Vision of Love

Infobox Single
Name = Vision of Love


Artist = Mariah Carey
from Album = Mariah Carey
B-side = "Sent from up Above", "Mariah Carey" album sampler
Released = Start date|1990|5|
(see release history)
Format = CD single, cassette single, 7" single
Genre = Pop, R&B
Length = 3:31
Label = Columbia
Writer = Ben Margulies, Mariah Carey
Producer = Rhett Lawrence
Certification = Gold (RIAA)
Last single =
This single = "Vision of Love"
(1990)
Next single = "Love Takes Time"
(1990)Extra tracklisting
Album = Mariah Carey
Type = studio
prev_track =
prev_no =
this_track = "Vision of Love"
track_no = 1
next_track = "There's Got to Be a Way"
next_no = 2Extra tracklisting
Album = MTV Unplugged
Type = live
prev_track = "Someday"
prev_no = 3
this_track = "Vision of Love"
track_no = 4
next_track = "Make It Happen"
next_no = 5Extra tracklisting
Album = #1's
Type = compilation
prev_track = "Love Takes Time"
prev_no = 15
this_track = "Vision of Love"
track_no = 16
next_track = "I Still Believe"
next_no = 17Extra tracklisting
Album = Greatest Hits" (CD #1)'
Type = compilation
prev_track =
prev_no =
this_track = "Vision of Love"
track_no = 1
next_track = "Love Takes Time"
next_no = 2|

"Vision of Love" is a pop/R&B song written by Mariah Carey and Ben Margulies, and produced by Rhett Lawrence for Carey's debut album, "Mariah Carey" (1990). The ballad was released as the album's first single in the second quarter of 1990 in the United States and the third quarter of 1990 elsewhere (see 1990 in music). The song topped the U.S. "Billboard" Hot 100.

Background, composition and theme

"Vision of Love" was the first song Carey and Margulies co-wrote after Columbia Records executive Tommy Mottola signed Carey to a recording contract. The album version of the song was altered from Carey and Margulies's original demo recording, which had a 1950s-style shuffle.cite web | last = Hogan | first = Ed | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Vision of Love - Mariah Carey - Song Review | work = Allmusic | publisher = | date = | url = http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=33:wfuf6j657180 | format = | doi = | accessdate = 2008-08-30 ]

Carey told "Ebony" magazine that the song "represents everything in my life" and "is a song from the heart". According to her, its lyrics are based on personal struggles she experienced when was younger, including her parents' divorce, moving frequently and the attitudes of the people in her neighborhoods to her ethnicity.Citation | last = Norent | first = Lynn | author-link = | last2 = | first2 = | author2-link = | title = Mariah Carey: 'Not another White girl trying to sing Black.' | newspaper = Ebony | pages = | year = | date = March 1991 | url = http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1077/is_n5_v46/ai_10405332 ]

Critical reception and legacy

The song was nominated for three 1991 Grammy Awards: Best Female Pop Vocal Performance (which it won), Record of the Year and Song of the Year. [cite web | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Mariah Carey | work = Rock On The Net | publisher = | date = | url = http://www.rockonthenet.com/artists-c/mariahcarey_main.htm | format = | doi = | accessdate = 2008-08-30 ] (For more information, see Grammy Awards of 1991.) The song received the Soul Train Music Award for Best R&B/Soul Single, FemaleFact|date=September 2008 and a Songwriter Award at the BMI Pop Awards.Fact|date=September 2008

"Entertainment Weekly" wrote in 2005, "from those opening sci-fi-esque synths to that signature dog-whistle high note, Mariah's very first single is inspired". [cite web | last = Slezak | first = Michael | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Gem Carey | work = EW.com | publisher = "Entertainment Weekly" and Time Inc. | date = December 15 2005 | url = http://www.ew.com/ew/article/commentary/0,6115,1048283_4_0_,00.html | format = | doi = | accessdate = 2008-08-30 ] The magazine included it on their "10 Great (and 10 Grating) Karaoke Songs" list as a grating karaoke song, saying: "You cannot do this song. Seriously. Tackling this lung-crusher might seem like a fun challenge, but three minutes, five octaves, and one 10-second note later, you will realize that you did not conquer 'Vision of Love.' 'Vision of Love' conquered you." [cite web | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = 10 Great (and 10 Grating) Karaoke Songs - GRATING - "VISION OF LOVE" - Mariah Carey | work = EW.com | publisher = "Entertainment Weekly" and Time Inc. | date = | url = http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,20208037_12,00.html | format = | doi = | accessdate = 2008-08-30 ] In 2006, "The New Yorker" named the song "the Magna Carta of melisma" for it and Carey's influence on R&B singers and "American Idol" contestants.cite web | last = Frere-Jones | first = Sasha | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = On Top: Mariah Carey's record-breaking career | work = The New Yorker | publisher = CondéNet | date = April 3 2006 | url = http://www.newyorker.com/critics/music/?060403crmu_music | format = | doi = | accessdate = 2008-08-30 ] About.com said that "'Vision Of Love' is one of the best songs of Mariah's recording career [...] It is simply one of the most stunning debut releases ever by a pop recording artist." [cite web | last = Lamb | first = Bill | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = 'Mariah Carey' | work = About.com | publisher = | date = | url = http://top40.about.com/od/reviews/gr/mcareyfirst.htm | format = | doi = | accessdate = 2008-08-30 ] The website ranked it fourth on its top ten pop hits of 1990 list [cite web | last = Lamb | first = Bill | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Top 10 Pop Hits 1990 | work = About.com | publisher = | date = | url = http://top40.about.com/od/top10lists/tp/1990top10.htm | format = | doi = | accessdate = 2008-09-02 ] and twenty-eighth on its top 100 pop songs of the 1990s list. [cite web | last = Lamb | first = Bill | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Top 100 Pop Songs of the 1990's - 30-21 | work = About.com | publisher = | date = | url = http://top40.about.com/od/hitsofthe90s/ss/top10090s_8.htm | format = | doi = | accessdate = 2008-09-02 ] VH1 named "Vision of Love" the fourteenth greatest song of the 1990s. [cite web | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = 100 greatest songs of the 90s (hour 4) | work = VH1 | publisher = MTV Networks | date = | url = http://www.vh1.com/shows/dyn/the_greatest/127762/episode_featured_copy.jhtml | format = | doi = | accessdate = 2008-08-30 ]

