The history behind Christmas’ most popular song

BY ASHTYN HANSARD

Digital Media Director

Now that Halloween has passed, many people around the world are beginning to prepare their homes for Christmas. One way to do this is to play Christmas music, more specifically, Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You.”

While the song is over 30 years old, it’s been popular from the start.

Released on Oct. 29, 1994, by Columbia Records, “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” a record on her fourth studio album titled “Merry Christmas,” became an instant hit and reached number six on Billboard’s charts. The New Yorker has called it “one of the few worthy modern additions to the holiday canon.”

This release instantly grew Carey and her co-writer, Walter Afanasieff’s, popularity.

Since its release, this Christmas hit has sold over 16 million copies across the world and is one of the best selling Christmas songs of all time.

Not only does it have high praise, but it’s consistently the number one song on the charts every Christmas season in the United States.

While artists releasing Christmas albums is not a big deal now, it wasn’t very common back in the 90s. Typically, artists only released holiday albums if their careers were starting to decline.

For Carey, she was just getting started.

Many of us probably know a majority of these lyrics by heart, but I wonder if we all knew the reason why Carey wanted to create a Christmas album and this popular hit.

When looking into the history of this song, I was expecting a simple reason that Carey decided to write “All I Want for Christmas Is You.” Instead, I found something a little bit deeper.

According to an article by Biography, Carey always enjoyed Christmas but often had struggles with it due to complicated relationships with her family members and financial trouble.

Despite the struggle during the holiday, Carey still wanted to find joy during the holidays.

“I always wanted to have a really good time at Christmas, and they would ruin it, so I vowed in my own life I would make sure every Christmas was great,” Carey said in an interview with Cosmopolitan UK.

After learning this information, I tried to see if this was reflected somewhere in the lyrics of “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” but I only found a wholesome story in the lyrics.

While many of us already know the lyrics and the story, I thought I’d point out some of my favorite parts of the song.

Firstly, I really do love the intro of the song. Carey sings a slower rendition of her main chorus, slowly teasing the listener for the main beat and melody of the song.

I’m well aware that this answer is basic, but what’s better than hearing those bells ring at the start of the song, knowing you’re about to belt the lyrics with your friends?

Another favorite part of mine is the first two lines of the chorus, “I just want you for my own, more than you could ever know.”

While these are nice lyrics, my love for this line has more to do with the walkdown of notes Carey does while singing. It itches my brain and gets stuck in my head every time I hear it.

Finally, I also just adore the beat and instrumentals of the entire song. It gets me instantly in the Christmas spirit, even if it’s only early November. The production gives a whimsical atmosphere to the song and really pulls it all together.

“All I Want for Christmas Is You” may be the most popular Christmas song, but the history and impacts of the song are just as interesting as the holiday feel that it brings.