Mariah Carey is shining like a star atop a Christmas tree. At her People shoot in an L.A photo studio in November, the Grammy-winning icon turns, poses and plays with her hair when suddenly, as her 2005 song “Joy Ride” plays, a spotlight lands on her. Her gold dress refracts the light over the entire room like a disco ball as the superstar has an “aha” moment. “This looks like an ornament,” Carey, 54, remarks, looking down at her dress. Dubbed the Queen of Christmas by her beloved fans, Carey has built a holiday empire, including two Christmas albums, a children's book and now a holiday-themed Barbie. Since her debut in 1990, Carey — outmatched in No. 1 hits only by the Beatles — has shaped the pop-music landscape with her prolific catalog and a five-octave range. She's also influenced not only how we celebrate Christmas (her smash hit “All I Want for Christmas Is You” is holiday canon) but also when we celebrate it. Every year on Nov. 1, Carey kicks off the season by declaring, “It's time,” and pressing play on her jingly, jangly Dec. 25th anthem, which she calls “a love song for Christmas.”
Here the singer — who kicked off her holiday tour on Nov. 15 — opens up about how she'll spend the most wonderful time of the year with her 12-year-old twins, Moroccan and Monroe (whom she shares with ex Nick Cannon, 43).
You've said that you don't celebrate years. Instead you choose to live Christmastime to Christmastime.
What are years? I don't know them. I'm unfamiliar with them.
What is something at home that tells you Christmas is here?
At home I have a grand, gold-and-cream tree with sparkly angels and butterflies. I have it every year, and it makes me really happy. We are going to do it all this year, darling. We are going to have live reindeer. We're having the two-horse open sleigh. I've been looking forward to this the whole year. Come hell or high water, we're going to have fun!
“All I Want for Christmas Is You” has more than 1 billion Spotify streams, it's your 19th No. 1 hit—and it serves as the centerpiece of your new 14-city tour. But what are you listening to at home this season?
What I love at Christmas is listening to the songs I grew up listening to. Luther Vandross has a great Christmas album. And Nat King Cole — my favorite song from his repertoire is “The Christmas Song.” That is up there with my top songs of all time. And I love “The Chipmunk Song.” It's all about whatever's festive. Some certain songs, like “The Christmas Song,” will give me a kind of melancholy feeling. It's about soaking it all up because I love it all so much.
Have your family holiday traditions changed as the kids have gotten older?
We haven't changed our holiday traditions yet. I think it's because the kids grew into those traditions. At first they were too little to go on the two-horse open sleigh and to do all these things that I do just because I love the holidays so much.
And now they're performing with you again on tour.
It's really nice for me to be able to see them performing onstage. I'm happy they're having these experiences as they grow up and decide what they want to do with their lives. Just before I came here, I got to watch Roc rehearse. It's just nice to let them be their own people.
When you're on the road, you're the boss, but you're also Mom. How do you juggle the two different roles?
I don't know! We're going to see how I juggle those two responsibilities. Everybody just has to do what their jobs are. If their job is they have to go to school for three hours a day, they have to go to school for three hours a day. And if their job is also being onstage and being a part of the show, then they have that. And part of my job is to rest and relax and make sure, “Okay, everybody's got this covered, and I'm going to get out there and perform.”
How do you feel about Secret Santa parties?
Eh. I don't know… It's just like… why?
“As a little girl I didn't have a lot of toys or things,” Carey says of her sometimes tough childhood, growing up in a small house with her mother, Patricia Carey, an opera singer. “The one thing I really wanted and finally got was Superstar Barbie.” This holiday season the superstar and Mattel debuted a Mariah Carey Barbie, complete with her signature butterfly ring and a microphone. She has one note, though: “They didn't let the V in the dress be quite a low as I wore it in the ‘All I Want for Christmas Is You’ video. I'm like, ‘Oh, Barbie, very demure!’”
