By the time 2005 rolled around, Mariah Carey had gone from being the most successful music artist of the 90s to not having had a genuine hit in 5 years apart from a guest spot on a Busta Rhymes track. If expectations for her 2005 release The Emancipation Of Mimi were shaky, it was with good reason. Little did anyone know that Mariah would release her biggest and most influential song in a decade (if not ever) with "We Belong Together."

As Pop Journalism's Robert Ballantyne wrote in naming it the top song of 2005, on the surface "We Belong Together" seems like a trademark Mariah ballad. There's a piano intro, a plaintive melody and vocal, and lyrics about a man Mariah can't get over. But as Ballantyne points out, "at the eight-second mark, all preconceptions get thrown out the window when that hip-hop beat kicks in." Add in the lyrical references to Bobby Womack and Babyface and Mariah's rapid-fire vocal parts (which Michael Slezak of Entertainment Weekly says is “so devastating you get the urge to create turmoil in your own relationship just to have an excuse to play this track”), and "We Belong Together" becomes the single that best combines Mariah's gifts as a music artist. Kalefah Sanneh writes in New York Times that the song “seems simpler than it is,” and Johnny Loftus of the Metro Times Detroit notes the “classic sensibility” of the song and says it makes for “perfect pop/R&B songwriting.” It's also, as Sal Cinquemani of Slant says, "as innovative as Mariah's been in years."

Great and innovative songs are often overlooked, though, especially by artists who haven't had the favor of radio and consumers in years. This wasn't the case with "We Belong Together." It became the summer song of 2005 and spent 14 weeks total at #1 on the Hot 100. Media sources ranging from New York Times, Metro Times Detroit, Boston Globe, and Chicago Tribune ran articles anointing “We Belong Together” the song of the summer of 2005, and it became a record-breaker. "We Belong Together" broke the BDS record for audience impressions for radio multiple times to become the most-listened to song ever in a week. It would end up spending 16 weeks at the top of the Hot 100 Airplay chart. As Stylus said in naming “We Belong Together” one of the best singles of the year, when the song came on the radio, “none of us dared to change the station.”

Another mark of a great single is often its influence. After the ascension of "We Belong Together," critics have been noting song after song being created in the same mold (i.e. pairing a pop ballad sensibility with a hip-hop beat). Slant magazine has mentioned songs by artists ranging from Jessica Simpson to Christina Milian to Ne-Yo being in the "now-popular 'We Belong Together' mold.” Katharine McPhee has told VH1 her own song "Each Other" reminds her of "We Belong Together," and Amazon.com said Paula DeAnda’s hit “Walk Away” is “like a lost track” from Mariah’s album. Perhaps the most direct evidence of the influence "We Belong Together" has had came when co-writer Johnta Austin told Billboard that he was called by Jimmy Iovine to create a song “in the same lane of ‘We Belong Together’” for Mary J. Blige. Cinquemani was thus correct when he wrote for Slant, if not for “We Belong Together,” “there wouldn’t be [Mary J. Blige’s] “’Be Without You.’” Whether or not "We Belong Together" was the first song of its kind, it's obvious that its success led to the creation of similar songs, none of which have been able to match the success of Mariah's song.

It seems pretty clear that “We Belong Together” is not only a good single and a popular one, but that it led to a trend in music. As Cinquemani stated, "Mariah's finally got her own anthem."

Often times, trend-setters aren't the first ones to enact the trend, but they are the people who do it well enough and have the charisma to make it mainstream. Mariah Carey wasn't the first artist to utilize a rapper on a song, but when she teamed with Ol' Dirty Bastard on the remix to "Fantasy," Mariah helped usher in a new era in music.

Mariah became known as a pop princess during the run of her Music Box album. That album was full of AC/pop music, and combined with her marriage to Tommy, it led to her "Cinderella" image. She became known as the inspirational pop singer of "Hero." The reality was that her marriage didn't have a 'happy ever after' ending, and Mariah was more into Wu Tang Clan than Michael Bolton. Mariah worked with Dave "Jam" Hall and Babyface on Music Box but it was with Daydream that Mariah really started announcing her intentions to combine her pop sensibilities with her love of rap and hip-hop.

