The co-writer for Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas Is You has lashed out at the pop star, saying she “can’t play anything” and that her story about writing the Christmas classic is false.
Just when you thought All I Want For Christmas Is You discourse had run dry, drama has emerged between the song’s writers Mariah Carey and Walter Afanasieff.
It all started in a 2017 interview with Billboard, in which Mariah claimed “I am proud of this song that I wrote basically as a kid on my little Casio keyboard,”
But that’s not not true according to Walter Afanasieff, who’s credited as the track’s co-writer.
Appearing on a recent episode of the Hot Takes & Deep Dives with Jess Rothschild podcast, Afanasieff attacked the singer’s credibility and credentials as a songwriter.
“She doesn’t play anything, 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. She doesn’t know a diminished chord from a minor seventh chord to a major seventh chord,” said Afanasieff.
“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,” he added.
Afanasieff explained that he and Mariah had actually come up with the song together while writing for her Christmas album Merry Christmas. Claiming on the podcast that he wrote the music and chords while Mariah came up with the main melody and lyrics.
Mariah Carey’s camp has since responded to Afanasieff’s claims, stating to the post that “Mariah has never claimed to write ‘All I Want for Christmas’ by herself or as a child. She has always credited Walter, as he is cited as a writer on the song, so that would be ridiculous,”
“Not sure where that rumour came from, but Mariah is very respectful of writers and the craft, as she is a songwriter herself.”
