Mariah Carey on pop stardom, the Grammy Awards and her annual holiday tour

In August 1994 Mariah Carey created a Christmas classic on her first try.

The singer-songwriter with the voice of an Olympic athlete was already a Grammy-winning superstar when she reluctantly accepted her label’s offer to release a holiday album. But she had never written a Christmas song until she and colleague Walter Afanasieff penned one during a summer day: a cheerful, uptempo number filled with jingling bells, lush girl-group vocal harmonies and inhumanly fast keyboards. .

Thirty Christmases later, it’s almost impossible to imagine celebrating Christmas without listening to “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” which has amassed more than 1.8 billion streams on Spotify and launched Carey, 55,’s second career as a self-proclaimed queen. Christmas. She released a children’s book and an animated film based on this song; she sold Christmas tree decorations, hats and pajama sets. And for the past decade, she has staged annual holiday shows, either on the road or in her hometown of New York.

This year’s tour, which kicks off Nov. 6 at the Yaamawa Theater in Highland and wraps Nov. 8 at the Hollywood Bowl, is accompanied by a deluxe 30th anniversary reissue of Carey’s “Merry Christmas” record and arrives as she kicks off her annual tour. to get the song “All I Want for Christmas Is You” to the top of the Billboard Hot 100. In 2020, the singer, who has 13-year-old twins with her ex-husband, TV presenter Nick Cannon — published a sensational memoir,”Meaning of the name Mariah Carey“, in which she wrote candidly about her turbulent marriage to former Sony Music boss Tommy Mottola and revealed that she secretly released an alternative rock album called Chick in 1995.

Ahead of the release of her annual post-Halloween “It’s About Time” video—her signal to fans that it’s okay to turn up the Christmas music—Carey sat down for an interview at a rented Bel Air mansion, fully decked out for the BBC holiday. special. In fact, during the interview she sat back, kicked off her heels and stretched out on a leather lounge chair under a waffle blanket, which she eventually tossed aside with a grimace.

“It’s a little damp here,” she said.

I went to last year’s Christmas tour at the Hollywood Bowl. At some point, you discovered moisture on the stage and asked a crew member to bring a mop. Then you took a mop and improvised a song about this.
The mop was the moment. I didn’t know what was going to happen—whatever it was, it was a stream of consciousness. It was really damp on stage and I got scared, so I wrote this song. Now I’m sitting here thinking, “Oh, what am I going to do this year…?” But you can’t plan it. These mop moments are few and far between.

You also said last year that your agent convinced you to include some non-holiday songs in the show.
I’m sticking with it because I think that’s what everyone expects now. I wouldn’t mind just doing Christmas songs.

There is a purity to this approach.
For me there is. But I listened to this set yesterday and it sounded good.

Which song on the Merry Christmas album is number two after “All I Want for Christmas Is You”?
There’s a song called “Missing You Most (At Christmas).” This is not an easy question. Someone once told me – in fact, it was my late mother — that it was the saddest Christmas song ever.

It’s okay for Christmas music to be sad in your opinion.
Think Blue Christmas. Some people are always in a panic before the holidays – not everyone is as festive, running around in the snow as other people we know (laughs). Do you know what song makes me very sad? “Merry Christmas (the war is over).”

The “if” in these lyrics does a lot of emotional work: “The war is over. If you want it.”
That’s why I feel sad when I hear this.

Do you feel like your show has the potential to be a sad Christmas pageant?
I don’t. People are here mostly to lift them up, and it’s my job to try my best to lift spirits. If I want to be sad, I’ll go home and watch any show that makes me sad.

“All I Want” has reached number one every year since 2019. Do you feel now that this is about to happen?
I don’t think about things that way. I can’t sit and walk has happen.

From everything I’ve read about this song –
Can I answer this again?

Please.
This has happened so many times that I’m in awe. And if this happened again, I would be even more delighted(laughs).

From what I understand, the story behind this song is that you were intentionally going for something timeless.
With production, yes. I think when I wrote this I thought it would be timeless too. I wanted it to feel like a modern classic.

Do you still like it?
I do. That’s why all this “Not yet” and “It’s time” stuff happened because I don’t listen to Christmas music until it’s time to do so.

It seems worth noting that this year’s tour begins a full three weeks before Thanksgiving.
What are they doing to me?

As you know, you are known for not recognizing the passage of time.
Mm-hmm.

However, this new re-release of “Merry Christmas” draws attention to the fact that 30 years have passed since its release.
Well, song and album milestones, anniversaries, and the like are all good. I simply don’t have them myself.

Can the people in your life wish you a happy birthday?
Oh, they know better than that. They learned to wish me a happy anniversary. This anniversary.