In 1995 Mariah shocked the music world when she got rapper Ol' Dirty Bastard to guest on the remix for her single "Fantasy." In fact, Mariah had to call the rapper by his acronym (ODB) when she discussed the idea with Sony executives just so she could get the pairing cleared. The remix made headlines, but the album version was just as fresh. That version of "Fantasy" utilizes a Tom Tom Club sample and fuses it with Mariah's pop melodies and a hip-hop beat. In its review of the single, Billboard called "Fantasy" a "pop/hip-hop love song." In a sense, a new soundscape was created in that fusion, and it foreshadowed Lisa Lopes of the group TLC telling MTV a few years later that it's because of Mariah that we have "hip-pop."

What really made waves, though, was Mariah pairing with Ol' Dirty Bastard for the aforementioned remix. Producer Puff Daddy scaled back the pop production elements of the original and emphasized the beat on the remix. The pairing of a 'pop princess' with a hardcore rapper was a surprise, and the fact that the remix was so successful opened up a new avenue of popularity in music. Labels and artists began to see that songs (especially with the benefit of a remix) can appeal to listeners of all ages and ethnicities. It changed the game of music promotion. In naming the remix one of the greatest duets of all-time, Vibe said in 2007, "'Fantasy' shipped Mariah to the 'hood. It also brought ODB into suburban bedrooms." Sasha Frere-Jones of The New Yorker echoes Vibe in noting that, "Suddenly, people who would cross the street to avoid listening to hip-hop were bringing rappers into their house, under the cover of Carey. It became standard for R. & B. stars, like Missy Elliott and Beyoncé, to combine melodies with rapped verses." Producer Damizza has said the remix gave ODB his "first light of day past Wu Tang Clan, and [Mariah] invented the whole pop-rap collaboration." While that last part may not be entirely true, it says something that people think Mariah invented it. John Norris of MTV has said the remix "was responsible for, I would argue, an entire wave of music that we've seen since, and that is the pop-hip-hop collaboration. You could argue that that 'Fantasy' remix was the single most important recording that she ever made." Soon after it was common for artists to release remixes to radio to try and target multiple audiences, and it was no longer a surprise when a pop artist utilized a rapper on a song.

A 1998 Trace article talks about how, "Back then hardcore devotees would never have thought that it would work. After all hip hop was inviolable." Even current friend and frequent co-producer Jermaine Dupri was skeptical when he first worked with Mariah. He told Essence magazine that he didn't realize she was mixed at first and thought, "This white girl is crazy!" Before "Fantasy" and the album it came from (Daydream), Mariah had been marketed as a ballad queen. The discovery of Mariah the music artist and her subsequent marriage to label head Tommy Mottola was called a 'Cinderella story' (note the usage of a term referring to a white princess) by the press. Puffy Daddy was even reluctant to work with Mariah on the "Fantasy" remix because he didn't "know about messing with that pop stuff." It can't be stressed enough that it was the pairing of a "girl next door" with a truly hardcore rapper that made waves in the music world.

Let's not overlook the impact of the original version of "Fantasy" either. That version of "Fantasy" even peaked at #8 on the Adult Contemporary chart, becoming perhaps the first single to start introducing adult audiences to a harder sound. Both versions of the song made their mark on music as a whole. It also helped that Ol' Dirty Bastard's famous line, "Me and Mariah go back like babies on pacifiahs" would go down in music and pop culture history.

The reality is that the pairing of a singer with a rapper is still a prevalent trend. The past year has brought us the #1 hits "My Love" (on which pop star Justin Timberlake uses a guest verse by T.I.) and "Glamorous" (on which singer Fergie gets a verse from Ludacris). Would these pairings have happened if not for "Fantasy" and its remix? It's hard to know, but fellow singer Toni Braxton says Mariah "really pioneered that."

From there, we move into a new section in Mariah's career. While Daydream and especially its remixes showcased Mariah's love of hip-hop, it was with the 1997 album Butterfly that Mariah started fully fusing her love of urban music with the pop/AC stylings with which she had become identified. Butterfly showcased co-productions with Trackmasters, Puff Daddy, and Timbaland. The track "Breakdown" was a growth from "Fantasy" because it was more of a true collaboration. "Breakdown" features Mariah melding her melodic singing with the staccato-rapping of Bone Thugs N Harmony. It was one of first songs where a singer utilized the speed-singing - a by-product of rap - artists like Beyonce have become famous for (and it should be noted that Mariah has continued this trend herself on each album since Butterfly). It was also one of the first songs where the guest rap fit thematically with the rest of the song. Billboard magazine called the track “a refreshing change of pace” because it was so unlike other songs that paired singers and rappers.

