Mariah Carey is the debut studio album by American singer-songwriter Mariah Carey, released on June 12, 1990, by Columbia Records. Its music incorporates a range of contemporary genres with a mix of slow ballads and up-tempo tracks. Originally, Carey wrote four songs with Ben Margulies, which solely constituted her demo tape. After Carey was signed to Columbia, all four songs, after being altered and partially re-recorded, made the final cut for the album. Aside from Margulies, Carey worked with a range of professional writers and producers, all of whom were hired by Columbia CEO, Tommy Mottola. Mariah Carey featured production and writing from Rhett Lawrence, Ric Wake and Narada Michael Walden, all of whom were top record producers at the time. Together with Carey, they conceived the album and reconstructed her original demo tape.
Mariah Carey generally received positive reviews, with critics praising Carey's vocal performance and technique, but were ambivalent towards the songwriting. It became a commercial success, topping the U.S. Billboard 200 album chart for 11 consecutive weeks. Mariah Carey was certified nine-times Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), denoting shipments of nine million copies in the United States. The album experienced similar success in Canada, where it topped the charts and was certified seven times Platinum. Mariah Carey fared well in other worldwide territories, reaching the top ten in Australia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Worldwide, the album has sold more than 15 million copies.
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Five singles were released from the album, four of which became number-one hits on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. Her debut single, "Vision of Love" was chosen as the album's lead single, topping the charts in Canada, New Zealand and the United States. The song was critically lauded, and is regarded as one of the strongest debut singles by a female artist. With the following three singles, "Love Takes Time", "Someday" and "I Don't Wanna Cry" reaching number one in the U.S., Carey became the first artist since The Jackson 5 to have their first four singles top the charts in the United States.
"When we met she was 17 years old and I was 24. We worked together for a three-year period developing most of the songs on the first album. She had the ability just to hear things in the air and to start developing songs out of them. Often I would sit down and start playing something, and from the feel of a chord, she would start singing melody lines and coming up with a concept."
Carey and Ben Margulies began writing prior to Carey's signing, and had composed over fourteen songs; seven of which earned a place on the album.[3] Originally, Carey and Margulies planned to produce the entire album as well, an idea her label did not permit.[3] On the album, Carey worked with a range of producers and writers, including from Ben Margulies, Rhett Lawrence, Narada Michael Walden, Ric Wake and Walter Afanasieff; the latter would continue working extensively with Carey on future projects.[3] As production for the album began, Carey worked with Walden in New York, where they produced "I Don't Wanna Cry". While he described Carey as "very shy," he noted how professional she was for someone her age.[9] Additionally, Carey wrote "There's Got to Be a Way" during her first recording session with Wake.[10] During the session, they wrote four songs, but they only produced the latter song for the album. After flying to New York and working with Carey, Walden was astonished by her voice.[10] Together, they collaborated on transforming many of the demo's songs into more commercial recordings, which took place in Tarpan Studios in San Rafael, California.[11] For her work with Lawrence, Carey traveled to New York once again. In the studio, she presented him with the demo of "Vision of Love" which she had written with Margulies years prior. Lawrence saw "potential" in the song, but he did not think much of it in its early stages.[11] He described the song's sound as having a "fifties sort of shuffle".[11] According to Lawrence, Carey needed a more contemporary sound, so they met in the studio alongside Margulies and producer Chris Toland. They added a new arrangement to the original chord progression, while Carey changed the song's melody and key. Afterwards, Margulies added few drum notes to the arrangement, including additional guitar and bass notes.[11]
The demo was sent to producer Afanasieff. When Carey flew west to work with Narada Michael Walden on some tracks for her first album, Tommy Mottola and Don Ienner were impressed with Afanasieff's work and gave him an executive staff producer job with the label. "I guess to see if he made the right choice, (Tommy) called me up one day," remembers Afanasieff. "He said, 'We've got this Mariah Carey album done, but there's a song that she and Ben Margulies wrote that is phenomenal, and I want to try everything we can to put it on the album.' I said, 'What do you want me to do?' and he said, 'You only have a couple of days, but are you ready to cut it?' I couldn't believe the opportunity that it was. I'd never produced anything by myself up until that time."
Afanasieff heard from Columbia executives as soon as they received the mix. They wanted Carey's vocal a little louder, so a remix was quickly completed. The producer asked if the song would still make the debut album, and was told, "We're going to do our best."