You recently celebrated another anniversary—the 20th anniversary of 2005’s “The Emancipation of Mimi”—at the Billboard Music Awards.
You mean the American Music Awards.

My mistake. Shows so many awards –
So little time. What we don’t admit.

What makes an awards ceremony fun?
If I like the clothes I wear. I liked this outfit.

Another honor was your nomination this year to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I was wondering if you had any thoughts on this.
My thoughts are: I didn’t get in.

I tried to be delicate.
Everyone called me and said: “I think you’ll get in!” and so I was excited about it. But then this did not happen. My lawyer (Allen Grubman) got into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame before me.

What about the Grammys?
(Sighs)

Oh, sigh.
Because I don’t know how to answer this question. When I first started, I was given two Grammy Awards. Then one year—a huge year for me career-wise—I had like six nominations with “Daydream,” “One Sweet Day,” “Always Be My Baby,” and “Fantasy.” All these songs in a row turned out to be so popular that you just thought, “Okay, at least One Sweet Day” will become the best duet or something like that. Then I sat there all the time and received nothing. I thought, “This is no fun.” But what can I do? Be a loser and say, “What’s the Grammy?” Whatever. If they give me more Grammys, I’ll like them more.

I went back and rewatched your 1992 MTV Unplugged episode. Interaction between you and your backing singers –
Sisters Price and Melonie Daniels.

This is amazing.
We worked together a lot – we rehearsed and by the time of the Unplugged performance we went abroad. I mean, technically it was my third album, even though they didn’t consider it an album. We love Sony, but then…

You claim that the record company did not count the “Unplugged” record into your contract.
Can you believe it? And “I’ll Be There” became the No. 1 song.

Music business, guys.
Welcome to this. Anyway, yes, we have a connection. Ever since I started and being a backup singer myself, I’ve looked up to those girls who are so incredible but still don’t have a record deal or anything.

Well, there are singers and then there are stars, right?
This is very typical for a record company. I don’t know. What is the name of this movie? “500 Miles from Glory”?

A little closer: “20 feet from glory“
I think that’s what we’re talking about.

Have you ever surprised yourself with your voice?
This happened with my first album, with the song “All In Your Mind”. At the end I hit a high note, and then two notes came out at once. I left this on the record.

Name your album where you think you achieved what you were trying to do?
Either “Butterfly” or “The Liberation of Mimi”. I ranked both of them in a good place, mainly because of where I was at that time in my life. These are fun records, although the lyrics are perhaps a little sad, a little cry from the heart.

“Butterfly” includes the song “Honey,” which you wrote with Sean “Diddy” Combs. Do recent allegations against him spoil your impression of this song?
It’s hard not to when something happens and you hear someone’s voice on a record. You’re like, “Hmmm.” It’s weird, you know? But honestly, “Honey” was more representative of me than anyone else, and I know that. The other people who were involved (or maybe the other person we’re talking about) weren’t really that involved.

Okay, last few things. They say you are working on new music. Accurate?
Accurate. I have nine or ten songs, so that’s enough for an album. I just didn’t record vocals on every song.

When you make a new record, do you expect your peers to push you or challenge you?
Sometimes. But I need to immediately feel connected to the song.

Random moment, but I always liked your song “#Beautiful” with Miguel.
That was a lot from Miguel (laughs).

What’s the status of the Chick album? People are clamoring for you to put it on streaming services.
I want to release it – I just need to figure out how.

This seems to be a solvable problem.
I know, but I want it to be right. For me, this is one of the best things I’ve done.

What about the TV biopic of you that Lee Daniels is directing?
The status is: I’m still waiting for him to send me the first script. I hope he can hurry up and do it. He keeps telling me he’s going to.

Would it be difficult for you to let someone else tell your story?
Well, it’s based on my book, so I’m not worried about it. And the amount of control I have with him is very great.

I found the book to be very honest. Looking back, is there anything you overlooked that you wish you hadn’t done?
Some things are too big. But there are some things in the book that I wish weren’t in it. It’s not that they are wrong or inaccurate. But later you find out: Oh, I shouldn’t have done that.

Because it hurt people in your life?
Because it could potentially hurt the people in my life. I don’t know because I don’t talk to some people in my life.

It’s been an interesting year for young female musicians speaking openly about the harsh realities of being a pop star. Your book gives the impression that you weren’t shy about talking about it when you first started.
I didn’t feel free at all because at that time I was also married and it was a difficult situation. So I had to wait until I was free to be able to say, “This is kind of fucked up.”

What was it like watching Chappell Rohan? express yourself how is she?
To me, it’s like this time is in the past and someone else can do whatever they want with their time.

You are not grieved because things were different for you.
There were a lot of grievances then. But no more.