Christmas | This is the story “All I Want For Christmas Is You,” Mariah Carey’s inexhaustible gold mine
Mariah Carey She is still the undisputed queen birthday: all I Want for Christmas Is You It hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 this week, a list of the most successful singles in the United States. And no wonder. Since its publication in 1994, as part of the LP Merry ChristmasIt is considered The perfect pop on a Christmas Carol. Although at first not everyone believed that it would work. Above all, because it only appeared at the peak of the singer’s popularity. Specifically, one year after seeing the light of his third studio work, jukeboxwhich has shipped a whopping 28 million copies thanks a hero As for Without Youa version of the story made famous in 1970 by Welsh band Badfinger.
One of those who expressed his reluctance was Anthem co-writer and co-producer Walter Afanasieff, a regular collaborator with Carey from 1990 to 1998. In a 2014 interview with paintingOn the occasion of its 20th anniversary, she said: “At that time, Not many artists have Christmas albums. It was no known science at all, and no one was doing such cool new things. To think it would hit number one would boost record sales and mldr; We had no idea about that & rdquo;. He added, “For me it is kind of cosmic event It happens once every five billion years. Thousands of original Christmas songs have been written in the past two decades. but for some reason, all I Want for Christmas Is You I became that song. We feel lucky that he was the last person to enter the Christmas canon. Then close the door. It was simply closed & rdquo;.
It was Tommy Mottola, who was then the CEO of Sony with her husband, who absolutely encouraged her Merry Christmas. Refused to do so, since then after the success jukebox See the strategy as it is A step back in his career. However, he agreed. Originally, the album was only going to include versions of well-known Christmas carols. However, at Mottola’s own urging, Carey and Afanasieff met in 1993 to compose a piece that parodies the distinctive wall of sound from Phil Spector.
Afanasieff in detail at painting:”I started playing a little Rock and Roll Music on the piano and do Boogie Woogie with the left hand. This inspired Mariah to come up with the tune: “I Don’t Want Much for Christmas”. Then we started singing and playing with this horoscopes From Rock and Roll Music Which immediately became the crux of what he would end up with all I Want for Christmas Is You& rdquo;. In the summer of 1994, once the two had finished the lyrics, they recorded the song in a New York studio decorated with Christmas lights.
Now the star is engaged to a A slightly different version How it was created. She has declared on many occasions that she is the exclusive author of the lyrics. That is, she composed it alone, and not in the company of Avanaev while playing the piano. The last time he said he was in to mein December 2021: “I started typing it on a DX7 or Casio keyboard I had in a small room in the house I lived in, upstate New York. I wrote everything that happened to me. All the things that reminded me of Christmas, that made me feel festive and I wanted other people to feel that way.”
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As one might expect, Afanasyev is deeply wounded. “At this time every year, I have to stand up for myself because a lot of people don’t think I’m the co-author. She’s the one who made the song a hit, which is amazing. But it’s obvious that Do not share credit with others. As a result, it greatly damaged my reputation and left a bittersweet taste in my mouth. Despite it being a great event for me, my life is threatened online because Mariah’s fans are accusing me of stealing from her.” diverse.
Controversies aside, one thing is undeniable: all I Want for Christmas Is You Still a gold mine. According to estimates the economist, Just for the song, Carey earned $60 million between 1994 and 2016, an average of $2.6 million per year. And each time it is reproduced on a platform flow, receives one cent on the dollar. He won the lottery a long time ago.
