Announcement

**Leo** · Sat February 20, 2021, 16:17

Album Title: Music Box
Release Date: August 31st 1993 by Columbia Records

General Info: The album was produced by Carey and Afanasieff, who began a songwriting partnership that would extend until 1997's Butterfly. During the course of the album's development, Carey wanted to broaden her audience, choosing a more pop/R&B oriented sound. During this time frame, she experimented with different musical instruments, leading the album's sound away from her more contemporary previous two efforts.

Reviews: The album was released to mixed reviews from music critics. Carey's songwriting was derided as clichéd and her vocal performances were described as less emotive and lazier in their delivery. In his review of the album, AllMusic's Ron Wynn concluded: "sometimes excessive spirit is preferable to an absence of passion."

Commercial performance: The album reached number one in 14 countries, including Australia, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified it Diamond, for shipments of ten million copies across the United States. Music Box remains Carey's highest seller with 28 million copies sold worldwide and is one of the best-selling albums of all time.

Singles: Four singles were released from the album. The first three, "Dreamlover", "Hero" and "Without You", became worldwide chart-topping singles, the latter becoming Carey's highest charting international single of her career.

	US	UK	AUS	CAN	FRA	GER
Dreamlover	1	9	7	1	49	39
Hero	1	7	7	3	5	41
Without You	3	1	3	4	2	1
Never Foget You	-	-	-	-	-	-
Anytime You Need A Friend	12	8	12	5	12	41

Accolades: Mariah was nominated for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "Dreamlover" at the 1994 Grammy Awards and received the same nomination for "Hero" at the 1995 Grammy Awards.

YouTube: Views belong to the official video as of Feb 20th 2021

Dreamlover Official Video - 32.588.251 views
Dreamlover from Top of the Pops - 219.799 views
Dreamlover from Mariah Carey (Live) - 172.458 views
Dreamlover from Fantasy: Live at Madison Square Garden - 1.734.547 views
Dreamlover from Around The World - 344.588 views
Hero Official Video - 275.057.034 views
Hero from Mariah Carey (Live) - 3.060.265 views
Hero Live at St. John the Divine - 526.532 views
Hero from Fantasy: Live at Madison Square Garden - 8.280.366 views
Hero from Around The World - 677.087 views
Hero Live at Home Tribute - 2.668.831 views
Without You Official Live Video - 307.294.082 views
Without You from Top of the Pops - 734.377 views
Without You from Mariah Carey (Live) - 40.454.315 views
Without You from Fantasy: Live at Madison Square Garden - 24.314.568 views
Without You Live at Tokyo Dome - 464.109 views
Anytime You Need A Friend Official Video - 17.118.639 views
Anytime You Need A Friend Alt. Version - 907.038 views
Anytime You Need A Friend Soul Convention Remix - 243.692 views
Anytime You Need A Friend from Top of The Pops - 209.334 views
Anytime You Need A Friend from Mariah Carey (Live) - 2.007.770 views
Anytime You Need A Friend Live at Tokyo Dome - 395.597 views

Songs listed in the ballot:

Dreamlover

Hero

Anytime You Need a Friend

Music Box

Now That I Know

Never Forget You

Without You

Just to Hold You Once Again

I've Been Thinking About You

All I've Ever Wanted

Anytime You Need a Friend (C+C Remix)

Anytime You Need a Friend (Soul Convention Remix)

Dreamlover (Def Club Mix)

Dreamlover Bam Jam Soul

Dreamlover Theo's Club Joint

Never Forget You Radio Edit

Source: wikipedia Mariah Carey & Music Box album.

**Leo** · Sat February 20, 2021, 16:20

This era has almost 720M views, fueled by 2 massive videos by Hero and Without You.

**RayRay** · Sat February 20, 2021, 20:58

Music Box: I was so excited and looking forward to this album. It had been two years since Emotions, so I was more than ready for a new album. Of course she gave us Unplugged and the Trey Lorenz debut album in 1992, but a whole album of new Mariah songs, that was something to get all excited about. Round that time I had met some other fans and with one of them, I used to go to record stores, searching for import cd-singles. First thing we heard was that a new album called Hero was coming. Later the title was changed to Music Box. I loved the cover sleeve and Dreamlover was a great lead single. Especially as it had re-sung dance remixes and a bonus track (Do You Think Of Me).