The lead single from Butterfly was the song “Honey,” and it was Mariah’s first single where the original version was true hip-hop. Mariah worked with Puff Daddy and Q-Tip on the track, and they came up with a slinky song that utilizes a hip-hop beat and samples the urban classics “The Body Rock” and “Hey D.J.”

Mariah continued to mix styles with her next release, Rainbow. Danyel Smith wrote in Entertainment Weekly that Rainbow "sets a new standard for unifying hip-hop and R&B." In Rolling Stone, Arion Berger contended the album was “a sterling chronicle of the state of accessible hip-hop balladeering at the close of 1999.” In other words, critics were crediting Mariah with bridging the gap between pop and hip-hop.

For her infamous soundtrack to Glitter, Mariah worked with Ja Rule on a song called “If We.” It featured a back-and-forth between singer and rapper like you would find between two singers doing a duet. Before Glitter was released, Mariah’s former boss and husband, Tommy Mottola, suggested Jennifer Lopez do something similar with Ja Rule on their remix to her song “I’m Real.” When the remix was released, it became a #1 hit and ushered in a new level of rap/sung collaborations. So, Mariah was again a trendsetter, but her idea was placed in the background because of her ex-husband’s move.

In other words, Mariah has been combining pop sensibilities with hip-hop beats and elements for over a decade. Mainstream music moved along with her, too. Brad Cawn of CD Now comments that Mariah (along with Jodeci) “moved R&B slowly towards a more urban sound.” Sasha Frere-Jones of the New Yorker notes that “young white pop stars—including Britney Spears, ’N Sync, and Christina Aguilera—have spent much of the past ten years making pop music that is unmistakably R&B,” and that Mariah, “ more than any other musician, established R&B and hip-hop as the sound of pop.” And as noted music critic Amy Linden said about Mariah’s Greatest Hits collection, it “offers up evidence why, for better or worse, Mariah's five-octave, pop/R&B stylings set the diva standard.”

Mariah Carey has often received flak for her lyrics. Critics often dismiss her songs as "cliche" or as being like "high school diary entries" or "Hallmark greeting cards." Those criticisms miss the point, though. Mariah has said that she writes songs about specific situations in a general manner so that people can relate. As Devon Powers of Pop Matters wrote, "Her lyrics were exactly what you wanted them to be: simple, memorable, and absolutely true." The reason Mariah has had so many hits is that her songs strike a chord with listeners. Not only can she craft wonderful melodies that stick in the brain, but she writes lyrics that seem to describe what all of us feel.

Perhaps this is also the reason Mariah has been mistaken for not having a point of view. In a society where people fight over who gets to stand on the soapbox, Mariah writes for the people who are away from commotion living their life. She writes for the everyman who is trying to make his way in the world. She writes for the everywoman who wants nothing more than her soulmate. Madonna is one of the people who has claimed that Mariah Carey lacks a point of view, and that's an ignorant statement. Mariah writes from the point of view of a multiracial female who grew up in a family of divorce. She writes about the effects of childhood, equality, romantic yearning, and the need for self-love. If most of Mariah's lyrics are about seeking affirmation, either from yourself or others, it's because that's the universal struggle. Aren't we all looking for affirmation? Aren't wars fought between countries seeking power? Isn't welfare about helping those who need a break? Mariah's lyrics are more political and sociological than people think. She has said "Can't Take That Way" was written in reaction to the Columbine shootings. If you can't tell that strictly by reading the lyrics, it's because Mariah understands that the reasons behind those shootings aren't that far removed from the feelings that cause some people to attempt suicide and other people to remain in an abusive relationship. All pain is the same, regardless of how it manifests itself.

