Music Box

Music Box
Studio album by Mariah Carey
Released	August 17, 1993 (UK) August 31, 1993 (U.S.)
Recorded	1992-1993
Genre	Pop, R&B
Length	42:00 (North American edition) 47:25 (international edition) 46:19 (Latin American edition)
Label	Columbia CK-53205
Producer	Mariah Carey, Walter Afanasieff, David Cole, Robert Clivillés, Babyface
Professional reviews
About.com link Allmusic link Robert Christgau link Rolling Stone link
Mariah Carey chronology
MTV Unplugged (1992) Music Box (1993) Merry Christmas (1994)
Singles from Music Box
"Dreamlover" Released: July 27, 1993 "Hero" Released: October 19, 1993 "Without You/Never Forget You" Released: January 24, 1994 "Anytime You Need a Friend" Released: May 27, 1994

Music Box is the fourth album and third studio album by pop and R&B singer Mariah Carey. It was released by Columbia Records on August 31, 1993 in North America. The album comprises ballads primarily co-written by Carey and Walter Afanasieff - with whom she had previously worked on Emotions (1991) - and a few urban dance tracks. Other collaborators on Music Box include Babyface and Robert Clivillés/David Cole (also known as C+C Music Factory). Two unused tracks from the album sessions were released as b-sides: "Do You Think of Me" and "Everything Fades Away." To date Music Box is not only Carey's biggest selling album, but one of the top 10 best selling albums by a female artist in history, with 30 million copies sold worldwide. ^[1]

Lead single "Dreamlover" became Carey's most successful single at the time of its release when it topped the U.S. and Canadian singles charts, and Badfinger's "Without You" became her first to reach number 1 in the UK and several other countries across Europe. Carey was nominated for "Best Female Pop Vocal Performance" for "Dreamlover" at the 1994 Grammy Awards but she lost to Whitney Houston; she received the same nomination for "Hero" at the 1995 Grammy Awards but lost it again.

Reception

Music Box entered the U.S. Billboard 200 at number 2 and with 174,000 copies ascended to number 1 fifteen weeks after its release. The album's best sales week was its 15th week, during which it sold 505,000 units to settle at number 1 (December 1993), staying at the top for eight non-consecutive weeks. It remained in the top ten for thirty one weeks and on the Billboard 200 for 128 weeks (more than two years, and the most of all her albums), re-entering the chart three times. The album also reached number 1 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. Music Box was the second-best selling album in the United States in 1994, only behind Ace of Base's The Sign.

Music Box was a success in Canada but only managed to peak at number 5 despite the success of "Dreamlover." The album was a large seller elsewhere because of its singles, and it topped the charts in Australia, Germany, New Zealand, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

Music Box yielded Carey's seventh and eighth U.S. number 1 singles, "Dreamlover" and "Hero." "Dreamlover" (based around a sample of "Blind Alley" by The Emotions) spent eight weeks at number 1 and has become one of Carey's most popular songs to date; it continued the trend of Carey's debut singles from each studio album topping the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 (which lasted until the turn of the decade). "Hero" spent four weeks at number 1 and became her first Christmas number 1 single. The album's third and fourth singles, "Without You" (a cover of the Badfinger song made famous by Harry Nilsson in 1972) and "Anytime You Need a Friend" respectively, were slightly less successful in the U.S.^[2] The former did not reach number 1, but it became Carey's first single to top the UK chart, was very successful in Europe and Australia and became the biggest international hit in Mariah's career, while "Anytime You Need a Friend" failed to make the U.S. top ten (Carey's first single to do so). All four singles were top ten Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks hits, though none of them attained the number 1, making it Carey's first album without a number 1 adult contemporary hit. In Australia, the album became number 1 on ARIA 1994 End of Year Chart.^[3]

Track listing

1. "Dreamlover" (Mariah Carey, Dave Hall) - 3:54
2. "Hero" (Carey, Walter Afanasieff) - 4:20
3. "Anytime You Need a Friend" (Carey, Afanasieff) - 4:27
4. "Music Box" (Carey, Afanasieff) - 4:58
5. "Now That I Know" (Carey, David Cole, Robert Clivillés) - 4:19
6. "Never Forget You" (Carey, Babyface, Daryl Simmons) - 3:46
7. "Without You" (Peter Ham, Tom Evans) - 3:37
8. "Just To Hold You Once Again" (Carey, Afanasieff) - 3:59
9. "I've Been Thinking About You" (Carey, Cole, Clivillés) - 4:48
10. "All I've Ever Wanted" (Carey, Afanasieff) - 3:52

International edition
11. "Everything Fades Away" (Carey, Afanasieff) - 5:25

Latin American edition
11. "Héroe" (Carey, Afanasieff) - 4:19

Chart performance

References