Mariah Carey kicks off the festive season with dramatic video: ‘It’s time!’
Pop star leans into the Christmas spirit ahead of her hit song’s inevitable return to the charts
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Your support makes all the difference.Mariah Carey has officially announced the beginning of the festive season with an elaborate video that riffs on the Addams Family.
Dressed as Morticia Addams, the pop star begins the clip against a monochrome backdrop with a spooky instrumental cover of her classic hit, “All I Want For Christmas is You”.
Joined by an actor playing Gomez Addams, she dances a tango around a spooky castle ballroom before grabbing a dagger and hurling it into a mirror.
Then, a bell tolls as a wardrobe opens to reveal a Santa Claus outfit as Carey gives a knowing smirk.
The scene cuts to a shot of the pop star now dressed in full festive gear while sitting on a reindeer-drawn sleigh piled high with presents, as she sings: “It’s time!”
Her video plays a clip of the original song as Gomez is transformed into a snowman and the spooky castle becomes a magical Christmas wonderland.
The clip was shared to the singer’s social media channels as a partnership with Kay jewellers.
Carey is known for leaning into her status as “Queen of Christmas” with a different announcement each year.
Last year, a clip showed her defrosting in an icy vault as the clock ticked to midnight on 1 November.
This year, a meme doing the rounds on TikTok shows people going about their day when they suddenly hear a ghostly sound – Carey’s opening notes to “All I Want For Christmas”.
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In 2022, Carey announced the Christmas countdown in a video that showed her riding a Peloton exercise bike while dressed in a skin-tight black jumpsuit and witches hat, while surrounded by Halloween pumpkins.
As the camera moved towards her, she began to cackle wildly before a calendar marked 31 October began to swirl around her; the scene cut to Carey dressed in her Santa jumpsuit, singing “it’s time”.
“All I Want For Christmas is You” is a seasonal staple that regularly reaches the top of the charts each year.
Released in 1994, it is Carey’s most successful song and made history in 2021, when it became the first and only holiday song to win the RIAA’s Diamond Award – which recognises 10 million sales and streaming units in the US.
After receiving the honour, the pop star said that the continued love for her song “never ceases to amaze me and fill my heart with a multitude of emotions”.
“It blows my mind that ‘All I Want For Christmas is You’ has endured different eras of the music industry,” she said.
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