All I Want For Christmas Is You (Mariah Carey Song) - Background and Writing

Background and Writing

After a string of commercially successful albums, Carey's label Columbia Records began exercising the idea of the singer releasing a Christmas album. They felt that up until that point, Carey had been viewed as a pop singer. With the record, Columbia intended to broaden Carey's target market, and have her perceived more as an entertainer, not just a singer. Having been brought up as Christian and always celebrating Christmas, she agreed to create a holiday-themed album. With Walter Afanasieff, Carey co-wrote "All I Want for Christmas Is You" while recording the album in mid-1994. In an interview, Carey explained the inspiration behind the song:

I'm a very festive person and I love the holidays. I've sung Christmas songs since I was a little girl. I used to go Christmas caroling. When it came to the album, we had to have a nice balance between standard Christian hymns and fun songs. It was definitely a priority for me to write at least a few new songs, but for the most part people really want to hear the standards at Christmas time, no matter how good a new song is.

Ostensibly, the song was inspired by Carey's romantic sentiments toward her then-husband Tommy Mottola. After the album's release, many promotional singles were released; while other songs were sent to Christian airplay radio stations, "All I Want for Christmas Is You" was sent to pop and Top 40 channels. Author Chris Nickson described the song as "fun and mellow", and he felt its uptempo beat contrasted with the album's strong religious theme, broadening the album's appeal to teenage audiences.