Mariah Carey’s collection of soulful, seasonal pop is filled with Motown-flavoured standards, playful R&B and choir-backed gospel ballads. Carey co-wrote the album’s centrepiece, “All I Want for Christmas is You”, with longtime collaborator Walter Afanasieff, whose production uses a prancing beat, jangling sleigh bells and sugar-sweet harmonies to evoke the feel of 1963’s A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector.