Merry Christmas II You

Mariah Carey released her second Christmas album, Merry Christmas II You, on November 1, 2010. The album debuted at number four on the Billboard 200 chart after selling 56,000 copies and was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America on January 11, 2011. Merry Christmas II You reached the top spot on the R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, making it the second Christmas album to ever reach number one.

The album features eight traditional holiday songs, four new original songs, a re-recorded version of Mariah's massive 1994 hit “All I Want For Christmas Is You” and the live version of “O Holy Night” at the Westminister Presbyterian Church of Los Angeles. For the album, Mariah collaborated with producers Randy Jackson, Jermaine Dupri, James Poyser and Marc Shaiman. “This album is a labor of love — a gift to those who share my excitement about the Christmas season and want to fill this special time of year with heartwarming, festive and uplifting music,” Mariah explained. “I was inspired by the traditional tunes of Nat King Cole and Bing Crosby — I really love those albums. I also enjoyed the festive-sounding ones like those by The Jackson 5. As a result, there are different influences in this album. I also wanted it to be like ‘Part 2’ of the Merry Christmas album. I wanted to keep it classic, traditional, festive and happy and have a warm feeling for the holidays so people will love it. In the spirit of classic Christmas records made in the 1950s, we had a huge orchestra session, and I've never experienced anything so beautiful and rich in my musical career as being in the room listening to the lush orchestral moments.”

“Oh Santa!” was released as the album's first single on October 1, 2010. “‘Oh Santa!’ is a new song that I wrote with my friend Jermaine Dupri and also our friend Bryan Michael-Cox, who works with both of us, we sat in a room and I just came in with a basic idea for how I wanted the beat to be and I kinda knew I wanted it to be like writing a letter to Santa Claus,” Mariah said about the song. “It's hard when you've already written a Christmas ‘classic.’ It's weird for me to say it but it's true 'cause a lot of people have grown up with the song and feel really close to ‘All I Want for Christmas Is You.’ But ‘Oh Santa!’ is a different song, it's just got sort of a similar feeling but it's like a retro '60s type of feeling but still modern. We wanted to keep it really simple in terms of the music.” “Oh Santa!” debuted at number one on Billboard's Holiday Digital Songs chart and became Mariah's forty-third Hot 100 entry, peaking at number one-hundred during the week of January 1, 2011. “Oh Santa!” made its debut at number twelve on Billboard's Adult Contemporary Songs chart and reached the top spot the following week, marking the quickest ascent to the peak position in the chart's history.

Another original song on the album is “When Christmas Comes,” written with James Poyser of The Roots. “He's an incredible musician,” Mariah explained. “We got together and I wanted everything in this album to feel classic, to feel festive and timeless. It has a 1970s soul.” A new version of the song featuring singer John Legend was released on November 21, 2011. “The duet that I did with John Legend was so much fun, we had the best time,” Mariah told VEVO in 2011. “To hear his voice and the choices that he made, I feel that he really took it up several notches. I just love what he gave to the song, I feel like he gave so much of himself to the song.”

The album includes a duet with Mariah's mother Patricia on “O Come All Ye Faithful / Hallelujah Chorus.” “Many people already know that my mother is a trained opera singer, so I guess it was only a matter of time before we both got onto a record together,” Mariah explained in 2010. “Doing ‘O Come All Ye Faithful’ and the ‘Hallelujah’ chorus seemed like a perfect vehicle for both of our voices, which are very different in terms of style. It was a lovely experience being in the studio together and I'm very happy that I have this documented for the rest of my life.”

The new version of “All I Want For Christmas Is You” was arranged by March Shaiman. “When I decided to re-do it. I realized that most people love the original. So I asked Marc to do something beautiful for the introduction of the song,” Mariah explained. “We cut the entire track and put it on live instrumentation as opposed to programmed music. It's essentially the same track, but we re-did it from scratch so theres a bit more soul because live music cuts everything from the beginning. Even the piano is more ‘sober’ towards the end. I even brought back some of the girls who sang backup in the original. One of them is Melonie Daniels, who is a fantastic singer. I'm glad I re-did ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ because I think it really enhanced this album.”