This also gets to how Mariah is perceived image-wise. While Madonna and Janet Jackson can wear just as little clothing as Mariah, and sleep with more men, they do not receive the same criticism that Mariah does. Mariah has always projected vulnerability. Even though Madonna has always been about getting attention, she hides it better; Mariah wears her insecurity on her sleeve (when she wears sleeves). That makes her more real, which is why Mariah has such a deep connection with her fans. Madonna seems to be above humans, Mariah is human. Her pain is our pain, even if we haven't had the same specific experiences she has. As DJ PC Munoz wrote on his web site, "Mariah possesses a kind of little-girl spirit which most female songwriters don't dare conjure, for fear of being pigeon-holed, stereotyped, or mocked by 'serious' songwriting peers and critics." Mariah's style of writing may never earn her the critical respect that indie singer/songwriters receive, but as Munoz states, that "certainly doesn't warrant automatic dismissal of her work as an artist."

As a writer, Mariah has more #1 songs than any other female composer. If nothing else, this speaks to her ability to write lyrics and melodies that touch people of different generations. Mariah also co-wrote the only holiday standard from the past 20 years in "All I Want For Christmas Is You." That tune has become one of the 10 most-played songs each holiday season, and it has been covered by everyone from My Chemical Romance to Shania Twain. Mariah has also received 5 Grammy nominations as a writer, including 2 for Song of the Year (one for "Vision Of Love" and one for "We Belong Together"). She's clearly speaking to someone.

Mariah's early songs captures the various reasons relationships end and the subsquent feelings. As Hillary Frey of Salon.com wrote, "'Someday' summed up my teenage angst and anger better than any Cure song could. And 'Love Takes Time' -- has any breakup ballad ever put it better?" As PC Munoz says, the lyrics to "Dreamlover" are "an expression of the simplest of romantic dreams: to find the right person and to be taken care of." Everyone can relate to that, so it's no wonder artists like Nelly Furtado have said they wrote songs like Mariah songs while growing up. And Mariah has started branching out as a writer. The post-divorce album Butterfly featured Mariah's most personal and detailed lyrics yet. Rich Juzwiak of Slant described "The Roof" as "vivid and sometimes shockingly clever", and "Breakdown" as having "lyrical strokes as broad and obvious as they are naked." Mariah's next studio album was Rainbow, and Danyel Smith wrote in Entertainment Weekly that lyrically it "brims with a richness and vulnerability." That sense of vulnerability always shines through.

Maybe that's what Mariah was sent here to do; serve as an outlet for those of us who need someone to give voice to the emotions we feel on a daily basis. After all, while war and politics are issues that need to be discussed, the reality is that relationship and identity issues are what most of us deal with on a daily basis.

When Mariah Carey divorced Tommy Mottola in 1997, she felt free to do a lot of things that she couldn't do when married. Mariah has said she felt stifled in her marriage with Tommy, and her 1997 album Butterfly chronicles a lot of what Mariah was going through at the time. Not coincidentally, the videos from the album seem to be her most symbolic. Mariah has denied some of the connections to her personal life and validated others, so let me state for the record that a lot of what you are about to read is pure speculation.


"Honey" - The video that introduced pop culture to a post-divorce Mariah was "Honey." Mariah has said that the concept of the "Honey" video was influenced by the 'Bond Girls' from James Bond movies, and she has said the video was just an excuse for her to wear different outfits. A lot of people thought there was more meaning in the video than Mariah let on. In the opening of the video, Mariah is being held captive by an Italian mobster, perhaps a reference to her Italian ex-husband Tommy who likened himself to 'The Don'. In the video Mariah escapes her captors, jumps off a balcony into a pool, and emerges in a bikini. The bikini in the pool scene is modeled after Bond girl Honey Ryder, who emerged from the ocean in a similar biniki in Dr. No. Bond girls are typically thought of as 'eye candy' in the James Bond movies, and they are usually victim roles. In the "Honey" video, however, Mariah escapes from her captors and rides away from them on a jet ski. Mariah was assumed to be a victim in her marriage, so just as Mariah broke free from Tommy, perhaps she was breaking free from the Bond girl stereotype. One of Mariah's captors seemed similar to Tommy, and he was holding Mariah captive in a mansion. Tommy and Mariah were living in a mansion in Bedford up until their separation, and Mariah has dubbed the mansion 'Sing Sing' because it felt like a prison to her. Or, as Mariah's co-producer Walter Afanasieff told Entertainment Weekly, "Everything in the video is 'Fuck you, Tommy.'"