Dreamlover: This was something different for Mariah. She had the ballads, she had up-tempo's. This was the first real mid-tempo. The thing I loved most was the dance remix. Back in those days I loved remixes more than I do now. But never had I heard someone re-sing a song for the remix. So this was something extra special.

Hero: Great inspirational lyric, but never a favorite of mine.

Anytime You Need A Friend: Loved this right from the start and hoped it would be a future single. So happy when it was released. And even more thrilled when she re-sang it for the dance remixes, but also for the soul remix. It was the first time she had straight hair, so when I saw the cover sleeve and the video... I didn't like it at all at first. It took me a long time to get used to Mariah with straight hair as it seemed so out of place. It was only when she had straight hair more often during the Butterfly era, that I started to get used to it. I was totally surprised last year (or the year before) when I found out that she had done two videos for AYNAF, but the one with the curly hair and children as angels got shelved. How this was not known to me for so many years was something I could hardly believe. Hope it will see the light of day someday.

Now That I Know: Another favorite of mine of which I hoped it would be a future single. Real shame it was never released. Most of Mariah's hits here were ballads: Vision Of Love, I'll Be There, Hero, Without You, Anytime You Need A Friend, Endless Love... With three ballads in a row and then moving to Endless Love was something I wouldn't have chosen. I would have squeezed Now That I Know in before Endless Love. Mariah was extremely popular and seeing Janet Jackson, Whitney and Madonna releasing five, six or even seven songs from one album, made me wonder why Mariah only released four (or just three from Emotions). Now That I Know could have given us something to dance to in the clubs and could have showed the GP she was more than just a ballad singer.

Never Forget You: Such a beautiful lyric. A lyric like The Wind, One Sweet Day and Bye Bye about a loved one who died. NFY gave it an extra layer though as you have to read between the lines to fully understand why she lost this friend. Babyface was hot at that time and I was really happy they worked together. I also found it beautiful how Without You and NFY were linked on one single as they both dealt with the same sentiment about losing someone (though for a different reason).

Without You: It took me a few months before I finally fell in love with this song. I didn't know the original, so to me it was a new song. It was one of the songs I skipped when listening to the album. I thought the lyric was simple and I missed a build up to a bridge. So when it was released as the third single I thought it was a very wrong move. How wrong I was! Harry Nilsson had just died and I don't know if it helped the song, but I was completely shook to see it enter straight at #1 in the UK. And here in the Netherlands it went to #1 as well. I couldn't believe this was happening. It was really huge all over Europe. The song was everywhere, on heavy rotation on the radio and TV and I finally embraced the song and still love it a lot to this day. When it got so big in Europe, I was sure it would be another #1 for her in the US as most of her singles did. I still don't understand why it got stuck at #3 in a country where she was much more popular than here in Europe.

**Goldmoney** · Sat February 20, 2021, 21:02

Catapulted Kween into the stratosphere but I seem to like Karen Box less and less over time.

**Goldmoney** · Sun February 21, 2021, 01:45

DP.

**RayRay** · Sun February 21, 2021, 15:37

Is there only one round? Or are there several rounds coming up before the winning song is chosen?

**musedeva** · Sun February 21, 2021, 23:09

I'm confused

I'm supposed to vote top ten songs of all time? ie. from all albums?

**Leo** · Mon February 22, 2021, 00:12

RayRay and musedeva

The idea here is for members to rate each song of Mariah's discography from 1-10, using this brief guide:
10 - GOAT, above perfection!
9 - Perfection
8 - Almost perfect!
7 - Very good!
6 - Good one!
5 - Okay, I enjoy when it comes
4 - Sometimes I skip it...
3 - I skip it most of the times, sorry
2 - I deleted it from my library
1 - Erase from planet earth

You can vote 3 songs with "11" and also 3 songs with "0" only if you want.

Once we get all votes, we will present final ranking based on averages.

You can vote to the complete ballot in the first post via PM to bm08 and myself, or vote era by era as we advance here. We will be presenting 3 eras per week.

And in the meantime, you can share your ideas about each era as they are presented here, how you discovered each, what it means to you, fav songs, memories from those days, etc.

**DNK** · Mon February 22, 2021, 06:21

I voted.

**Leo** · Mon February 22, 2021, 15:23

this is the era that made me a fan.

