TMS Discussion: What Is Going On With Mariah Carey's Legacy?

(Waring Abbott)

This past year, I came across posts on social media suggesting young people only know who Mariah Carey is because of her first Christmas record. “Why is ‘All I Want for Christmas’ the only Mariah song teens know?” “Is it me, or do younger people only associate Mariah with Christmas?” I snorted and moved along. Come on, guys, get out of the house more. There’s no doubt ‘All I Want for Christmas’ was a huge holiday single in 1994 and now one of the all-time great staples every December along with Bing Crosby’s ‘White Christmas’ (1942), Brenda Lee’s ‘Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree’ (1958) and Wham’s ‘Last Christmas’ (1984). But Mariah herself was already a big popstar, with numerous awards and record-breaking sales, by the time she released the ’94 LP ‘Merry Christmas.’ How could anyone familiar with music and pop culture not know of her success? Does no one listen to ‘90s songs on Spotify? Well, turns out…the internet might actually have a point. Not long after seeing the initial question online, I discovered multiple co-workers of mine—all under 25—only recognize Mariah’s holiday recordings. One girl even admitted she only knows ‘All I Want for Christmas.’ This stumped both me and an older co-worker. I was only a one-year-old when Mariah’s self-titled debut was out in 1990, so I don’t vividly recall her blowing up into stardom. But I can say I was definitely aware of who she was when I was growing up. Both ‘Emotions’ (1991) and ‘Merry Christmas’ were a part of my parents’ CD collection. I can instantly name near to a dozen songs by the singer, including ‘Vision of Love’ (1990), ‘Dreamlover’ (1993), ‘One Sweet Day’ (1995), ‘Fantasy’ (1995) and ‘Always be My Baby’ (1996). I’ll always have a personal memory of the ballad ‘Hero’ (1993) because it was performed during the year-end recital of my 6th grade choir class. ‘Make It Happen’ (1991) and the title track of ‘Emotions’ played a lot at my local shopping center last summer.

Amusingly, even though Mariah Carey is a legend in pop, R&B and hip-hop to Gen X and millennials, my image of her when I was a kid was actually her messy period in the early-to-mid 2000s. Whether it was her failed film vehicle, Vondie Curtis Hall’s Glitter (2001), which bombed not only from bad reviews, but having the misfortune of being released the same week 9/11 happened. Or her bizarre, surprise appearance on MTV’s “Total Request Live” during the film’s press tour, where she handed out ice cream to the audience and even strip teased in front of host Carson Daly. [This along with other erratic moments from late ‘01 led to Mariah taking some time off for ‘extreme exhaustion’ and a reported breakdown.] Then there was her recurring feud with rapper Eminem throughout the ‘00s, where the two took shots at each other in song, including Mariah’s 2009 single ‘Obsessed.’ Em initially claimed they went out back in 2002, but the vocalist has always denied this ever happened, with things just spiraling from there. On top of this, Mariah is one of many popstars with terrible luck in relationships. Her first husband was her manager and mentor Tommy Mottola in 1990-98, who turned out to be a Svengali cliché, and moved on to orchestrating Jennifer Lopez’s music career when Mariah wouldn’t comply to his every whim. Second husband, Nick Cannon, was a former Nickelodeon kid turned TV host a decade younger than Mariah [who received cougar and cradle robbing jokes from the press during their union from 2007 to 2016]. Nick is also the father of Mariah’s two children, fraternal twins Moroccan and Monroe, b. 2011. These days you have to wonder what the three of them think of Nick’s never-ending mission to procreate with as many women as possible.

(Daniela Federici)

Back to Mariah as an artist. It’s hard to comprehend someone being familiar with ‘All I Want for Christmas’ and not ‘Hero’ or ‘Always be My Baby.’ I would be surprised if more younger people aren’t aware of her 2005 comeback single ‘We Belong Together,’ since the amusing Kidz Bop recording of that song seems to go viral every couple of years. Someone not realizing Will Smith and Mark Wahlberg started out as rappers before becoming movie stars makes sense to me because they switched mediums early on. But Mariah? She’s consistently been active in music her whole adult life. Of course, a big part of this new narrative comes from the chanteuse herself. If you follow her on social media, you’ll instantly notice her pages are nothing but Christmas from November 1st to January 1st. She has unashamedly confessed to wanting to be the proclaimed ‘Queen of Christmas.’ It looks like her effort has paid off in that respect, since she’s now beaten Brenda Lee as the female artist with the most successful holiday single. But at the same time, it does beg the question, are you sure you want your entire legacy to revolve around a catchy Christmas single? For the first two decades of her career, Mariah was one of the few popstars not only singing and performing her music, but also having a hand at writing and co-producing all her songs [sans hit covers like ‘I’ll be There’ (1992) and ‘Without You’ (1994)]. She regularly had to remind people she was the one calling the shots and not being advised by a whole team. The star’s worked and befriended fellow legends in music such as Whitney Houston, Boyz II Men, Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg and 98 Degrees. Along with Whitney, she paved the way for popstars with powerhouse vocals like Christina Aguilera, JoJo, Demi Lovato and Ariana Grande. The tight curls, the whistle tone, the iconic shade. Mariah may want to be the Queen of Christmas, but I think she still deserves to be seen as a pop music icon. Whether with ‘Butterfly’ (1997) and ‘Loverboy’ (2001) or ‘Christmas (Please Come Home)’ (1994) and ‘Miss You Most (at Christmastime)’ (1994).