Every year, I write this same blind item, because every year this permanent A list singer moves her narrative a little bit more where she wants the world to think she is the sole writer of her biggest hit.

This year, she has really tried to push that forward and the guy who did the majority of the writing is really getting tired of it.

Mariah Carey

Song: All I Want For Christmas Is You

Walter Afanasieff
formerly nicknamed Baby Love in the 1980s, is an American record producer and songwriter. He was a collaborator with Mariah Carey on her first six studio albums. Walter co-wrote and produced Mariah’s song “All I want for Christmas” which has generated over $100 million in royalties for the duo to date.

Why did Mariah stop working with Walter?
Walter added: “The reason we stopped working together was primarily because she and her husband, who was the chairman of Sony Music, got a divorce. And I was under an exclusive contract with him.

Who makes the most money from Christmas songs?
Paul McCartney: ‘Wonderful Christmastime’ (1979)
Wham!: ‘Last Christmas’ (1986)
Bing Crosby: ‘White Christmas’ (1942)
Mariah Carey: ‘All I Want for Christmas is You’ (1994)
The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl: ‘Fairytale of New York’ (1988)
Slade: ‘Merry Christmas Everybody’ (1973)

All I Want for Christmas co-songwriter calls Mariah Carey’s story behind song a ‘tall tale’

“All I Want for Christma Is You” co-writer, Walter Afanasieff, has spoken out about working with Mariah Carey and said her story about the song is a “tall tale”.

The 64-year-old record producer discussed the beloved holiday tune during Thursday’s episode of the Hot Takes & Deep Dives podcast. Speaking to host Jess Rothschild, Afanasieff claimed that he and Carey were “on the same page” about how to write the song. However, it wasn’t until 10 years ago that an “alternate story” was shared about the songwriting process.

“When she started to hint at the fact that, ‘Oh, I wrote that song when I was a little girl!’ But why weren’t you saying that for 12 or 13 or 15 years prior to that?” he said on the podcast. “So it just sort of developed in her mind.”

Over the years, Carey has opened up about writing the song on her own. She told Billboard in 2017 that she created it “as a kid” while sitting at her “little Casio keyboard”.

During his conversation with Rothschild, Afanasieff shut down Carey’s narrative and claimed that she “doesn’t play keyboard or piano”.

“She doesn’t understand music, she doesn’t know chord changes and music theory or anything like that,” he said. “She doesn’t know a diminished chord from a minor seventh chord to a major seventh chord.”

He went on to criticise the singer’s remarks about creating the song as a child, especially given the different chord changes that the tune has.

“So to claim that she wrote a very complicated chord-structured song with her finger on a Casio keyboard when she was a little girl, it’s kind of a tall tale,” Afanasieff continued. “It’s a difficult song.” – Source

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