Early 1994. I went to the US with my family during our summer holidays (jan 1994, winter in the north). I had some money saved so I decided to spend it all on CDs. At least once a day I would enter a record store, my father giving me no more than 30 mins to spend there, and I would get lost and buy wisely. I completed my Madonna and Bon Jovi discography, and would also buy plenty of albums I was not that familiar with but I felt I wanted/needed. And one of those was Mariah's Music Box. I bought around 25 cds that trip, but to be fair, Mariah's was the one I was more intrigued about.

I didn't even know she released a new album, so I was exited. But there was one big problem: we didn't gring our cd player, so i had all those albums there but couldn't listen to them! So every night, before going to sleep, I would go through my new collection. And Mariah's was somehow catching my attention more and more. I would read the lyris and try to imagine how each song would sound. Call me crazy, but I thought Hero was kind of Emotions lol.

The moment I got home early february, i got lost in my bedroom and Mariah was the first album I listened to... she captured me. I know that it sounds a little safe imo, but I thought the album ws, for the first time, perfect: only 10 songs so when it finished I only needed more so I would replay it; not even one filler, the flow was outstanding. I a not lying if I say it took me MONTHS to complete listening to all albums I bought in that trip, and it was becuase Music Box won me over. I eventually moved on once MAdonna released Bedtime Stories and I went that october to NY and spend all my savings again in album (like 30+ in that trip), but Music Box will always have that soft spot in my heart as my first real bond with Mariah. Still today I feel it's amongst her best albums.

I highlight each and every one of the songs, but Now That I Know and All I've Ever Wanted were on heavy repeat at home.

**bm08** · Mon February 22, 2021, 15:56

This era has some real gems. Among the most underrated, I think Never Forget You is such a beautiful track. It is one that got a bit of shine with the MC30 EPs, but even then I dont think appreciated just how smooth an R&B track this is. There is real emotion and soul in her voice throughout this track which I appreciate

**RayRay** · Mon February 22, 2021, 19:00

Originally posted by Leo View Post

RayRay and musedeva

The idea here is for members to rate each song of Mariah's discography from 1-10, using this brief guide:
10 - GOAT, above perfection!
9 - Perfection
8 - Almost perfect!
7 - Very good!
6 - Good one!
5 - Okay, I enjoy when it comes
4 - Sometimes I skip it...
3 - I skip it most of the times, sorry
2 - I deleted it from my library
1 - Erase from planet earth

You can vote 3 songs with "11" and also 3 songs with "0" only if you want.

Once we get all votes, we will present final ranking based on averages.

You can vote to the complete ballot in the first post via PM to bm08 and myself, or vote era by era as we advance here. We will be presenting 3 eras per week.

And in the meantime, you can share your ideas about each era as they are presented here, how you discovered each, what it means to you, fav songs, memories from those days, etc.

I voted on day one.

**Leo** · Mon February 22, 2021, 20:07

Originally posted by bm08 View Post

This era has some real gems. Among the most underrated, I think Never Forget You is such a beautiful track. It is one that got a bit of shine with the MC30 EPs, but even then I dont think appreciated just how smooth an R&B track this is. There is real emotion and soul in her voice throughout this track which I appreciate

I discovered the Edit version in the MC30 EP and I think it improves the album version by a mile!

**Leo** · Mon February 22, 2021, 21:11

Album Title: Merry Christmas
Release Date: October 28th 1994 by Columbia Records

General Info: The album features cover versions of popular Christmas tunes and original material. Carey worked with Walter Afanasieff, with whom she wrote all of the original tracks, as well as producing Carey's interpretations of the covered material. Three singles were released from the album, of which "All I Want for Christmas Is You" went on to become one of the best-selling singles of all time and the best-selling holiday ringtone in the United States.
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. 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. Nevertheless, Carey, unaffected by the speculation, continued working on, and promoting the album in high spirits, confident in her work. 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.

Reviews: Critical response to the album's contemporary holiday theme was mixed. Some music critics complimented the "gospel and soul-inflected" vocals and even called it "Carey's best record" to date. 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".

Commercial performance: Re-released on multiple occasions in various formats since its debut, the album has sold 5.7 million copies in the United States as of December 2019 and has been certified eight-times Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Internationally, it reached number one in Japan, Latvia and Lithuania; as well as the top-ten in 16 other countries, including Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

Singles: "Jesus Born on This Day", an original song, was sent to Christian and gospel radio stations in 1994 as the first promotional single. The official lead single, "All I Want for Christmas Is You", became a holiday standard and by October 2017, it had become the 11th-bestselling single in modern music.

