Merry Christmas II You is the thirteenth studio album and second Christmas album by American singer-songwriter Mariah Carey. It was released by Island Records on November 2, 2010. Recording began in April 2010 and continued while Carey became pregnant. She was the executive producer of Merry Christmas II You and worked with various record producers, including Bryan-Michael Cox, Jermaine Dupri, Randy Jackson, James Poyser, Marc Shaiman, James "Big Jim" Wright and Johnny "Sev" Severin of RedOne. The album features Carey's mother Patricia Carey as a guest vocalist on "O Come All Ye Faithful" / "Hallelujah Chorus". The album serves as a sequel to her fourth studio album Merry Christmas (1994). It is composed of original songs and covers, ballads and uptempo tracks, incorporating R&B, soul, and house music in its composition.
The album received mixed reviews from music critics, who complimented its relaxed yet lively and contemporary feel, while others felt it was predictable and too overproduced in places. It debuted at number four on the US Billboard 200 chart, and reached number one on both the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and Top Holiday Albums charts. It was later certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), denoting shipments exceeding 500,000 copies. Elsewhere, however, the album was a moderate success, reaching the top-ten in South Korea and Taiwan; the top-twenty in Canada and Hong Kong; the top-thirty in Australia, Hungary and Japan; and the top-forty in Sweden. It missed out on the top 100 in the United Kingdom by one position, peaking at number 101 on the albums chart.
The album produced three singles, including the US Adult Contemporary record-breaking song "Oh Santa!". It reached number-one in its second week, the quickest ascent in the history of the chart and the only song to do so. Other singles included "Auld Lang Syne (The New Year's Anthem)", a single release version of "When Christmas Comes" in 2011 with John Legend and the promotional "Christmas Time Is in the Air Again" in 2012. To support the album, Carey made promotional appearances on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and Lopez Tonight, and hosted her own television special called Mariah Carey: Merry Christmas to You.
Background and production
Mariah Carey's twelfth studio album, Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel, was released in 2009. It produced the US Billboard Hot 100 top ten and platinum certified track "Obsessed". However, subsequent single releases failed to replicate its success, with "I Want to Know What Love Is" peaking at number 60 on the Hot 100, and "H.A.T.E.U." reaching number 72 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Carey revealed that she intended to re-release Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel as a remix album in early 2010, titled Angels Advocate, which would consist of remixes of the standard songs with new featured artists, including Mary J. Blige, Snoop Dogg, Trey Songz, R. Kelly, T-Pain, Gucci Mane and OJ da Juiceman. A release date of February 23, 2010, was slated, and then pushed back to March 9. It was then further pushed back to March 30. "Angels Cry" and "Up Out My Face" from Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel were released as remixes with Ne-Yo featuring on the former and Nicki Minaj on the latter. However, it was confirmed in March 2010 that production of Angels Advocate had been halted and the project was shelved indefinitely. Carey's record label Island Def Jam stated that the singer was instead working on a new project and "new surprises". Metro revealed that Carey was either recording a new studio album or possibly a Christmas album.
In an interview for Rap-Up in April 2010, Jermaine Dupri said that he and Carey had already begun working on new songs, stating "The song of the decade crew is back in the lab. This [is] the first day of the new shit." On April 24, David LaChapelle said that he had shot the album artwork with fake snow and wooden cutout reindeers, thus confirming that the project was a Christmas album. On May 5, Dupri confirmed that he and Carey were in the early stages of production for the album, that Bryan-Michael Cox and Johntá Austin were involved in the project and that they hoped to release a single by the end of the year. On September 1, 2010, Rap-Up exclusively revealed the title of the album, Merry Christmas II You, and that it would be released on November 2 with original songs as well as covers. The II represents being a sequel to Carey's first Christmas album, Merry Christmas (1994).