Pixabay
Global superstar singer and advisor for “The Voice” season 15 Mariah Carey has booked a brand-new Christmas special at CBS and Paramount Plus called “Mariah Carey: Merry Christmas to All!” coming to TV and streaming for Christmas 2022.
Here’s what you need to know:
‘Queen of Christmas’ Mariah Carey is Headlining a 2-Hour Concert Special
CBS
In a press release, CBS and Paramount Plus announced that five-time Grammy-winning singer “Queen of Christmas” Mariah Carey is headlining a two-hour Christmas concert called “Merry Christmas to All!”.
The press release teases:
Filmed in New York City at the world-renowned Madison Square Garden arena, the concert special will feature the singer-songwriter performing a repertoire of her festive holiday hits, including the chart-topping massive perennial favorite “All I Want for Christmas Is You.”
The special will be broadcast on Tuesday, December 20 from 8 to 10 p.m. Eastern and Pacific times on CBS; it will also be available to stream and on demand on Paramount Plus on December 20. After the initial CBS broadcast, MTV will also offer additional opportunities for viewing.
On Instagram, Carey posted a photo of the key art for the special and wrote, “This Christmas present will unwrap on 12/20… 🎁😉. ❤️, Mariah & CBS.”
The ‘Queen of Christmas’ Title is Somewhat Disputed
The “Queen of Christmas” moniker has become embroiled in legal trouble lately. It started when Carey tried to trademark the phrase “Queen of Christmas,” which rankled two other singers who considere themselves to also be Queens of Christmas, Elizabeth Chan and Darlene Love.
As profiled by the New Yorker in 2018, Chan is a full-time Christmas song singer/writer. After writing 50 Christmas songs in 2012 in an attempt to make it a full-time job, she was encouraged to put out the songs herself and has now released more than seven albums, including one from 2021 titled “The Queen of Christmas.”
Chan told Variety in a 2022 interview, “I feel very strongly that no one person should hold onto anything around Christmas or monopolize it in the way that Mariah seeks to in perpetuity. That’s just not the right thing to do. Christmas is for everyone. It’s meant to be shared; it’s not meant to be owned.”
She continued, “And it’s not just about the music business. She’s trying to trademark this in every imaginable way — clothing, liquor products, masks, dog collars — it’s all over the map. If you knit a ‘Queen of Christmas’ sweater, you should be able to sell it on Etsy to somebody else so they can buy it for their grandma. It’s crazy — it would have that breadth of registration.”
Singer Darlene Love, who sang the classic “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” every year on David Letterman’s show from 1986 to 2014, has her own bone to pick with Carey, writing in a Facebook post that Letterman declared her the Queen of Christmas a year before Carey released “All I Want For Christmas is You.”
Additionally, months before Carey tried to trademark “Queen of Christmas,” she actually told the Zoe Hall Breakfast Show (via the Daily Mail) that she does not believe she is the Queen of Christmas.
“That was other people [who called me that] and I just want to humbly say that I don’t consider myself that,” said Carey. “I’m someone that loves Christmas, that happened to be blessed to write ‘All I Want For Christmas is You.’ And a lot of other CHristmas songs. And let’s face it, you know, everybody’s faith is what it is. But to me, Mary is the Queen of Christmas.”
“Mariah Carey: Merry Christmas to All!” premieres Tuesday, December 20 at 8 p.m. Eastern and Pacific times on CBS and streaming on Paramount Plus.