Halloween ended. Mariah Carey went straight to Christmas. But first, she went punk.
Right at midnight on Sunday, Nov. 1, Mariah posted her yearly “It’s time!” video. The caption: “IT’S TIME!!!!” This year it came with a twist.
The video opens on her Halloween night. Mariah is in a colorful wig, punk makeup and fishnets, thrashing through a song in a New York City dive bar. When the clock hits midnight, she stage dives into the crowd and lands in full Christmas mode, in a sparkly Santa-style jumpsuit, with “All I Want for Christmas Is You” kicking in.
Her son, Moroccan, summed it up in the comments: “ITS FREAKING TIME YO.”
- The video
- Mariah’s yearly “It’s time!” post, Sunday, Nov. 1, on Instagram
- The punk song
- “Hermit,” from her shelved ’90s grunge album “Someone’s Ugly Daughter”
- The holiday ad
- Gucci, directed by Harmony Korine, out Monday, Nov. 2
- The song
- “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” 22 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100
Wait, Mariah has a grunge album?
She does. Mariah made “Someone’s Ugly Daughter” more than 30 years ago, while she was working on her 1995 album “Daydream.” It came out under the band name Chick, with her friend Clarissa Dane singing lead and Mariah on backing vocals. “Hermit” is the centerpiece.
Fans have wanted Mariah’s own version for years. A few days before the video, a fan asked her about it in a Reddit Q&A. Her answer: “I get asked this about once a week. my answer is…#notyet (this is a hint!)”
Then came Gucci
One day after the video, Mariah starred in Gucci’s new holiday ad, directed by Harmony Korine. Hotel staff rush to deck out the place before she arrives, and she turns it into a glamorous holiday party, set to, yes, “All I Want for Christmas Is You.” The ad also shows off a Gucci “Butterfly” collection, a nod to her 1997 album “Butterfly.”
That song has spent 22 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 since it came out in 1994. With the season just starting, Billboard says it could add more.
So which Mariah do you want next: the grunge album or another Christmas run? Tell us, and keep it locked to WLIT.FM.
Source: Billboard, TheGrio, Complex. Photo: Shawn Miller / Library of Congress, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
