Mariah Carey covers the “Christmas edition” of Elle Magazine, mostly to promote all of her things, her album Rarities, her memoir, and Mariah Carey’s Magical Christmas Special, which is on Apple+. But mostly, Mariah just loves Christmas, loves to talk about Christmas, and loves to experience Christmas every year. She worked hard to become Ms. Christmas and now every Christmas feels like The Mariah Carey Holiday. You can read the full Elle piece here. Some highlights:
The clips of people singing “All I Want For Christmas” when Joe Biden won: “It felt great to be a part of those celebratory moments—and it totally took me by surprise. It’s been such a hard year, and I really feel like people so need a celebratory moment. At every turn, it’s like, ‘We can’t be [together]; you can’t celebrate. This is canceled; that’s canceled.’ I never want to celebrate too early. I’m always like, ‘We can’t do this; they’re making it happen too soon,’ but I have to go with it this year.”
She creates her childhood fantasy of Christmas: “I think it’s just that longing that I had as a child, that I always wanted things to be perfect for the holidays. And they never were. It was always somebody ruining the moment, always these dysfunctional family members who came around and foiled everything. And so I just made a pact with myself that I wasn’t going to allow that to happen anymore.”
How she spends Christmas: “I literally go to a snowy place. Reindeer are there… I’m not making this up. Santa Claus comes, hangs out with the kids. And by the way, even if I didn’t have kids, I would be doing this.”
Being biracial: “It’s very difficult to explain to most people who haven’t experienced that on some level. Being very ambiguous-looking, that really affected the way people saw me or judged me, depending on what kind of caste system you grew up with…. There would always be that question of, ‘What are you?’ Not ‘Who are you? How can I get to know you as a person?’ But ‘What are you? Oh, you’re so exotic. What are you mixed with?’ It depends who’s asking the question and how they ask the question.”
Her 2001 “breakdown” on TRL: “I did not ‘have a breakdown.’ I was broken down—by the very people who were supposed to keep me whole.” She tells me the memoir is “a survivor’s story.”
Sadness is part of Christmas too: “If you don’t love it, you can’t write the songs that really affect people or make people happy, or melancholic, whatever it is, on the holidays. I do live from Christmas to Christmas; it’s the only thing I look forward to every year. Well, it’s not the only thing…but it’s truly the best time of year for me.”
I understand all of the “creating a fantasy from your troubled childhood now that you’re rich and successful” stuff, honestly. I get that. But what I don’t get is why she “lives from Christmas to Christmas.” Did she have any other fantasies from childhood, perhaps creating the perfect playhouse for her kids, or creating the perfect Valentine’s Day, and on and on? I don’t know – Roc and Roe seem like surprisingly well-adjusted kids, so maybe Mariah is playing up the “Christmas OR DEATH” thing for dramatic purposes, but really… I worry sometimes!
Cover courtesy of Elle, pics courtesy of Mariah’s IG.
Isn’t this when the checks roll in for her Christmas song? No wonder she loves it.
She seems the exact opposite of me. I realized recently that I had perfect Christmases in childhood. And I will never and have never matched them. It was when I became an adult that dysfunctional people began messing up my Christmas. I decided this is my last Christmas in NY for a while. Next year I will be away, right now, leaning strongly towards Hawaii but that could change. My plans not to be here will not. But I had it all already. So I in no way feel robbed or cheated. It’s time for something new now. High time.
I’ve gone away for Christmas the last few years and it was great!
I read ages ago that during the holidays they estimate she makes $100 a min or something crazy. It’s because she wrote and sang all I want for Christmas and has agreed to license it out all over the place for so many years. Even Love Actually was a licensing agreement. So when that movie plays as a marathon on tv apparently she’s getting something each time. It’s absolutely bonkers what she makes this time of year.
Mariah is a song writing and marketing genius. She wrote a bonafide hit, and is the queen of Christmas as she’s let it be known that this season is hers and not to be messed with. Festive tight short dresses? Check. No bleak fluorescent lighting? Double Check! Minimal choreography and optional whistle tones? Triple check!!
To write a Christmas classic that’s played ad nauseum every year is everyone’s goal and she’s achieved that and more. Get that coin and do you, Mariah!
This whole “Queen of Christmas” is lowkey disrespectful l.
In what way? She loves Christmas, goes full force every year beginning on Nov. 1, and at this point, a lot of people associate her with Christmas to some degree. Not seeing the disrespect.
A lot actually don’t but okay…(very commercialized)
@KITTY, I wholeheartedly 1000000000% agree. If I didn’t know any better, I might have thought she had given birth to Jesus🙄.
This is the first time I’ve heard her talk about race. Granted, she’s probably talked about it millions of times, but I never caught on.
Would love to hear more.
I don’t care for her personality that much, but at one time she had an amazing voice and she is an incredible songwriter. She deserves all that Christmas income!!
THIS is my Xmas Boo!! I am sorry but really –NOT sorry
It was almost my whole dept. singing along and had to check a few BUT she is the real queen.
let’s leave her like that… Thx CB, you keep it true to your beliefs and I an gonna keep coming back. (for yrs to come) 🙂
I really want to see her Christmas Special. I love Mariah because she is crazy talented and a diva who is never mean-spirited, just on her own glittery planet. I especially loved her lawsuit against the Australian billionaire boyfriend (forgot his name) and which he paid for “inconveniencing” Mariah. It doesn’t get better than that. It just doesn’t.
To be honest, I never got into that song, not even in a guilty pleasure type of way. But she really struck gold with that one and she IS the Christmas Queen for a lot of people.