"It's time!" Mariah Carey sings as the calendar filps over from October 31 to November 1 — signaling the start of the holiday season, whether you like it or not.
The powerhouse vocalist and songwriter has ruled Christmas with a festive fist for the last 30 years since her song "All I Want For Christmas Is You" made Christmas music popular again with its release in 1994. Ever since, the song has become the longest-charting single in any genre. It spent 65 weeks on Billboard’s Hot 100, arguably making it the most popular original holiday song of the last several decades. Her subsequent album, "Merry Christmas," has sold 18 million copies and is blasted everywhere people go from the time the pumpkins get packed away till the tree comes down.
In an interview with The New York Times, Carey hinted at new music and shared that she's headed on a 21-date holiday tour that starts in November. Commenting on her Christmas song's 30th anniversary and its everlasting success, Carey said, “It’s really rewarding, and I’m just grateful and thankful for it and for all the people that come up and say, ‘I love your music,’ or, ‘I listen to your Christmas music in July’ — that started to become a thing,” she said. “I’ve always wanted to do this for my life, and so now we get to do it.”
But how did the pop vocalist transform from writing hits like "Fantasy" to "All I Want For Christmas Is You?" Salon explains it all:
Carey thought it was too early in her career to drop a Christmas album
Thirty years ago, the then 25-year-old pop star wasn't so sure about diving into Christmas music.
“I felt it was too early in my career," Carey explained in her interview with the Times.
But the singer's love of Christmas always endured, as she worked on several arrangements for classic Christmas songs like “Joy to the World” and “Silent Night." While she was working with her writing partner, Walter Afanasieff, they knew they needed original songs.
Carey recalled the opening melody came to her late one night. So she pulled out a small keyboard. “Ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding,” she sang. The songwriter was looking for lyrics that meant something to her. So she said, “I started thinking about: ‘I don’t want a lot for Christmas.’”
And with one line, the genre of Christmas music changed forever. After years of Christmas music sticking to a more traditional, orchestral sound and spiritual themes, Carey shook things up. She followed in the footsteps of Motown stars Stevie Wonder, The Ronettes and Darlene Love from the '60s.
“Her album set the standard and really kind of redefined what a Christmas album could be,” Maureen McMullan, senior concert producer and former assistant chair of the voice department at Berklee College of Music in Boston told the Times.
Even another popular Christmas artist, Kelly Clarkson, said, “When Mariah came out with her first Christmas record, she changed the game for all of us. She paved the way for all of us to be able to have a chance at creating original Christmas songs because she proved to the industry how not only lucrative it could be — but how magical it can be to have a record that is a part of your life every year.”
Where did the "It's Time" videos come from?
The Queen of Christmas has also changed the holiday season with an annual tradition. At the end of spooky season on Halloween evening, Carey waits for the clock to countdown. When it hits midnight, the singer immediately posts a video of her ushering us into the holiday season — usually singing in a high note — "It's time!"
Kickstarting the videos in 2019, each year they become more festive and elaborate. In this year's video, the pop star partnered with Kay Jewelers. The spooky, black and white video features Carey dressed as Morticia Addams from "The Addams Family." She dances with a man who plays Gomez Addams, Morticia's husband. That is until the clock hits midnight and the date changes from Oct. 31 to Nov. 1. Carey then sings her legendary, "It's time" as Gomez turns into a snowman and her set is a winter wonderland, with "All I Want For Christmas Is You" blaring.
“It wasn’t even really like an announcement,” Carey said. “People would say, ‘Hey, when is it OK to put our lights up and put our tree up?’ and ‘When do you do it?’ People would just ask me that because I guess they thought I was very Christmassy.”
Now, Carey said, “I love ‘It’s time.’ It’s so fun.”
IT’S TIME!!!! 🎉🎄 #KAYPartner pic.twitter.com/ccowLwGRF1
— Mariah Carey (@MariahCarey) November 1, 2024
