Recent from talks
Vision of Love
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Vision of Love
"Vision of Love" is the debut single by the American singer-songwriter Mariah Carey, released on May 15, 1990, for her first album Mariah Carey. It was written by Carey and Ben Margulies, and produced by Rhett Lawrence and Narada Michael Walden through Columbia Records. The slow dance song introduces her whistle register vocal embellishments. The lyrics of the song represent her past life filled with "alienation", and how she had dreamed of achieving her triumph over adversity up to the moment when it finally came to fruition as the "vision of love" that she had always believed in.
"Vision of Love" received universal acclaim from music critics, being praised for Carey's showy vocals and her wide singing range. It has been credited with popularizing the use of melisma in contemporary popular music and for inspiring several artists to pursue a music career. The New Yorker named "Vision of Love" the "Magna Carta of melisma" for its 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." The song topped the singles charts in Canada, New Zealand, and the United States, where it spent four weeks atop the chart.
The accompanying music video for "Vision of Love" was filmed in April 1990. It features Carey in a large cathedral, where she meditates and sings by a large picture window. "Vision of Love" was performed on several television and award show ceremonies, such as The Arsenio Hall Show, Good Morning America, Saturday Night Live, and the 33rd Annual Grammy Awards. It has been performed at almost every one of Carey's concerts and tours, and is featured on Carey's live album MTV Unplugged (1992) and on many of her compilation albums including #1's (1998), Greatest Hits (2001) and The Ballads (2008).
Throughout 1986, Carey had already begun writing music while in high school. After composing a song with her friend Gavin Christopher (of "Once You Get Started" fame), Carey met drummer and songwriter Ben Margulies. After initially meeting and becoming friends, the pair began spending time in his father's old studio, writing material and composing new songs. The first song they compiled together was titled "Here We Go Around Again." As the year wore on, they had composed seven songs for Carey's demo tape; among them was the rough and unfinished version of "Vision of Love". In an interview with Fred Bronson, Carey described how she met and came to work with Margulies:
"We needed someone to play keyboards for a song I did with Gavin Christopher. We called someone and he couldn't come, so by accident we stumbled on Ben. Ben came to the session, and he can't really play keyboards very well—he's really more of a drummer—but after that day, we kept in touch, and we just sort of clicked as writers.
After meeting Brenda K. Starr and being introduced to Tommy Mottola, the future head of Sony Music Entertainment (as well as Carey's future husband), the song was re-done in a professional studio, with the assistance of two producers. Carey flew to Los Angeles to work with Rhett Lawrence, one of the album's main producers. After hearing the original version of the song, Lawrence described it as having a "'50s sort of shuffle." After Carey agreed to alter the song, Lawrence contemporized its tempo. "Vision of Love" was recorded at the Skyline Studios in New York, and featured Lawrence at the keyboard, Margulies on the drums, bassist Marcus Miller, drum programmer Ren Klyce and guitarist Jimmy Ripp. Lawrence took Carey's vocals from the original demo version, and used them as background vocals for the song's final version. After adding different instrumentation to the song, Lawrence and Narada Michael Walden produced "Vision of Love."
"Vision of Love" is a pop and R&B love song with gospel and soul influences. It incorporates heavy backup vocals during the song's bridge and features usage of Carey's whistle register and melisma. Author Chris Nickson described the song and its vocals:
"['Vision of Love'] was the perfect introduction to her voice. With an ideal slow-dancing tempo, it still managed to swing, with Mariah's background vocals (herself multi-tracked) answering her lead. On the final chorus, her voice flew towards those trademark high notes before the instruments drop out, leaving Mariah to sing her way out to the tune's climax alone."
Hub AI
Vision of Love AI simulator
(@Vision of Love_simulator)
Vision of Love
"Vision of Love" is the debut single by the American singer-songwriter Mariah Carey, released on May 15, 1990, for her first album Mariah Carey. It was written by Carey and Ben Margulies, and produced by Rhett Lawrence and Narada Michael Walden through Columbia Records. The slow dance song introduces her whistle register vocal embellishments. The lyrics of the song represent her past life filled with "alienation", and how she had dreamed of achieving her triumph over adversity up to the moment when it finally came to fruition as the "vision of love" that she had always believed in.
"Vision of Love" received universal acclaim from music critics, being praised for Carey's showy vocals and her wide singing range. It has been credited with popularizing the use of melisma in contemporary popular music and for inspiring several artists to pursue a music career. The New Yorker named "Vision of Love" the "Magna Carta of melisma" for its 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." The song topped the singles charts in Canada, New Zealand, and the United States, where it spent four weeks atop the chart.
The accompanying music video for "Vision of Love" was filmed in April 1990. It features Carey in a large cathedral, where she meditates and sings by a large picture window. "Vision of Love" was performed on several television and award show ceremonies, such as The Arsenio Hall Show, Good Morning America, Saturday Night Live, and the 33rd Annual Grammy Awards. It has been performed at almost every one of Carey's concerts and tours, and is featured on Carey's live album MTV Unplugged (1992) and on many of her compilation albums including #1's (1998), Greatest Hits (2001) and The Ballads (2008).
Throughout 1986, Carey had already begun writing music while in high school. After composing a song with her friend Gavin Christopher (of "Once You Get Started" fame), Carey met drummer and songwriter Ben Margulies. After initially meeting and becoming friends, the pair began spending time in his father's old studio, writing material and composing new songs. The first song they compiled together was titled "Here We Go Around Again." As the year wore on, they had composed seven songs for Carey's demo tape; among them was the rough and unfinished version of "Vision of Love". In an interview with Fred Bronson, Carey described how she met and came to work with Margulies:
"We needed someone to play keyboards for a song I did with Gavin Christopher. We called someone and he couldn't come, so by accident we stumbled on Ben. Ben came to the session, and he can't really play keyboards very well—he's really more of a drummer—but after that day, we kept in touch, and we just sort of clicked as writers.
After meeting Brenda K. Starr and being introduced to Tommy Mottola, the future head of Sony Music Entertainment (as well as Carey's future husband), the song was re-done in a professional studio, with the assistance of two producers. Carey flew to Los Angeles to work with Rhett Lawrence, one of the album's main producers. After hearing the original version of the song, Lawrence described it as having a "'50s sort of shuffle." After Carey agreed to alter the song, Lawrence contemporized its tempo. "Vision of Love" was recorded at the Skyline Studios in New York, and featured Lawrence at the keyboard, Margulies on the drums, bassist Marcus Miller, drum programmer Ren Klyce and guitarist Jimmy Ripp. Lawrence took Carey's vocals from the original demo version, and used them as background vocals for the song's final version. After adding different instrumentation to the song, Lawrence and Narada Michael Walden produced "Vision of Love."
"Vision of Love" is a pop and R&B love song with gospel and soul influences. It incorporates heavy backup vocals during the song's bridge and features usage of Carey's whistle register and melisma. Author Chris Nickson described the song and its vocals:
"['Vision of Love'] was the perfect introduction to her voice. With an ideal slow-dancing tempo, it still managed to swing, with Mariah's background vocals (herself multi-tracked) answering her lead. On the final chorus, her voice flew towards those trademark high notes before the instruments drop out, leaving Mariah to sing her way out to the tune's climax alone."