Today, November
7th officially marks the first day that it is acceptable to start
playing Christmas music. Why is
that? It’s only the beginning of
November, that’s definitely too early to start blasting Christmas music on your
car’s radio, isn’t it? Wrong. On this
day 20 years ago, Mariah Carey debuted perhaps the greatest Christmas album of
all time, Merry Christmas. What made Mariah Carey’s album so great and
why are we so “Obsessed” with it?
“I Still Believe”
that Mariah is one of the greatest female vocalists of all time, which is
something special when you think of all the great females and their influences
on music. Mariah Carey’s 1994 Merry
Christmas was her first Christmas album and her fourth studio album, but by
no means the most successful that she has put out, but still very lovable
during the magical time of Christmas. It’s
actually remarkable that it’s even talked about as much as it is considering
all of Mariah’s amazing albums. Mariah has perhaps one of the most beautiful
voices I have ever heard. Literally, “Angels
Cry” when they hear her voice, she may even be an angel.
Music has a way
of putting you in a particular type of mood; it can make you feel happy, sad,
mad, and excited. Sometimes, you don’t
know how to feel when listening to a certain song, but with Merry Christmas, you start to feel like
a kid again. You remember the smell of candy canes and hot chocolate, the
feeling of the cold on your face, and the sight of all the beautiful lights
flashing on the Christmas tree. For me,
this album and I have a special connection; “We Belong Together.”
Not only did
Mariah take classic Christmas songs like “Silent Night” and “Joy to the World,”
but she also wrote the best Christmas song of all time with “All I Want For
Christmas Is You.” This song does
wonderful things to me, it “Touch(es) My Body” and it has some serious “Side
Effects” to any one who listens to the song; you are immediately in the Christmas
spirit as soon as you hear the wonderful bells at the very beginning. Some hate Mariah for doing this to them and
say, “Thanx 4 Nothing,” but not me. I
would like to thank her greatly for this gift she has bestowed upon the music and
Christmas world.
The awesome
thing about Merry Christmas that
other Mariah Carey albums don’t do for me is that I love every single song on
it. Yeah, all her other albums are
really, really good too, but I only play certain songs off of those albums. For Merry
Christmas, every song has an equal chance of being played, after “All I
Want For Christmas Is You,” of course. For her other albums, even Merry Christmas II, some songs are not
allowed and will never be allowed to be played; some songs just aren’t good
enough to be played over other songs on the albums. Not saying that these songs aren’t good songs, or
that Mariah isn’t as brilliant in these songs because she is, but I just don’t
care to have another song play when I could have “Touch My Body” on repeat instead. Similarly, local self-proclaimed septuple-threat (author, actor, rapper, politician, script writer, poet, and celebrity) Dennis Fiore believes that, "'Touch My Body' is Mariah Carey's best hit that transcends all holidays."
Though Mariah is
quite possibly out of her prime, Merry
Christmas will always be in it’s prime come November 7th every
year. So do yourself a favor and go
celebrate 20 years of a nostalgic Mariah Carey
masterpiece; it is “#Beautiful.” Thanks for the wonderful Christmas gift
Mariah, and until next time, “Bye Bye.”