"Butterfly" - The next video to be released was "Butterfly." Mariah has stated that the opening scene of the video was inspired by the Tennessee Williams play Baby Doll. That play centers on a young woman who is married to a businessman who wants a more intimate relationship with her than she wants. The play is basically about her boredom and exploitation by a seductive Italian and her abusive older husband. It isn't hard to see the parallels to Tommy's restrictions on Mariah and her subsequent relationship with Derek Jeter. The older man peeps at her in the opening of the play (like in the opening of the video), and is frustrated that he cannot see more of her. Tommy spied on Mariah in general, and perhaps wanted more from her physically (Mariah has said there wasn't a lot of sex in the marriage). In Baby Doll, Archie's failures as a businessman add to his failure to get intimate with Baby Doll. In a story reported by Vanity Fair and other sources, Mariah taunted Tommy after the 1996 Grammys by criticizing his lacking enough power to get her a Grammy. Baby Doll is a woman-child, which Mariah actually describes herself as in the Butterfly song "Close My Eyes" (and has a song titled "Babydoll" on that album). The "Butterfly" video shows Mariah visiting different parts of the house during the day as the male figure is presumably off at work. The one thing that seems to bring her happiness is a horse, which she ultimately sets free. In the Here Is Mariah Carey TV special, Mariah rides horses at the home she shared with Tommy. Perhaps letting the horse go in "Butterfly" was symbolic of letting Tommy go. In the play, Baby Doll's husband also talks about the position he holds in the town and how many people are on his side. That would be a parallel for Tommy holding the position of the head of Mariah's record label. Mariah told MTV that the scene in the video where she cuts her hands on a barbed wire fence came from a dream she had. In dreams, barbed wire is known to represent difficulty in breaking through and feeling trapped in a relationship. That clearly parallels Mariah's relationship with Tommy.


"My All" - Another video with clear symbols is "My All." Some of the images were modeled after Boticelli's The Birth Of Venus. Venus was the god of love and beauty, and some say she sprang from the sea and floated to the shore in a shell. Venus also represents the feminine, and she shines brightly as a star sometimes, but also diminishes (like feminine power). Vulcan worked to make objects that pleased Venus, but she was unable to meet his need for monogamy. Venus was torn between her husband Vulcan (Tommy), the god of destructive fire, and her true love Mars (Derek), the god of spring/fertility. She has been waiting to speak, and perhaps the man in the lighthouse represents Mars. The video could also tie into the Sirens of mythology, who were seductive and pulled mariners to their islands with their singing and eventually killed them.


"The Roof" - The video for "The Roof" found Mariah reflecting back on a rooftop party from 1983. She drives around in a limo reflecting back to a night from her past, perhaps remembering the last time she felt really free as a person. Mariah has talked about being eternally stuck in 8th grade, and 1983 wouldn't have been too far removed from that time. The most symbolic moment of the video comes toward the end when Mariah rises up through the sunroof in the limo. As Slant magazine details, "When Mariah rises through the limo's sunroof to relish the warm November rain, she's not drunk on the bubbly but on the memory of a fleeting moment of liberation." That's a fitting image to use as an end to this blog; Mariah is both liberated and vulnerable.

Mariah Carey always loved the Christmas season while growing up. As she told Billboard magazine in 1994, "I'm a very festive person and I love the holidays. I've sung Christmas songs since I was a little girl. I used to go Christmas caroling." If holiday albums from major stars weren't exactly rare in 1994, they weren't exactly the norm either. Still, few could have realized the success and influence Mariah would have with her 1994 release Merry Christmas. As Barry Schwarts wrote for Stylus magazine, Merry Christmas "transcends" the obligatory nature of the holiday album genre.

Going into the recording of her holiday collection, Mariah knew she wanted to do a few things. Mariah typically writes the songs she sings, but she recognized that writing original holiday songs is a risky proposition. As she told Billboard, "It was definitely a priority for me to write at least a few new songs, but for the most part, people really want to hear the standards at Christmas." Mariah also knew she wanted a more gospel feel for the project, so she brought in Loris Holland to co-produce a few tracks and to play the Hammond B-3 organ. Mariah's grandmother had taken her to church as a child, and Merry Christmas allowed her to combine her love for the holidays with her gospel roots. As J.D. Considine wrote in The Baltimore Sun, Merry Christmas is "the work of someone who genuinely loves this music."

