It’s time to get into a Christmas state of mind because Mariah Carey says so. The 51-year-old singer has changed her Instagram profile, posted a video of her smashing pumpkins to the beats of All I Want For Christmas, and has announced her return to TV to make another gala Christmas show, Mariah’s Christmas: The Magic Continues.
Ready to sprinkle magic around the world, the all-new holiday show is set to debut in December on Apple TV+ while bringing the multi-platinum, multi-Grammy Award-winning icon Carey together with Khalid and Kirk Franklin, for the first and only performance of their new single, Fall in Love at Christmas.
Such is Carey’s sway over the Christmas playlist that a bar in Texas has banned All I Want for Christmas until December 1 with a sign on its jukebox that says that the catchy tune “will be skipped” if played before then, and that after that date it can be played but only “one time a night”.
To show that date means nothing to the Christmas Queen, she has smashed pumpkins — the message that has been carved into them: “It’s time” — on the Instagram video. The popular Christmas song has entered Apple Music’s Top 100 most-played songs in the US. Last year, in fact, it was the second-most-listened-to song in the US by December 1, according to the music streaming service Spotify.
Carey’s 1994 hit comes with all the stardust synonymous with Christmas. The song was written in around 15 minutes but co-writer Walter Afanasieff has said the core melody and chords took an hour. Every year, the song competes with another popular track — George Michael’s Last Christmas. Other popular Christmas tracks are Michael Buble’s version of It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas and Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24, besides the classics, of course.
The question is: Are you ready to say ‘no’ to all the trappings of Christmas — toys and stockings — to ask for a simple present: The person you love? Give it a thought and get ready for Mariah’s Christmas: The Magic Continues, which has been executive produced by Carey, along with Tim Case, Charleen Manca and Matthew Turke of Supply & Demand, and directed by Joseph Kahn.<
