Critical Reception
"Vision of Love" has been lauded by contemporary music critics for its lyrical content, vocals, and use of melisma. In a retrospective review on the album in 2005, Entertainment Weekly called the song "inspired" and complimented Carey's use of the whistle register in the song. In 2006, Sasha Frere-Jones from The New Yorker named the song "the Magna Carta of melisma" for it and Carey's influence on pop and R&B singers and American Idol contestants. Additionally, Rolling Stone said that "the fluttering strings of notes that decorate songs like "Vision of Love", inspired the entire American Idol vocal school, for better or worse, and virtually every other female R&B singer since the nineties." Slant Magazine critic Rich Juzwiak, wrote "I think was a vision of the future world of American Idol." In a separate review from Slant, RJ wrote "The last half of "Vision Of Love" (starting with the belted bridge) is a series of crescendos that get so intense that another Mariah has to step in to keep up the momentum." Additionally, RJ complimented the usage of the whistle register in the song "And then there's the whistle note. And then there's the final vocal run that's more like a roller-coaster track. If you think these aren't climaxes, she proves you wrong with her denouement, the way the last word, "be," sort of wanes into an "mm hmm hmm." Bill Lamb from About.com said that "'Vision of Love' is one of the best songs of Mariah's recording career It is simply one of the most stunning debut releases ever by a pop recording artist."
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