Mariah has said she was more free with her vocals on this project and didn't worry about getting every line perfect. Critics took notice of this freedom and spirit immediately. Billboard said her "voice is a malleable marvel of emotion and range," and Steve Morse of The Boston Globe wrote that the holiday collection "features the most unbridled singing of her career." Considine noted that "the album's real strength is the conviction she brings" to songs that could be corny, and Jeremy Helliger of People went as far as to say, "crooning Christmas carols seems to be [Mariah's] calling." Barry Schwarts of Stylus calls the songs and performances "undeniably brilliant."

While Mariah's singing was deservedly praised, it is also notable that some of the new songs Mariah wrote for the collection have enjoyed their own success. The three original holiday songs Mariah wrote for the album are "All I Want For Christmas Is You," "Miss You Most (At Christmastime)," and "Jesus Born On This Day." While "Jesus Born On This Day" has gained some notoriety in Christian and gospel circles (having been covered by Avalon, Norman Hutchins, Morris Chapman, and Clay Aiken), it is "All I Want For Christmas Is You" that has become a holiday season standard. As Sasha Frere-Jones wrote in New Yorker, with the "charming" song, Mariah "co-wrote one of the few worthy modern additions to the holiday canon." Chuck Klosterman went so far as to write in Spin that "All I Want For Christmas Is You" is, "Definitely the best Christmas song since 'Christmas Wrapping' (the Waitresses), possibly the best Christmas song since 'Jesus Christ' (Big Star), and arguably the best Christmas song since 'O Little Town of Bethlehem' (various artists)." Praise like that shows how widespread the love for "All I Want For Christmas Is You" is considering the magazine usually has little use for an artist like Mariah.

In fact, acts ranging from My Chemical Romance to Shania Twain and even The Cheetah Girls have covered the track, further showing its mass appeal. Film director Richard Curtis made sure to use "All I Want For Christmas Is You" in his film Love Actually because he said it puts him in a good mood when he hears it. Fanoe pointed out, "It's a modern Christmas classic that's infiltrated pop culture as much as any of the 'classic' Christmas carols." Helliger may not have realized just how prescient his comment that "the frisky girl-group jubilance of 'All I Want For Christmas Is You'...makes it as good as any of the classics that surround it" was when he wrote it.

This sort of praise came as a surprise to Mariah. As she told Marie Claire, "Nothing against Casio, but I wrote 'All I Want For Christmas Is You' on my little Casio keyboard! I never knew it would turn into the hit it is!" The hit is clearly modeled after Phil Spector's trademark wall-of-sound style. Mariah and co-producer Walter Afanasieff use harmonies, bells, tympanis, and a fast pace to inject the track with what Roch Perisien of All Music Guide calls "exuberant fun." Perhaps Rich Juzwiak said it best when he wrote for Slant that "'All I Want For Christmas Is You' is totally a classic. A lot of people think it's a cover, which I think is a testament to its success." The song harkens back to 60s-era Spector while still appealing to modern sensibilities.

Keeping all of that in mind, it's no surprise that Merry Christmas and its songs have been commercial juggernauts. Merry Christmas has been certified 5x Platinum by the RIAA, which places it among the top 3 holiday albums of all-time in the U.S. It has also sold over 12 million copies worldwide, making it possibly the top-selling holiday album of all-time. "All I Want For Christmas Is You" continues to do extremely well each holiday season, and it even topped the Download Songs chart in 2005. It was also among the 10 most-played holiday songs during the 2005 holiday season. Other tracks from Merry Christmas have also made the Download Songs chart and received significant airplay. The ubiquitous success of the collection has surely encouraged other artists to record holiday albums as well. As Sal Cinquemani of Slant writes, "Ever since Mariah Carey's multi-platinum Merry Christmas, celeb-Christmas albums have become obligatory rites of commercial passage.” While it may have been common for artists to record a holiday song or two for a compilation album, it wasn't until the mid-90s that it became common for major artists to release full-length holiday albums. It is also now commonplace for AC radio stations to play holiday music 24/7 during the holiday season, which wasn't something that was done in the early 90s.

It is becoming a running theme in the short life of these blogs to highlight the impact Mariah has had on music. Her influence isn't necessarily something Mariah gets a lot of credit for, but it's also not something that can really be denied. Even if you simply enjoy Merry Christmas for the fun, committed collection that it is, the effects of its creation are noticeable every holiday season.