When she wrote her festive hit “All I Want For Christmas” in
1994 Mariah Carey wasn't being entirely honest.
The Christmas cracker of a track has sold more than 16 million copies worldwide and includes the lyrics, “I don't care about the presents underneath the Christmas tree,” and, “I won't even wish for snow.” Now the Queen of Christmas admits she can't get enough gifts and decorations, and dreams of a white Christmas every year!
“It was the first Christmas song I ever wrote,” admits the 55-year-old diva. “I was thinking of all the things I really did want at Christmas! When I sing, ‘I won't even wish for snow,’ that's a lie, I did wish for snow, it's the most important thing! And that thing where I don't care about the presents at Christmas? Of course I do! We all love a present! But I guess if there is someone that you love, it means more than all that stuff.”
To celebrate the song's 30th anniversary, Mariah has filmed a new interview with Rylan Clark for BBC Two called Mariah Meets Rylan.
As the pair settle down to talk all things Christmas, Mariah tells Rylan how her priorities have changed since she wrote the track. The singer — who has sold more than 200 million albums worldwide — now spends Christmas with her 13-year-old twins Moroccan and Monroe, who truly are the only thing she wants for Christmas.
Asked what the best Christmas gift she's ever received from her kids is, Mariah replies, “Just them being them. No, it really is true… They're very, very cool kids.”
With an estimated net worth of £280 million, Mariah enjoys sumptuous Christmases and she admits that Roc and Roe, as her twins known, do get lavished with gifts.
“They are 13, they've had some Christmases growing up,” smiles Mariah. “They do their Christmas lists and they are quite lengthy…”
Like any mum Mariah cherishes Christmas with her children, and when Rylan suggests they're growing up and won't be spending Christmas with their mum soon, she's horrified, saying, “Give it a few more years. Don't freak me out!”
Growing up in New York, Mariah had a very different childhood to her own children. She was the youngest of three but her mum Patricia was a vocal coach who helped develop her singing talents — especially at Christmas.
“I used to sing with my mother on the piano, so I would learn songs I wanted to sing,” Mariah says. “I would sing with my mum and her friends. They would go carolling.”
For young Mariah, music gave her a sense of freedom. “I love the way it carries you away,” she says. “Music is an escape, it always was. I just loved music in general.”
However, while she was pursuing her dream, Mariah worked in various hair salons and as a waitress, with uncharacteristically little success.
Recalling her time as a waitress, she says, “I couldn't do the cash register. I couldn't figure it out and most of the girls who worked there were 25 and I was 18 and they were like, ‘Look at her! She can't even do the cash register…’ and I couldn't!”
Mariah's beauty career didn't work out too well either. “I went to beauty school. I figured, ‘OK, I'm just going to be the girl who sweeps up the hair, anything to make a bit of money…’ But the guy who owned the place said something like, ‘Your name is now Echo,’ and I was like, ‘Honey, that is not my name!’ So I left to make a phone call and never went back!”
Mariah learnt piano in her childhood but even though she went on to become a prolific songwriter, penning all her own tracks, Mariah didn't enjoy her lessons. “I played the piano when I was little but it wasn't a good time,” says Mariah. However, she retains a soft spot for the instrument and now owns Marilyn Monroe's white baby grand piano, which she bought in 1999 for $662,500 (around £522,500). “It's my treasured, most prized possession,” says Mariah.
Writing her own music was the key to Mariah's success and has allowed her to control her career.
“I said, ‘You can't force me to do other people's material’,” says Mariah as she explains her early contract negotiations. “I just wanted to write songs. I used to hear songs on the radio and think every artist wrote songs. I didn't know that some artists got songs from a songwriter then recorded them. For me it was another release, something that I loved to do.”
Back in the 1990s Mariah used to come up with melodies then she'd call herself and sing it into her answering machine. Now she uses voice notes. In her chat with Rylan, Mariah admits she wrote her hit “Hero” in the bathroom. “Somebody came in to the room who worked at the record company, and they were like, ‘There is this movie with Dustin Hoffman, he's this guy and he becomes a hero…’” explains Mariah. “I was like, ‘Let me run to the loo for a moment,’ because I didn't care about the story but it was in my head and I was in the loo and I was like [sings], ‘There's a hero…’ Back then that was the only time I was by myself. It's super glamorous!”
Mariah's singing career introduced her to musical heroes including Aretha Franklin, David Bowie and Stevie Wonder. But it was “Last Christmas” singer George Michael who captured her heart. “I loved George Michael,” she says. “I loved his music. Before I ever met him Faith was one of my top favourite albums. We went to dinner one time in England and talked about all the people we didn't like!”
Mariah is known for being an iconic diva and has always been extravagant about Christmas. When she first recorded “All I Want For Christmas,” she insisted they decorated the studios with not one, but two trees. She laughs, “I did doll up the studio. I put lights everywhere on the walls. I put two trees up. I wanted it to be festive. I don't feel the same way when things aren't decorated!”