	US	UK	AUS	CAN	FRA	GER
Jesus Born On This Day	-	-	-	-	-	-
All I Want For Christmas Is You	1	1	1	1	1	1
Miss You Most (At Christmas Time)	-	-	-	-	-	-
Miss You Most (At Christmas Time)	-	-	33	-	-	-

Silent Night

All I Want For Christmas Is You

O Holy Night

Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)

Miss You Most (At Christmas Time)

Joy To the World

Jesus Born On This Day

Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing / Gloria (In Excelsis Deo)

Jesus Oh What a Wonderful Child

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

All I Want For Christmas Is You (ft. Jermaine Dupri & Bow Wow) [So So Def Remix]

All I Want For Christmas Is You (with Justin Bieber) [SuperFestive Version]

Joy to the World (Celebration Mix)

Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town (Anniversary Mix)

Source: wikipedia Mariah Carey & Merry Christmas album.

**Leo** · Mon February 22, 2021, 21:16

AIWFCIY is the undeniable #1 here, top of each market! Call her local lol

This era has almost 1.200M views!!!! Of them all, I really love O Holy Night getting 78M, love that one!

**RayRay** · Mon February 22, 2021, 21:29

I'll get to Merry Christmas tomorrow.

**Goldmoney** · Mon February 22, 2021, 21:36

Xmas GOAT is literally the most timeless song in history.

**Leo** · Mon February 22, 2021, 23:52

Christmas music is not popular in Argentina, at all. We are right inside summer here in december, with +30 degrees, so all songs about winter and snow just makes no sense. And when this album was released I still didn't use the net so I would not know about its existance... back then the only way for me to discover about new releases was MTV or newspapers, and in Argentina noone mentioned it.

Therefore I never knew about this album until january 1996. I was with my grandma at a music store and she asked me to buy me a record so I saw it and decided to buy it even when christmas was way over and we still had like 11 months ahead for the next one. I remember she thinking I was crazy but grandmas are only here to spoil us so she bought it for me (side note, she is 90 and will get vaccinated next friday, I am so happy!!). End of story: I was in my bedroom, listening to Silent Night in january... Liked it, and I was going through a Mariah stage after Daydream Mariah was back on heavy rotation.

Still I was never completely into this album until I think 2016. Since then, I completely love this from start to finish.

In 1996 my fav was Miss You Most. I grew a little tired of it, although I keep listening to it in christmas time and enjoy it. Of course AIW is pop perfection to me. And finally Jesus Born On This Day... I just find that the most underrated christmas tune from her, noone mentions it but god that's gorgeous. And I can swear to god that I was once watching a Doctor Quinn Medicine Woman christmas episode and in the end Dr Quinn and some others started to sing Jesus Born... I could never find that episode again. So maybe I dreamt about it. But I don't think my mind would be so crazy to bring this in any dream so if you tell me, I think Jesus is portrayed in the end of the christmas episode of Dr Quinn, probably 1994-5 season.

**Tomer_MC** · Tue February 23, 2021, 13:18

Music Box is such a HUGE seller in Mariah's discography, one would guess it would have been "safe" for Mariah to keep that type of sound. though the shift was already happening, obviously it was mainstream at it's best (nothing wrong 'bout that).
For me, even though at that time I wasn't aware of Mariah Carey, a couple years later, when I heard Hero for the first time - in an instant it got to me. and though I've had my ups and downs moments with this song, when I think of Mariah Carey, it's the first song that comes to my mind. I remember being at her concert, the first and only time she performed in Israel in 2015, when Hero came along and the first piano note strated, I was already in tears. I will treasure this moment forever.

Music Box, Anytime You Need A Friend & Everything Fades Away are my fav from this album.

**monarcbutterfly** · Tue February 23, 2021, 15:23

I’m finding scoring the albums fascinating. I’ve never actually sat down and scored each song or ranked the albums but this has given me a great opportunity to do so.

I’ve added the scores of each song and then averaged it out per album.

I’ve completed the albums and of the albums mentioned so far, Music Box and the debut are tied on 4th. (I am including the Christmas albums and The Rarities).

