Merry Christmas II You
Encyclopedia
Merry Christmas II You is the thirteenth studio album
Studio album
A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...

 and second Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...

 album by American singer Mariah Carey
Mariah Carey
Mariah Carey is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. She made her recording debut with the release of her eponymous studio album in 1990, under the guidance of Columbia Records executive Tommy Mottola, whom she later married in 1993...

. The album was released on November 2, 2010 and features four original songs, all-time Christmas classics and a re-recorded version of her 1994 Christmas hit "All I Want for Christmas Is You".

Background and production

After the cancellation of Carey's thirteenth studio album/second remix album Angels Advocate, speculation began to shift onto an alleged Christmas album. Fashion photographer David LaChapelle told The Times on April 24, 2010 that he shot the Christmas album's artwork, thus confirming that Carey was indeed planning to release her second holiday album. It was revealed that long-time collaborators for the project include Jermaine Dupri, Bryan-Michael Cox, Johntá Austin and Randy Jackson. Roger Friedman of Showbiz 411
Showbiz 411
Showbiz 411.com is an American, entertainment industry news website, created and edited by Roger Friedman. Showbiz 411 started on The Hollywood Reporter website....

 said about the album, "Anyway, Mariah's Christmas album is said to be very lush, with lots of strings and no hip hop. A lot of it is said to be 'live' and there's an orchestra. So let's chew on that news, and calm down about the other. And believe me, she won't be announcing anything at Radar Online owned by the National Enquirer. That won't be happening!"

It was later announced that Carey had worked with Broadway collaborator Marc Shaiman
Marc Shaiman
Marc Shaiman is an American composer, lyricist, arranger, and performer for films, television, and theatre. He is perhaps best known for writing the music and co-writing the lyrics for the Broadway musical version of the cult John Waters film Hairspray, for which Shaiman won Tony and Grammy...

, with Carey saying that he was her favorite collaborator since her days with Walter Afanasieff. During a press conference in Seoul, South Korea, in August 2010, Island Def Jam executive Matt Voss announced that the Christmas album would be out on November 2. Several days later, the album's title was revealed. The II represents the follow-up to 1994's multi-platinum Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas (Mariah Carey album)
Merry Christmas is a holiday album and fourth studio album by American singer Mariah Carey. Released by Columbia Records on November 1, 1994, the album features both cover versions of popular Christmas tunes, including some original material...

 album. An accompanying DVD will also be released. Three track titles have been passed around the web; Bryan-Michael Cox confirmed through ustream
Ustream
Ustream is a website which consists of a network of diverse channels providing a platform for lifecasting and live video streaming of events online. Established in March 2007, the site has over 2,000,000 registered users who generate 1,500,000+ hours of live streamed content per month with over ten...

 that a track named "Oh Santa!
Oh Santa!
"Oh Santa!" is a pop song by American singer-songwriter Mariah Carey. It was released by Island Records on October 11, 2010 as the lead single from her second Christmas album, Merry Christmas II You . The song was co-written and co-produced by Carey, Jermaine Dupri and Bryan-Michael Cox...

" had been recorded. This will serve as the album's lead single. The song premiered on AOL Music on October 1, 2010.

In November 2011 in an interview with Extra, She Stated that she wanted to re-release the album containing festive collaborations with Justin Bieber and John Legend.

Promotion

On October 20, 2010 Mariah appeared on HSN
Home Shopping Network
Home Shopping Network or HSN began in 1977 as a 24-hour/7 day a week home shopping television network televised via cable, satellite, and some terrestrial channels in the Philippines. HSN can also be shopped online at hsn.com...

 for an interview about the album and she previewed six tracks from the album. On November 1, 2010, Mariah made a pre-recorded guest appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show
The Ellen DeGeneres Show
The Ellen DeGeneres Show, often shortened to Ellen, is an American television talk show hosted by comedian/actress Ellen DeGeneres. Debuting on September 8, 2003, it is produced by Telepictures and airs in syndication, including stations owned by NBC Universal. For its first five seasons, the show...

 to talk about her pregnancy and album which aired on November 2, 2010. On November 2, 2010, Carey also appeared on Lopez Tonight
Lopez Tonight
Lopez Tonight was an American late-night television talk show hosted by comedian George Lopez. The hour-long program premiered on November 9, 2009, on cable network TBS. Lopez was the first Mexican American to host a late-night talk show on an English-language network in the United States. The...

