Random J Pop playlist: Merry Christmas, from Mariah

It's easy to shit on artists when they release a Christmas album. But I imagine that they can be a sense of relief for artists when they decide to record one. They don't have to focus so much on creating new material, with 50% of the album likely to be covers of traditional Christmas songs. And the original songs they do have to write already have a set of parameters for them to work with. But as Mariah has done throughout her career, she set a standard and a precedent. When she released her Christmas album, she wrote a song that would go on to be regarded as a traditional Christmas song around the world. A feat that every pop artist, songwriter and producer would aim to strive for, to little avail. Although we have gotten some great original Christmas songs since.

Mariah released her second Christmas album Merry Christmas II you in 2010. I don't think anybody really asked for another Holiday album. But in the wake of Memoirs of an imperfect Angel failing to blow up on the Billboard chart, its remix album counterpart Angels advocate being shelved and "All I want for Christmas is you" doing better on the charts than every single that came after "Obsessed" - I guess it was to be expected that Mariah and her label would be like 'Fuck it. Let's do another Christmas album'.

Whilst we got treated to a great set of performances, televised specials and Mariah settling into her mantle as the 'Queen of Christmas' to promote the album (along with Mariah being fittingly pregnant whilst singing songs about mangers and baby Jesus); the album didn't stick around or make the cultural impact that everybody involved hoped it would in the same way its predecessor had.

Merry Christmas II you coming and going quicker than Mariah's live vocals during her 2016 New year's eve performance was a shame, because it was a really nice holiday album. One which I preferred to her first. Mariah's voice was technically outstanding on her first Chrimbo album, but there was a lack of warmth to them on many of its songs. "All I want for Christmas is you" is a classic and her cover of "O Holy night" was masterful, but there wasn't anything else of note on the album.

Merry Christmas II you on the other hand is full of warmth. And the musical direction was quite surprising, as it saw her pair up with Broadway musician Marc Shaiman for lush, gorgeous, classic sounding songs that sound like lost recordings from the 1940s. She also teamed back up with her good friends James Wright, Randy Jackson and James Poyser for bluesy / Jazz club renditions of traditional Christmas classics. "Oh Santa!", whilst a nice festive bop was not a good representation of the album at all and the same goes for "Auld lang syne", which got itself a video that looked so damn bad that it had to have been a joke that everybody was in on. Poorly chosen singles and an insistence to constantly lean on "All I want for Christmas is you" completely drew attention away from an album which featured great original songs such as "When Christmas comes", "One child" and "Christmas time is in the air again", which deserved to go down as a traditional Christmas classic.

In every interview that Mariah has done in promotion of her 15th studio album Caution she has made a point to mention Merry Christmas II you, knowing full well that it was ignored by the masses and very few outside of the Lambily knew it even existed. So I'mma spread the good Gospel in honour of a Christmas album that deserved greater recognition at a time when she's put out a studio album which likewise deserves far more recognition than it's getting.

So get in the Christmas spirit with Merry Christmas, from Mariah. A playlist which features songs from both of her holiday albums, which a heavy leaning towards the second.

🎧 Listen on Spotify: Merry Christmas, From Mariah