On the first copies of the album that were printed, "Love Takes Time" was not listed on the cassette or compact disc liner notes, even though the song was on the cassette or CD itself. "(On) some of the original first copies of the record, they didn't have time to print the name of the song," Margulies laughs. "And so the song's on there, but it doesn't say that it's on there. It was a song that actually was strong enough to stop the pressing...I don't know if they had to throw away a few hundred copies."[15]
Promotion for the album continued with Carey's follow-up singles. "Love Takes Time" was performed on The Arsenio Hall Show, Showtime at the Apollo and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, as well as Carey's debut showcase at The Tattoo Club. In Europe, "Love Takes Time" was also performed in Pop Formule (the Netherlands), Kulan (Sweden) and Des O'Connor Tonight (United Kingdom).[16] The third single from Mariah Carey, "Someday", was performed at the 1991 American Music Awards which helped it reach number one in the United States. Carey's fourth single "I Don't Wanna Cry", reached the top of the Hot 100 without any immediate promotion, as Carey had not performed the song until her Music Box Tour in 1993.[16] As promotion for Mariah Carey ended, Sony released a fifth single "There's Got to Be a Way", in the UK. Most of the album's singles were performed live throughout Carey's short Music Box Tour. Both "Vision of Love" and "I Don't Wanna Cry" were performed on Carey's Asian and European Daydream World Tour (1996).[16]
"Vision of Love" was the first single released from the album and became one of the most popular and critically praised songs of Carey's career.[3] Additionally, "Vision of Love" is credited with bringing the use of melisma to the 1990s and inspiring various future talents. "Vision of Love" was nominated for three 1991 Grammy Awards: Best Female Pop Vocal Performance (which it won), Record of the Year and Song of the Year.[17] The song received the Soul Train Music Award for Best R&B/Soul Single, Female and a Songwriter Award at the BMI Pop Awards.[17] In the United States, it peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, during the week of August 2, 1990, staying atop the chart for four consecutive weeks.[18] "Vision of Love" reached number one in Canada and New Zealand as well, and appeared within the top ten in Australia, Ireland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Aside from its chart success, the song was lauded by music critics. In a retrospective review on the album in 2005, Entertainment Weekly called the song "inspired" and complimented Carey's use of the whistle register in the song.[19] Additionally, Rolling Stone said that "the fluttering strings of notes that decorate songs like 'Vision of Love', inspired the entire American Idol vocal school, for better or worse, and virtually every other female R&B singer since the nineties."[20] Bill Lamb from About.com said that "'Vision of Love' is one of the best songs of Mariah's recording career [...] It is simply one of the most stunning debut releases ever by a pop recording artist."[21]
"Love Takes Time" served as the album's second single, released on August 22, 1990.[22] The song became Carey's second single to top the Billboard Hot 100.[23][24] While the song achieved strong success stateside, "Love Takes Time" peaked at number two in Canada, it barely charted inside the top ten in New Zealand and outside the top 20 in Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.[25][26] "Someday" (the album's third single) followed a similar pattern as "Love Takes Time," reaching number one in the US and Canada.[23][27] In Australia, it peaked outside the top 40, and hit number 38 in France and the UK.[28] "I Don't Wanna Cry", the album's fourth single, also topped the charts in the United States.[23] The song became Carey's fourth chart topper in the US, finishing number 25 on Billboard's year-end chart. Aside from peaking at number two in Canada, it charted at number 49 in Australia.[29] A fifth single, "There's Got to Be a Way", was released in the United Kingdom, where it peaked at number fifty-four.[16]
In a contemporary review, Entertainment Weekly wrote that Carey possessed an "astonishing vocal range and high ideals", but criticized the album's lyrical content.[33] Robert Christgau was more critical in The Village Voice, unenthusiastically touching on the opera roots of Carey's mother while finding much of the material clueless about its love themes.[36] Jan DeKnock from the Chicago Tribune was more impressed by the album, finding it abundant with "sparkling tracks" that showcase Carey's songwriting and production talents, particularly "Vanishing".[31] Mariah Carey was nominated for the 1991 Grammy Award for Album of the Year, while "Vision of Love" received nominations in the categories of Song of the Year, Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. Carey won for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and also received the award for Best New Artist.[5] 2ff7e9595c
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