. On 19 November Mariah recorded a performance of "Oh Santa!" for NBC Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Lighting which was shown on November 30. Carey made various television appearances throughout December to promote the album. She starred in ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

's Mariah Carey: Merry Christmas to You special, which aired on December 13 at 9/8c. Mariah also performed at the "Christmas In Washington" special on TNT to air on 12/17. On December 25, she was featured performing the song throughout the day on ESPN and ABC, first on ABC's Walt Disney World Christmas Day Parade
Walt Disney World Christmas Day Parade
The Disney Parks Christmas Day Parade is an American television special that airs on Christmas Day on the ABC, taped primarily inside the Magic Kingdom theme park at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida, approximately one month prior to Christmas Day...

 special, then in a music video promoting the day's NBA games on both networks.

Singles

"Oh Santa!
Oh Santa!
"Oh Santa!" is a pop song by American singer-songwriter Mariah Carey. It was released by Island Records on October 11, 2010 as the lead single from her second Christmas album, Merry Christmas II You . The song was co-written and co-produced by Carey, Jermaine Dupri and Bryan-Michael Cox...

" is the lead single from the Christmas album. The song is written by Jermaine Dupri
Jermaine Dupri
Jermaine Dupri Mauldin , known as Jermaine Dupri or JD, is an American record producer, songwriter and rapper.- Early life and career :...

, Bryan-Michael Cox and Carey herself. The song premiered on AOL Music on October 1, 2010. It has been sent to radios and made available for digital downloads since October 11, 2010. For the week ending December 11, 2010, "Oh Santa!" debuted at number twelve on Billboards Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart, becoming Carey's highest debut on that chart in her 20-year career. The song jumped to number one on the Adult Contemporary chart the following week, making it the fastest rise to number one in that chart's history. On November 5, 2010, "All I Want for Christmas Is You (Extra Festive)" was released as a single to several digital stores. During an interview with USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...

, Carey confirmed that she had recorded the video to "O Come All Ye Faithful." The video premiered November 16, 2010. An EP with nine remixes for the song "Auld Lang Syne (The New Year's Anthem)
Auld Lang Syne
"Auld Lang Syne" is a Scots poem written by Robert Burns in 1788 and set to the tune of a traditional folk song . It is well known in many countries, especially in the English-speaking world; its traditional use being to celebrate the start of the New Year at the stroke of midnight...

" was released December 14, 2010. The video for the song was released the day after. "When Christmas Comes" was re-worked into a duet with John Legend
John Legend
John Roger Stephens , better known by his stage name John Legend, is an American singer, musician, and actor. He is the recipient of nine Grammy Awards, and in 2007, he received the special Starlight award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame.Prior to the release of his debut album, Stephens' career...

. It was released as a digital download on November 21, 2011. It was sent to Urban radio on the same day. The music video for "When Christmas Comes" was filmed in November 2011.

Critical reception

At Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...

, which assigns a normalized
Standard score
In statistics, a standard score indicates how many standard deviations an observation or datum is above or below the mean. It is a dimensionless quantity derived by subtracting the population mean from an individual raw score and then dividing the difference by the population standard deviation...

 rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average
Weighted mean
The weighted mean is similar to an arithmetic mean , where instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others...

 score of 60, based on 8 reviews, which indicates "mixed or average".

Both Allmusic and Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...

 gave the album three stars, with Caryn Ganz of Rolling Stone writing "Sixteen years have passed since Mariah Carey released her first blockbuster holiday album, but she hasn't lost her desire to dress up in a Santa suit or the silky flexibility of her voice...Half of the disc's new originals are ballads [and] thick with gooey orchestration... but Mariah bops to a schoolyard-chant beat on "Oh Santa!" and digs out a retro groove for "When Christmas Comes." Ganz concluded that although some songs on the album are lacking, "the LP's warm heart is in the right place." Eric Henderson of Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine is an online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York Film Festival.- History :...

 gave the album a mixed review, calling the album "adventureless", he wrote, "Aside from a few tracks co-produced by Jermaine Dupri, Carey's notions of what a holiday album is are exactly as they were 16 years ago. Ditch the hip-hop beats, heap on the figgy
Figgy pudding
Figgy pudding is a pudding resembling something like a white Christmas pudding containing figs. The pudding may be baked, steamed in the oven, boiled or fried.The history of figgy pudding dates back to 16th century England...

 orchestral pudding. Pass those synthesizers to the left, gather around the brass section and the little drummer boy." Sean Fennessey of The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...

 also gave a mixed critical reception to the album. Comparing the album to Carey's 1994's Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas (Mariah Carey album)
Merry Christmas is a holiday album and fourth studio album by American singer Mariah Carey. Released by Columbia Records on November 1, 1994, the album features both cover versions of popular Christmas tunes, including some original material...