Mariah Carey - Merry Christmas II You - Publicity Photos — Publicity Photos

Mariah Carey - Merry Christmas II You - Booklet — Booklet

Tracklist

Track #	Song	Run time
1	Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town Intro Written by J. Fred Coots, Haven Gillespie. Produced by Mariah Carey and Marc Shaiman.	0:22
2	Oh Santa! Written by Mariah Carey, Jermaine Dupri, Bryan-Michael Cox. Produced by Mariah Carey, Jermaine Dupri and Bryan-Michael Cox.	3:31
3	O Little Town Of Bethlehem / Little Drummer Boy Medley Written by Phillips Brooks, Lewis H. Redner / Katherine Davis, Henry Onorati, Harry Simeone. Produced by Mariah Carey, James “Big Jim” Wright, Randy Jackson.	3:32
4	Christmas Time Is In The Air Again Written by Mariah Carey, Marc Shaiman. Produced by Mariah Carey and Marc Shaiman.	3:02
5	The First Noel / Born Is The King Interlude — Traditional — Produced by Mariah Carey, James “Big Jim” Wright and Randy Jackson.	4:32
6	When Christmas Comes Written by Mariah Carey, James Poyser. Produced by Mariah Carey and James Poyser.	4:46
7	Here Comes Santa Claus (Right Down Santa Claus Lane) Written by Gene Autry, Oakley Haldeman. Produced by Mariah Carey, Jermaine Dupri and Bryan-Michael Cox.	3:29
8	Charlie Brown Christmas Written by Vince Guaraldi, Lee Mendelson. Produced by Mariah Carey, James “Big Jim” Wright and Randy Jackson.	2:49
9	O Come All Ye Faithful / Hallelujah Chorus (feat. Patricia Carey) — Traditional — / George Frideric Handel. Produced by Mariah Carey, James “Big Jim” Wright and Randy Jackson.	3:38
10	O Holy Night - Live From WPC In South Central LA — Traditional — Produced by Walter Afanasieff and Mariah Carey.	5:00
11	One Child Written by Mariah Carey, Marc Shaiman. Produced by Mariah Carey and Marc Shaiman.	4:25
12	All I Want For Christmas Is You - Extra Festive Written by Mariah Carey, Walter Afanasieff. Produced by Mariah Carey, James “Big Jim” Wright and Randy Jackson.	4:02
13	Auld Lang Syne - The New Year's Anthem Written by Robert Burns. Produced by Mariah Carey, Randy Jackson and Johnny “Sev” Severin.	3:47
Bonus	Oh Santa! - Jump Smokers Remix Written by Mariah Carey, Jermaine Dupri, Bryan-Michael Cox. Produced by Jump Smokers.	3:53

Releases

Original Release

In The United States, Merry Christmas II You was available on CD, while the special CD+DVD edition was sold exclusively by HSN, including a bonus 30-minute DVD with behind-the-scenes footage of the recording of the album, candid interviews, footage of the album photo shoot with photographer David LaChapelle, interviews with Mariah's mother Patricia and composer Marc Shaiman, and pictures from Mariah's personal photo holiday collection.

Europe got two editions of Merry Christmas II You, the standard CD edition and a CD + DVD combo. The Japanese edition of Merry Christmas II You, available on both CD and CD+DVD, includes the Jump Smokers remix of “Oh Santa!” as a bonus track.

Mariah Carey - Merry Christmas II You - CD (United States) — CD
USA Edition

Mariah Carey - Merry Christmas II You - CD (Europe) — CD
Europe Edition

Mariah Carey - Merry Christmas II You - CD (Japan) — CD
Japan Edition

CD+DVD Edition

In The United States, the special CD+DVD edition was sold exclusively by HSN, including a bonus 30-minute DVD with behind-the-scenes footage of the recording of the album, candid interviews, footage of the album photo shoot with photographer David LaChapelle, interviews with Mariah's mother Patricia and composer Marc Shaiman, and pictures from Mariah's personal photo holiday collection.

Europe got two editions of Merry Christmas II You, the standard CD edition and a CD + DVD combo. The Japanese edition of Merry Christmas II You, available on both CD and CD+DVD, includes the Jump Smokers remix of “Oh Santa!” as a bonus track.

Mariah Carey - Merry Christmas II You - CD+DVD (United States) - HSN Exclusive — CD+DVD
HSN Exclusive Edition

Mariah Carey - Merry Christmas II You - CD+DVD (Europe) — CD+DVD
Europe Edition

Mariah Carey - Merry Christmas II You - CD+DVD (Japan) — CD+DVD
Japan Edition

Special Editions

A Limited Edition Collector's Box Set was released in a special holiday gift box containing Mariah's Christmas photo album — with photos of Mariah's personal Christmas memories, a butterfly Christmas ornament and special Mariah gift tags. US retailer Target released an exclusive edition of the album which includes four Mariah-themed Christmas cards, a butterfly Christmas ornament and a free sample of Mariah's fragrance, Forever.