I wouldn’t have predicted that as Music Box era is when I became a lamb, although I was aware of her and I did like her, particularly VOL. It wasn’t until MB era that the UK and Ireland sat up and took notice of her properly. I had thought MB would be my top scoring album but nope, there are three in front of it.

I know some lambs think of it as being a bit bland and generic but DL, Hero, AYNAF, MB and WY make it one of my favourite albums, it was a great time to be a lamb. EFA is also the greatest EVER

**RayRay** · Tue February 23, 2021, 19:54

Merry Christmas

I love Christmas music as long as I can remember. As a little boy I sang at church and the Christmas songs were always among my favorites. My parents had Christmas albums of Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton, the Carpenters, Bing Crosby, Jim Reeves and others.

One of the first Christmas albums I bought myself was A Very Special Christmas which featured Christmas songs by Madonna, Whitney Houston and others. As Madonna and Whitney were my two favorite artists at that moment, I was thrilled and hoped they would do a complete Christmas album soon.

Then there were Christmas album releases by New Kids On The Block, Carnie & Wendy Wilson... but no Madonna or Whitney. Mariah very quickly became one of my most favorite artists ever with releasing album after album and then... 1994... Merry Christmas. I was over the moon! I couldn't believe she beat Madonna and Whitney to it. It made me love Mariah even more.

My favorite song at first was Joy To The World (most of the time I first fall for the up-tempo's). Great intro, gospel choir, upbeat. Everything I love!

It took me a little longer to fall for O Holy Night, but once I did, there was no stopping the love for this rendition. It's my favorite Mariah Christmas song now.

Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) took me a while to like it. It was also on the A Very Special Christmas album... sung by U2 (which I didn't like at all). Everytime I listened to Mariah's version, I couldn't stop hearing U2 in my mind. It took me a long time to get rid of that thought.

All I Want For Christmas Is You is another song that took me a while to really fall for. It's very catchy, but somehow it doesn't appeal to me as much as the songs about the nativity and the added gospel choirs. It was a big hit here right from the start in 1994. Somehow it was clear to me it would be as big as Wham!'s Last Christmas and Band Aid's Do They Know It's Christmas. Still, I never thought it would a #1 for several years in the far future. I expected it to become a big classic, but to see how big it has become is beyond believe.

Favorite songs right from the start Jesus Born On This Day (sounded like a classic from day one, and those choirs!), Jesus Oh What A Wonderful Child (the choir, the ending!), God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (to think it's just her voice!), Hark! The Herald Angels Sing/Gloria (who else could have come up with such a fitting mash-up?!)

**bm08** · Wed February 24, 2021, 15:48

For people wishing to submit their ballots in parts (based on our Era focus), then they should submit these ratings for these songs:

Silent Night
All I Want For Christmas Is You
O Holy Night
Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
Miss You Most (At Christmas Time)
Joy To the World
Jesus Born On This Day
Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing / Gloria (In Excelsis Deo)
Jesus Oh What a Wonderful Child
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
All I Want For Christmas Is You (ft. Jermaine Dupri & Bow Wow) [So So Def Remix]
All I Want For Christmas Is You (with Justin Bieber) [SuperFestive Version]
Joy to the World (Celebration Mix)
Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town (Anniversary Mix)
Dreamlover
Hero
Anytime You Need a Friend
Music Box
Now That I Know
Never Forget You
Without You
Just to Hold You Once Again
I've Been Thinking About You
All I've Ever Wanted
Anytime You Need a Friend (C+C Remix)
Anytime You Need a Friend (Soul Convention Remix)
Dreamlover (Def Club Mix)
Dreamlover Bam Jam Soul
Dreamlover Theo's Club Joint
Never Forget You Radio Edit

Spoiler!

**sYair** · Wed February 24, 2021, 17:47

Do we have to vote for ALL songs? There are some remixes I've never heard.

**RayRay** · Wed February 24, 2021, 18:51

Originally posted by sYair View Post

Do we have to vote for ALL songs? There are some remixes I've never heard.

You only vote for the songs you know.

**Leo** · Wed February 24, 2021, 23:09

Originally posted by sYair View Post

Do we have to vote for ALL songs? There are some remixes I've never heard.

only vote songs you want to vote... and then go and listen to all remixes!!!! lol

Announcement

The Mariah Carey Discography Rate [12 Days Left To Vote]

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