Mariah Carey, the Queen of Christmas, is also an iconic hitmaker

You may recall that a few years ago, Mariah Carey actually tried to trademark the title “Queen of Christmas” along with “Princess Christmas” and “QOC” and ultimately lost that bid. But the fact is that Carey has become so famous for her signature Christmas song that she even inspired a meme that repeats every year around this time: It’s called “Unfreezing Mariah,” and various versions feature the singer in a sexy Santa Claus costume while trapped in a block of ice, she sang a very muffled “All I want for Christmas is you.” As November approaches, the ice begins to break.

Last year, Carey got in on the action, posting a TikTok video in which a group of masked, ghost-like creatures drill her out of her frozen vault at exactly midnight on November 1st as she sings “It’s TIME!!!” in one of their legendary whistles.

She gave it a new twist this year, transforming from an Elvira-esque goth look to her usual festive outfit.

Even better than Carey’s videos, however, are all of fans’ attempts to hit that high note.

Of course, there’s another singer now known for her glass-shattering tones: “Wicked” star Ariana Grande, who invited Carey to sing on a remix of “Yes, and?”, calling her “queen of my heart and.” “My lifelong inspiration.” I was happy to see one of my favorite pop stars get flowers – because Carey isn’t just the queen of Christmas, she’s a certifiable queen of pop and R&B. Long before Taylor Swift hit the charts, Mariah surpassed Elvis for the most No. 1 singles: 18, with the rise of her 2008 hit “Touch My Body.”

When “All I Want for Christmas Is You” finally topped the Hot 100 in 2019, it was just one hit away from matching The Beatles’ all-time record of 20. Carey was also the first and only female artist to top the Billboard charts across four different decades; And along the way, she collected three Guinness World Records titles, including a Christmas song with the highest chart positions by a solo artist. Apologies to Brenda Lee, Bing Crosby and Michael Bublé, but on a Billboard list of the “greatest” 100 Christmas classics of all time, Carey’s “Christmas” took the number one spot – and I’m all for it.

I’ve loved Mimi since the days when bodysuits with snap buttons were available. I know she’s not perfect, but perfection is boring; Resilience and reinvention are much more interesting. Originally from Long Island, New York, Carey speaks openly about her difficult childhood, including the difficulties of adjusting as a biracial child, and her complicated relationships with her late parents. At 55, she has survived public, personal and professional breakups as well as media attention; Not to mention the movie “Glitter” and an infamously botched New Year’s Eve performance a few years ago. But she always manages to get up, shake herself off, and come back with a big smile on her face and a little shade for good measure. (One of my favorite lyrics of any pop song comes from 2009’s “Obsessed”: “You’re a mom and dad, I’m a company/I’m the press conference, you’re a conversation.”)

There’s something about Mariah that just sticks with you. Maybe that’s partly because it’s so memorable. Whenever I write to our film critic Odie Henderson with a question he doesn’t know the answer to (which is rare), he responds with a GIF of Mariah smiling and shaking her head and saying, “I don’t know her.” That was Carey’s Answer when she was asked on a German television show in the early 2000s for her opinion about a singer named…Jennifer Lopez. (Rumor has it that their rivalry goes back decades.) Shortly before, she had praised Beyoncé in the same interview, which made the J.Lo diss seem shadier and more sinisterly brilliant in comparison, a masterful piece that “could only have been born out of.” “The dark arts of one Mariah Carey,” wrote Vanity Fair in 2016.

Three years later, Mariah found herself in the middle of another viral moment: the #ObsessedChallenge on TikTok. It started when a user uploaded a video of herself crying and performing the full choreography to “Obsessed” – then a decades-old dissident track allegedly aimed at rapper Eminem – and inspired copycats. Once again, Mariah joined in on the fans’ fun and posted a video of herself taking on the challenge on a city street.

Even before I found out about all the memes, I had been unfreezing my own memories of Mariah for years. I’m celebrating Christmas (and Hanukkah) with my husband and our kids now, but I just can’t think of Christmas without thinking of Mariah Carey – especially the time I previously had the opportunity to interview her for a magazine profile in her New York penthouse the release of their 2008 album “E=MC²”. It’s hands down the most memorable celebrity interview I’ve ever done, and ended with me somehow wearing Carey’s fluffy pink robe while standing next to her on her rooftop terrace overlooking Manhattan.

But it’s the beginning of the interview that I’ll remember most. She had invited a close friend for drinks in her pillow-strewn “Moroccan lounge,” and as we sipped our butterscotch shots with Baileys and red wine, Mariah insisted that we all needed more joy and less drama in our lives. “We want festive moments of ting, ting, ting – yay!” she said, clinking my glass. Cheers to that.

In the spirit of all that makes MC sacred, here are 18 more hits (in order of #1 songs) worth unfreezing any time of year, with one caveat: I would also recommend Carey’s cover of “Without.” “You” from the early 90s” – Just try listening to this song without getting goosebumps.

MARIAH CAREY: MARIAH CAREY’S CHRISTMAS TIME

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Brooke Hauser can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her @brookehauser.