I did use the first album as sort of a template, but I wanted to make it even more sophisticated musically.
I was inspired by the traditional tunes of Nat King Cole and Bing Crosby. I really love those albums. I also enjoyed the festive-sounding ones like those by The Jackson 5. As a result, there are different influences in this album.
I also wanted it to be like "Part 2" of the Merry Christmas album. I wanted to keep it classic, traditional, festive and happy and have a warm feeling for the holidays so people will love it.
The first single Oh Santa! came from the same musical inspiration I had with All I Want For Christmas Is You.
Tell us about Oh Santa!
Oh Santa! is a new song I wrote with my friend Jermaine Dupri. We did We Belong Together, Always Be My Baby and a lot of others over the years. We worked on this album with our friend Bryan-Michael Cox.
I knew that I wanted the song to be something like writing a letter to Santa Claus. It is hard once you've already written a Christmas classic with All I Want For Christmas Is You. A lot of people have grown up with that song, but Oh Santa! is different.
Oh Santa! has a similar feeling, but it has a 1960s feel and at the same time is still contemporary. We wanted to keep it very simple in terms of the music.
We also put in a beautiful orchestra in the intro, which is written and arranged by Mark Shaiman. He wrote the symphonic intro of Santa Claus Is Coming To Town for Oh Santa! before going into the song. He also added a new intro for (the new version of) All I Want For Christmas Is You.
This is your second holiday album in 16 years. Why this year?
It's been a long time since my first Christmas album and I really loved making that album. It just felt right in my life now to create this type of music and I was fortunate enough to be able to work mostly from home.
There are many traditional songs on the album, and I did a lot of arranging, too. I took a classic like Little Drummer Boy and mixed it with O Little Town Of Bethlehem.
Every year, I look forward to Christmas, and I want to make sure that with the new album I will do something that I would love to listen to for the rest of my life. I want to feel like this is something that you can put on from the beginning all the way to the end.
You re-recorded All I Want For Christmas Is You for this album. How did you make it different?
When I decided to re-do it, I realised that most people love the original. So I asked Mark to do something beautiful for the introduction of the song. We cut the entire track and put it on live instrumentation as opposed to programmed music.
It's essentially the same track, but we re-did it from scratch so there's a bit more soul because live music cuts everything from the beginning. Even the piano is more "sober" towards the end.
I even brought back some of the girls who sang backup in the original. One of them is Melonie Daniels, who is a fantastic singer. I'm glad I re-did All I Want For Christmas Is You because I think it really enhanced this album.
The main focus in the new album for me are the opening track Oh Santa! and the last track Auld Lang Syne — The New Year's Anthem, which everybody sings at midnight on New Year but nobody really knows the words, so nobody really sings along. This song begins in a slow mood and then goes into this party beat. This is the excitement that the New Year should have — with a celebration of life, not with an old, sad, mellow song where everybody wants to cry.
Tell us a little about the rest of the songs on the album.
I really wanted to turn the classics into soulful party music. There's also a bit of classical and gospel, like the duet I recorded with my mother on Oh Come All Ye Faithful/Hallelujah Chorus.
For Hallelujah Chorus, the idea came from Eric, a very good friend of mine. We thought it would be cool for my mother to sing that part because she sings in an operatic way. And it was important to me that the classical section is supportive of my mother's vocals. It's one of my favourites.
You did O Holy Night with the Westminster Presbyterian church choir. How was that experience?
I did an impromptu performance that we later added into the album. It was filmed a while ago, and this song has a nice way of sequencing the album after a heavy song like O Come All Ye Faithful/Hallelujah Chorus. O Holy Night is a favourite for many on the first Christmas album and having this new live version is wonderful.
What was your vision for the packaging of the album?
I was inspired by the first album cover where I was freezing cold in the middle of the snow with my hair completely frozen in a little outfit. When I told David Lachapelle, a talented photographer and a close friend, that I was doing this album, he got really excited. I told him that I wanted it to have a continuation from the first album.
So the cover now captures a night setting. It's more edgy and urban, but still feels like a Christmas fantasy.
The CD photos capture the retro feel and have more texture. If you put my two Christmas albums side-by-side, you will see how these elements go together. It shows that I've been through a lot as an artiste and a person since the last time, yet I'm still that little girl who loves Christmas.
Are you working on a Christmas musical movie?
We're still putting together a musical movie with HBO for Christmas and I'll probably be doing some new songs. Now that I have this album, we have the option of choosing from so many sources, not to mention those I have yet to cover, so it's fun for me to think about.
How do you plan to spend Christmas this year?
I hope to be with my husband Nick (Cannon) and friends whom we call our Christmas family — you know, people from different parts of the world who come over to spend Christmas with us.
Are there any special performances planned soon for these new songs?
I'll be promoting and singing different songs on different TV shows, but at Christmas we're going to sleigh-ride in the woods and sing.
TRACK BY TRACK
Santa Claus Is Coming To Town (Intro), Oh Santa!
This is the intro to the album and it sort of stirs up a festive mood. It starts with a symphonic version of the classic tune and takes you right into my new song.
O Little Town Of Bethlehem/Little Drummer Boy Medley, Christmas Time Is In The Air Again
The third song was inspired by the 1940s and 1950s in the mould of tunes by Bing Crosby and Nat King Cole. As for the fourth track, I approached it from the standpoint that I wanted it to be a classic.
The First Noel/Born Is The King Interlude, When Christmas Comes
The sixth song is written with James Poiser of The Roots, and he's an incredible musician. We got together and again I wanted everything in this album to feel classic, to feel festive and timeless. It has a 1970s soul.
Here Comes Santa Claus (Right Down Santa Claus Lane)/House Top Celebration
This track is done with Jermaine Dupri. We tried to merge a couple of songs and so we called it Here Comes Santa Claus. The bass intro is done by Randy Jackson and it's kind of a very celebrative moment.
Charlie Brown Christmas
A lot of people told me this is their favourite in the album. I worked on it with (producer) James "Big Jim" Wright playing the piano. Many grew up watching Charlie Brown year after year and so we went with an intro where I had my dogs barking and friends laughing in the background before it went into the song.
O Come All Ye Faithful/ Hallelujah Chorus (featuring Patricia Carey)
When I decided to do a Christmas album again, one thing that I had always wanted to do was to do a duet with my mother Patricia. She has been very supportive of me, telling me to stay with my dreams and believe in myself.
O Holy Night — Live From WPC In South Central Los Angeles
We went to do a show there a while ago. I'm glad that I was able to sing at the venue. There's a video of that performance, too. I like the ending with the applause which keeps going.
One Child
I wrote this with Mark Shaiman. I wanted to make this a story about the beginning of Christmas. It's very traditional and we're inspired by the older classic Christmas songs.
All I Want For Christmas Is You
We re-cut the song and put a beautiful orchestra intro instead of doing it exactly like the original. I just added a little bit of stuff that only a fan or musician will know.
Auld Lang Syne — The New Year's Anthem
Every time the new year comes, everybody will start to sing this song. I started it slow and took it into a big uptempo, fun, celebratory moment.
Thanks to Alson Lee for the scans!
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