, Fennessey suggested that, while Merry Christmas II You sees the "return [of] her piercing, five-octave vocal range to its glossy, meretricious roots", none of the new songs are as exciting or timeless as "All I Want for Christmas Is You".
The album got 4 out of 5 stars from About.com, with reviewer Bill Lamb describing the album as "relaxed [and] comfortable", and, consequently, "very engaging." Lamb continues, "Some of the best moments evoke a party atmosphere. 'Oh Santa!' is perfect music for a party with friends. Don't be surprised if you find yourself singing along. Mariah Carey's version of music from 'A Charlie Brown Christmas' has an air of relaxed intimacy with breathy, jazzy vocals that will warm your holiday heart. The live version of 'O Holy Night' from WPC in south central Los Angeles will cause chills in its live simplicity. It is an opportunity to hear Mariah Carey tackle some deeper, throatier tones."

The Houston Chronicle
Houston Chronicle
The Houston Chronicle is the largest daily newspaper in Texas, USA, headquartered in the Houston Chronicle Building in Downtown Houston. , it is the ninth-largest newspaper by circulation in the United States...

 gave Merry Christmas II You three stars out of four, lauding the singer's vocal form on the album. Joey Guerra writes, "Carey sounds better than she has in a long time throughout Merry Christmas II You, which keeps her in a swirl of gospel choruses and lush production. Her belting is strong, and she doesn't overdo the breathy coos." Guerra also had strong praises for a number of songs, calling "Oh Santa!" "irresistible", and writing, "'Christmas Time Is in the Air Again' boasts swooping notes and tasteful strings, and 'When Christmas Comes' plays like a holiday spin on the brassy R&B tunes that highlighted Carey's The Emancipation of Mimi
The Emancipation of Mimi
The Emancipation of Mimi is the tenth studio album by American recording artist Mariah Carey, released in the United States on April 12, 2005, by Island Records. Following the relatively poor critical and commercial responses to her albums, Glitter and Charmbracelet , The Emancipation of Mimi...

 disc... The solemn 'One Child' sounds a bit like a Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...

 tune (complete with kid chorus). It's a bit overwrought, but it's hard not to be swayed by the sweetness." The reviewer concluded that "Merry Christmas II You should boost the singer's career."

Chart performance

In its opening week in the United States, the album debuted at #4 on the Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...

 with sales of 56,000 copies, surpassing the opening week sales of Carey's previous holiday album Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas (Mariah Carey album)
Merry Christmas is a holiday album and fourth studio album by American singer Mariah Carey. Released by Columbia Records on November 1, 1994, the album features both cover versions of popular Christmas tunes, including some original material...

 of 45,000 copies 16 years prior, and making Merry Christmas II You Carey's 16th top 10 album. The album also debuted at #1 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Albums
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a chart published by Billboard magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The name of the chart was changed from Top R&B Albums in 1999...

 chart, making it only the second Christmas album to top this chart, and also hit number #1 on the Holiday Albums Chart. The album has sold 450,000 copies in the United States. On January 11, 2011, Merry Christmas II You was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...

 (RIAA), denoting shipments of 500,000 units.

Track listing

Formats

  • CD – 13 track edition.
  • CD (Japan & Asia) – 13 tracks + "Oh Santa! (Jump Smokers Remix)".
  • 2 Disc – CD + DVD of interviews and footage exclusive to Home Shopping Network
    Home Shopping Network
    Home Shopping Network or HSN began in 1977 as a 24-hour/7 day a week home shopping television network televised via cable, satellite, and some terrestrial channels in the Philippines. HSN can also be shopped online at hsn.com...

     in the United States.
  • Digital download – 13 tracks.
  • Digital download (Amazon MP3
    Amazon MP3
    Amazon MP3 is an online music store owned and operated by Amazon.com. Launched in public beta on September 25, 2007, in January 2008 it became the first music store to sell music without digital rights management from the four major music labels , as well as many independents...

     exclusive) – 13 tracks plus "Oh Santa! (Low Sunday Edit)".
  • Collectors Edition – Comes packaged in a silver box containing sticker tag sheet, 40-page hardback photo album and collectable butterfly ornament.
  • Wal-Mart
    Wal-Mart
    Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. , branded as Walmart since 2008 and Wal-Mart before then, is an American public multinational corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company is the world's 18th largest public corporation, according to the Forbes Global 2000...

     Deluxe Edition – Comes with Die-cut butterfly ornament and five holiday postcards.

2012 Deluxe Edition

A deluxe edition of the album will be released in the Christmas season of 2012.

Charts

Chart (2010) Peak
position
Australian Albums Chart
ARIA Charts
The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June...

27
Austrian Albums Chart 45
Belgian Albums Chart
Ultratop
Ultratop is an organization which generates and publishes the official record charts in Belgium, and it is also the name of most of those charts...

 (Flanders)
87
Belgian Albums Chart
Ultratop
Ultratop is an organization which generates and publishes the official record charts in Belgium, and it is also the name of most of those charts...

 (Wallonia)
85
Canadian Albums Chart
Canadian Recording Industry Association
Music Canada is a Toronto-based, non-profit trade organization that was founded 9 April 1963 to represent the interests of companies that record, artists, manufacture, production, promotion and distribution of music in Canada...

14
Dutch Albums Chart
MegaCharts
MegaCharts is responsible for the composition and exploitation of a broad collection of official charts in the Netherlands, of which the Mega Top 50 and the Mega Album Top 100 are the most known ones. Mega Charts also provides information to the Stichting Nederlandse Top 40, of which the Dutch Top...

52
French Albums Chart
Syndicat National de l'Edition Phonographique
The Syndicat national de l'édition phonographique is the inter-professional organization which protects the interests of the French record industry...

82
German Albums Chart
Media Control Charts
The official music charts in Germany are gathered and published by the company Media Control GfK International on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie...

77
Greek Albums Chart
IFPI Greece
International Federation of the Phonographic Industry Greece or IFPI Greece is the Greek branch of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry and is the official charts provider and recording sales certification body for Greece. Currently two charts are compiled, one for sales of...

57
Hungarian Albums Chart
Mahasz
Mahasz is the Hungarian music industry association, founded in 1992. Mahasz hands out the Hungarian Music Awards and maintains the music charts for Hungary....

30
Italian Albums Chart
Federation of the Italian Music Industry
The Federation of the Italian Music Industry is an umbrella organization that keeps track of virtually all aspects of the music recording industry in Italy....

41
Japanese Albums Chart
Oricon
, established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan. It started as , which was founded by Sōkō Koike in November 1967 and became known for its music charts. Oricon Inc...

24
Spanish Albums Chart 56
Swedish Albums Chart 40
UK Albums Chart
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...

101
U.S. Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...

4
U.S. R&B/Hip-Hop Albums
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a chart published by Billboard magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The name of the chart was changed from Top R&B Albums in 1999...

1
U.S. Holiday Albums 1

Certifications

{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Region (Provider)
!Certification
Music recording sales certification
Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...


(sales thresholds)
|-
|United States (RIAA
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...

)

|Gold
|-

Release history

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Country
! Date
! Format
! Label
! Catalogue
|-
|Czech Republic
|November 15, 2010
|CD, digital download
|rowspan="2"|Universal Music
Universal Music Group
Universal Music Group is an American music group, the largest of the "big four" record companies by its commanding market share and its multitude of global operations...


|602527498034
|-
|Norway
|November 1, 2010
|Standard Edition (CD, digital download)
|
|-
|rowspan="3"|United States
|rowspan="4"|November 2, 2010
|Standard Edition (CD, digital download)
|rowspan="3"|Island Records
Island Records
Island Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group...


|
|-
|Deluxe Edition (CD + DVD)
|
|-
|Collectors Edition
|602527516899
|-
|Canada
|rowspan="12"|CD, digital download
|rowspan="6"|Universal Music
|
|-
|Sweden
|November 3, 2010
|
|-
|New Zealand
|November 8, 2010
|
|-
|Australia
|November 12, 2010
|
|-
|Poland
|November 12, 2010 [CD + DVD]
|
|-
|Mexico
|rowspan="4"|November 15, 2010
|602527498034
|-
|United Kingdom
|Mercury Records
Mercury Records
Mercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal...


|2749803
|-
|France
|rowspan="7"|Universal Music
|
|-
|Spain
|
|-
|Brazil
|November 16, 2010
|602527498034
|-
|Japan
|November 17, 2010
|UICL1107
|-
|Germany
|November 26, 2010
|
|-
|Argentina
|November 26, 2010
|CD
|
|-
|Taiwan
|November 12, 2010
|Standard Edition, Deluxe Edition
|2749803, 2754330
|}
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