Mariah Carey

Worldwide success, 1993–1996

Carey, then 23, and Tommy Mottola, 43, had become romantically involved, and in June 1993 they were married in an Episcopalian ceremony followed by a lavish wedding reception in Manhattan.

Related Topics:
1993 - Episcopalian - Manhattan

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Carey's next studio album, Music Box, was released in 1993, and saw her at the apex of her popularity, becoming her largest selling LP worldwide. Lead single "Dreamlover" was her longest stayer yet at the number-one spot (eight weeks), and it was praised by Ron Wynn for its "personality and intensity"{{ref|WynnMusicBox}}. Two more of her signature songs followed: "Hero", Carey's bid to create a big inspirational ballad, became her first Christmas number-one single in the U.S. and in the years to follow became her most played recurrent single on U.S. radio, while her remake of the Harry Nillson song "Without You" went to number-one in the UK and firmly established her popularity internationally. Carey's attempt at a mellower work than her previous efforts raised eyebrows with critics; Ron Wynn said Carey "blended into the background and let the tracks guide her, instead of pushing and exploding through them", and another reviewer observed that Carey's latest sounds "seems like she was less invested in the music"{{ref|LambMusicBox}}, but the response was good overall. Stephen Holden thought the only weakness of Music Box was "Carey's lyrics, which are made up entirely of pop and soul clichés"{{ref|HoldenMusicBox}}.

Related Topics:
Music Box - Dreamlover - Signature song - Hero - Christmas - Harry Nillson - Without You

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Carey's Music Box hits, together with her duet with Luther Vandross of Diana Ross' "Endless Love", made her one of the most-played artists on the radio in 1993 and 1994. During the Christmas season of 1994, Carey released the album Merry Christmas. In addition to the expected covers of traditional Christmas songs, it contained a very successful original holiday song, "All I Want for Christmas Is You" which gained her a large fanbase in Japan and was described as "a well-crafted Phil Spector tribute" by Roch Parisien, although he dismissed the rest of the album as an "otherwise vanilla set"{{ref|ParisienMerryChristmas}}.

Related Topics:
Luther Vandross - Diana Ross - Endless Love - 1994 - Merry Christmas - All I Want for Christmas Is You - Japan - Phil Spector

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In 1995, Carey released Daydream, which combined the pop sensibilities of her previous album with modern R&B/hip-hop influences. At this time in her career, Carey realized that she had a higher potential for massive crossover hits if she employed the use of various genre-specific remixes for each single. It ended up becoming a very successful technique for her as Daydream became her largest selling LP in U.S., while its singles achieved record-breaking status: the pop/rap collaboration "Fantasy" became the second single to debut at number-one, "One Sweet Day" spent a still-record sixteen weeks at number-one, and "Always Be My Baby" not only made number-one but topped the Hot 100 year-end airplay charts in 1996. Critics such as Stephen Thomas Erlewine and Bill Lamb embraced Daydream as her finest album yet at the time{{ref|ErlewineDaydream}}{{ref|LambDaydream}}, and it was named one of the ten best albums of the year by sources such as New York Times, People, and TIME.

Related Topics:
1995 - Daydream - Fantasy - One Sweet Day - Always Be My Baby - 1996 - New York Times - People - TIME

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Carey also arranged and sung the background vocals for Babyface's top 10 single "Everytime I Close My Eyes".

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