In fact, Carey has become so synonymous with Christmas that for the past two years, she’s produced her own holiday specials for Apple TV+. After last year’s Mariah Carey’s Magical Christmas Special, she’s back this year with Mariah’s Christmas: The Magic Continues, premiering globally on Apple TV+ on Friday, Dec. 3. On it, she’ll ring in the holidays with a new rendition of fan-favorite, “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home).” The special will also feature an exclusive interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe and Carey, along with her 10-year-old twins, son Moroccan and daughter Monroe, as they share favorite holiday moments. As part of the special, Carey will also perform her new single, “Fall in Love at Christmas,” alongside special guests including Grammy-nominated artist Khalid and Grammy winner Kirk Franklin. To celebrate the season, Carey has exclusively taken Parade.com back to where it all started with the origin of “All I Want For Christmas Is You"—which, rumor has it, she wrote in 15 minutes and then recorded in two hours. “I think that the story has taken on different layers,” Carey tells Parade.com. “I started writing that on a little DX7 or Casio keyboard that was in this little room in the house that I lived in at the time in Upstate New York lifetimes ago. Just writing down everything that I thought about. All the things that reminded me of Christmas that made me feel festive that I wanted other people to feel.” Carey then got together with her then-writing partner, Walter Afanasieff, and the two finished it up together. “We did take some time doing the record, because if you listen to all those background vocals and all that stuff, you can’t do it in five minutes,” she continued. “It’s literally impossible unless you had three choirs. So, no, it wasn’t five minutes to get the whole record done. But it was quick considering I’ve taken longer on songs.” One aspect of the song that is unique to its time period is the layers of Carey’s voice on the track, especially since she didn’t have the aforementioned choirs. “I did some stacks of myself on that one because it was inspired by Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound formula, where you’ll hear backup singers, but a lot of time it was Ronnie Spector,” she explained. “I felt he had an effect. I don’t want to speak out of turn about this but that’s kind of a hot topic anyway to discuss. I feel like it was a lot of her doubling her, and that was new in that era. So, for me, I did a lot of those. I wouldn’t do it probably today in terms of those loud doubles, but it makes the song what it is.” The timeless quality of “All I Want for Christmas Is You” is just one reason Carey never tires of singing it. As the co-writer on it, it has also made her some serious money–reportedly earning Carey more than $60 million–but that isn’t why she loves it. She loves it because of what it meant to her at the time in her life that she wrote it. “If someone said to me, ‘What’s the lyric that stands out?’ To me in that song it is, ‘I won’t ask for much this Christmas, I won’t even wish for snow,’” she says. “Because when I first wrote that song I was very, very early on in my career and I was still thinking about childhood stuff when I did wish for snow every year. So, for me to, ‘I won’t even wish for snow,’ that really meant a lot. That’s a huge deal, I’m not going to wish for snow? That’s bleak. I don’t want to have a non-snowy Christmas.” Keep reading for more about what Mariah Carey loves about Christmas, her new holiday special and her favorite Christmas memories.
What is it like being the queen of Christmas?
That’s funny. That’s something that people say. I think it’s amazing but, of course, I’m not seriously walking around calling myself that.
You did an Apple TV+ Christmas special last year and now another one this year. Is this going to be an annual tradition with you?
I will always do something special for Christmas no matter what it is. I loved working with the folks at Apple TV+ again. Something that was really exciting was adding the new dimension of working with Joseph Kahn, the director that I really always wanted to work with on this project. He did such a fantastic job making this year’s special feel Christmassy, but for me, it elevated things in a way production-wise that I was just so excited about and happy about. I think the whole collaboration with Apple TV+ is amazing, especially for the holidays. Because one of my dear friends from Apple, Zach, he loves Christmas as much as I do. So, he and I had a really great time planning this all year long.
Your kids are involved. What was the thought behind that?
The thought is they’re my family and they’re the best. Kids at Christmas; it’s sort of a given. I wanted to have the kids there; they were there last year. Actually, last year they performed in the special, but this year they had fun, they hung out, they spoke with Zane Lowe. They’re amazing, they make me happy. To me kids are brought into the world as teachers for us. They came in, they added a little zest, and I thought it was fantastic.
Your new song “Fall in Love at Christmas” is on the special. What sparked the idea for that?
I was working on a bunch of different songs and ideas in the studio in Atlanta, which we created and called the Butterfly Lounge. Now we’re at the Butterfly Lounge L.A., and we’ve been filming behind the scenes, all this content of me writing and working with musicians. It’s very interesting because you don’t usually see women in those positions. You don’t usually see the production side of the female producers. We see songwriting and we see girls sitting behind a guitar or a piano. But it’s not often where we can imagine, “Oh, you can be this… whatever you want to call it, diva or Christmas princess diva thing.” And also, you’re behind the scenes talking to the bass player about what patch we’re using, and how many strings that particular bass has, and what we’re doing, and how is the melody and how we’re blending it, how we’re mixing it, how we’re working with the engineer, doing all the things that I do with the help of incredible musicians. But that is where I thrive. I love behind the scenes. The in front of the camera stuff is fun, too, don’t get me wrong. As long as you have the right team, it’s all good. But being in the studio and writing and creating new music at any time of year, that’s where I’m at my best.
When you were a kid, did you have a favorite Christmas special?
A Charlie Brown Christmas with the Peanuts gang, and I’m lucky enough to have them in my Christmas special. Really lucky. It’s never been done before. So, that’s kind of amazing and that was my favorite. I also loved the ones where it’s at the North Pole, like The Year Without a Santa Claus and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, all of those, those were my favorites back then.
They’re classics. You can share them now so your kids can watch them.
I already have. We watch it every year. Mariah’s Christmas: The Magic Continues is available to stream now on Apple TV+. Next, Holly Jolly Netflix! The Complete List of Holiday Movies and TV Shows Coming to Netflix in 2021
