Merry Christmas

Mariah Carey’s collection of soulful, seasonal pop is filled with Motown-flavored standards, playful R&B, and choir-backed gospel ballads. Carey co-wrote the album’s centerpiece, “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.