R&B singer Beyoncé Knowles said that she began doing vocal "runs" after listening to "Vision of Love" for the first time, and pop singer Mikaila said that the song is what made her want to sing. [cite web | last = Hermanson | first = Wendy | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Dallas Cheerleader | work = Yahoo! Music | publisher = Yahoo! Inc. | date = May 7 2001 | url = http://music.yahoo.com/read/interview/12049117 | format = | doi = | accessdate = 2008-08-30 ]

Chart performance

In the United States, "Vision of Love" entered the "Billboard" Hot 100 at number seventy-three in the week of June 2, 1990, and it reached number one nine weeks later. [Citation | last = Bronson | first = Fred | author-link = Fred Bronson | last2 = | first2 = | author2-link = | title = The Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits | place = | publisher = Billboard Books | year = 2003 | volume = | edition = 5th | url = http://www.mariahdaily.com/infozone/storybehindno1s.shtml#vol | doi = | id = | isbn = 0823076776 ] It remained at number one for four weeks and was ranked sixth on the Hot 100 year-end chart. [cite web | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = The Billboard Hot 100 - Vision Of Love | work = Billboard.com | publisher = Nielsen Business Media, Inc. | date = December 31 1990 | url = http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/esearch/chart_display.jsp?cfi=411&cfgn=Year-end+Singles&cfn=The+Billboard+Hot+100&ci=3077251&cdi=9015781&cid=12%2F31%2F1990 | format = | doi = | accessdate = 2008-08-30 ] The single also reached number one on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks and Adult Contemporary charts. The RIAA certified "Vision of Love" as a gold single in August 1990. [cite web | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Gold and Platinum - Searchable Database | work = Recording Industry Association of America | publisher = | date = | url = http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?table=SEARCH | format = | doi = | accessdate = 2008-08-30 ]

"Vision of Love" reached the top ten in Australia, the United Kingdom,Fact|date=August 2008 IrelandFact|date=August 2008 and the Netherlands.Fact|date=August 2008 It went to number one in Canada,Fact|date=September 2008 New ZealandFact|date=August 2008 and Brazil.Fact|date=August 2008

Music video and alternate versions

The single's music video, directed by Bojan Bazelli, features Carey on a darkly lit stage against a background of moving clouds and a staircase. The video was the second to be commissioned for the song, after a previous video was scrapped. According to "Rolling Stone", an "informal source" said that the two videos cost a combined US$450,000. Columbia Records executive Don Ienner said the figure was "total bullshit", adding, "If we're gonna take the time and effort that we did with Mariah, on every level, then we're going to image her the right way. If it costs a few extra dollars to make a splash in terms of the right imaging, you go ahead and do it."Citation | last = | first = | author-link = | last2 = | first2 = | author2-link = | title = Building the Perfect Diva | newspaper = Rolling Stone | pages = | year = | date = August 23 1990 | url = ]

Two live versions of the track were released as exclusive live performance bonus tracks on non-U.S. releases of the single. The first live version was culled from the EP "MTV Unplugged" (1992).Fact|date=August 2008 The live version released on the single is not the same as the version found on the "MTV Unplugged" album; it was edited and the intro and outro were faded.Fact|date=August 2008 The first version is most often found on the UK single of "I'll Be There" (1992).Fact|date=August 2008 The other live performance is taken from Carey's DVD "" (1996), and is available on most European singles of "Open Arms" (1996).Fact|date=August 2008

Cover versions

*Lara Fabian did a cover of this song during her performance at "Sonia Benezra".
*Christina Aguilera did a cover of this song when she was ten years old.
*Chinese pop singer Jane Zhang did a cover of this song during her performance at Super Girl contest.
*Aicelle Santos did a cover of this song during her performance at Pinoy Pop Superstar.
*Filipino R&B singer Kyla did a cover during her performance at her at her concert in the Philippines.
*Pete Peterkin did a blues version of this song.

Track listings

;U.S. CD single (cassette single/7" single)Fact|date=August 2008
#"Vision of Love"
#Medley featuring excerpts from "Mariah Carey": "Prisoner"/"All in Your Mind"/"Someday"

;UK CD 5" singleFact|date=August 2008
#"Vision of Love"
#"Sent from up Above"
#Medley featuring excerpts from "Mariah Carey": "Prisoner"/"All in Your Mind"/"Someday"

Charts

Release history

ee also

*Hot 100 number-one hits of 1990 (United States)

Notes