Vision of Love

"Vision of Love"
Song
B-side	"Sent from up Above", Mariah Carey album sampler

"Vision of Love" is a pop/R&B ballad written by Mariah Carey and Ben Margulies, and produced by Rhett Lawrence for Carey's debut album, Mariah Carey (1990). It 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.

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 final album version of the song was altered from Carey and Margulies' original demo recording, which had a 1950s-style shuffle.

Carey told Ebony magazine that the song "represents everything in my life. It 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. "[J]ust because you are young doesn't mean that you haven't had a hard life", she said. "It's been difficult for me". "Vision of Love" contains an almost science fiction-like introduction that leads into Carey's melismatic vocal performance, finally climaxing with a section at the bridge of the song (which is even more exaggerated to the point of absolute silence in live performances).

Entertainment Weekly wrote, "from those opening sci-fi-esque synths to that signature dog-whistle high note, Mariah's very first single is inspired". The New Yorker named the song "the Magna Carta of melisma", and R&B singer Beyoncé said she began doing vocal "runs" after listening to it for the first time.

Reception

"Vision of Love" was a successful start to Carey's career, becoming the first of her numerous U.S. Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles. It was mildly popular in other countries, but did not gain her a large worldwide fanbase. By far the most successful single from Mariah Carey, it was responsible for making her a star in the U.S.

The song topped Hot 100, where it remained for four weeks (from July 29 to August 25). It spent sixteen weeks in the top forty and was ranked sixth on the Hot 100 year-end chart, and it made Carey one of the biggest music stars of the year. It was one of the most popular songs of 1990 on U.S. radio stations, and strong sales led the RIAA to certify it gold. The single became a crossover success on other Billboard charts: it reached number one on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart and was popular with an older audience, topping the Adult Contemporary chart. Carey expressed surprise at the song's success: "it isn't hip-hop music, it isn't house music, and it isn't rap. But I am so glad and thankful".

"Vision of Love" was moderately successful in other major markets and topped the charts in Canada, helping Carey to establish a strong fanbase there. It peaked inside the top ten in both Australia and the United Kingdom, and it went to number one in New Zealand, where it was the sixth biggest-selling single of 1990, and Brazil, where it was popular on radio; it was ranked first on the year-end chart there. Its success across continental Europe, however, was limited. Mariah Carey achieved considerable success on the charts in Japan and went platinum, but "Vision of Love" was not a huge hit there.

The song was nominated for three 1991 Grammy Awards, winning only for "Best Female Pop Vocal Performance". Its other nominations were "Song of the Year", which it lost to "From a Distance" written by Julie Gold, and "Record of the Year", which went to "Another Day in Paradise" by Phil Collins. Carey accepted an invitation to perform at the awards ceremony, where she sang "Vision of Love" accompanied by Rhett Lawrence. The song received many other awards, including the Soul Train Music Award for "Best R&B/Soul Single, Female" (her only single to do so until "We Belong Together", 2005), as well as a BMI Pop Award, which many of her singles have received.

In 2007, VH1 named "Vision of Love" the 14th greatest song of the 1990s. Entertainment Weekly 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."

Music videos and other versions

Carey in a scene from the single's music video.

The video, directed by Bojan Bazelli, features Carey on a darkly lit stage against a background of moving clouds and a staircase. Carey has declared her hatred for the video, because she did not like its tone or her hairstyle. In one shot, she can be seen snapping off her own hair accidentally. Sources indicate that the total cost of both the videos came to around US$450,000, a very large budget for a debut single, but label executive Don Ienner stated: "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".

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). The live version released on the single is not the same as the version found on the MTV Unplugged album; it has been edited and the intro and outro were faded to reflect this. This version of the song is most often found on the UK single of "I'll Be There" (1992). The other live performance is taken from Carey's DVD Fantasy: Mariah Carey at Madison Square Garden (1996), and can be found on most European singles of "Open Arms" (1996).

Track listings

U.S. CD single (cassette single/7" single)

1. "Vision of Love"
2. Medley featuring excerpts from Mariah Carey: "Prisoner"/"All in Your Mind"/"Someday"

UK CD 5" single

1. "Vision of Love"
2. "Sent from up Above"
3. Medley featuring excerpts from Mariah Carey: "Prisoner"/"All in Your Mind"/"Someday"

Charts

Chart (1990)	Peak position
Australian ARIA Singles Chart	9
Brazilian Singles Chart	1
Canadian Singles Chart	1
French Singles Chart	25
German Singles Chart	17
Israeli Singles Chart	8
New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart	1
Swiss Singles Chart	24
UK Singles Chart	9
U.S. ARC Weekly Top 40	1
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	1
U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary	1
U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks	1

See also

• Hot 100 number-one hits of 1990 (USA)