Mariah Carey has been the Queen of Christmas for as long as most of Gen-Z has been alive. Coincidentally, the diamond-certified singer reveals the title was bestowed upon her as opposed to it being self-proclaimed declaration.
During her Wednesday (Dec. 7) appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Carey, 52, admitted, “First of all, may I say I never called myself the Queen of Christmas. Can we please be clear on that? Others have said the ‘self-proclaimed’ Queen of Christmas. Really, I’m going to do that? They can look up every interview I’ve ever done, and, not to get super religious, but I think like if anybody would be queen of Christmas that would be Mary.”
The “All I Want For Christmas Is You” singer later spoke on her affinity for the whimsical holiday. “Christmas is for all and I just happen to really love Christmas,” she shared. “Because I grew up and had kind of a tough childhood and I always wanted Christmas to be perfect and it never was. So when I was finally able to provide for myself and my friends and later my little kids who are 11, Roc and Roe, we had the most festive Christmas ever.”
While promoting her upcoming holiday concert special, the festive songbird admitted her tunes stem “from a place of longing to have some normalcy and some peace.” As far as her hit Christmas record is concerned, Carey explained, “I wrote it and I didn’t know that it would last or that it would do what it’s done for me. Now I’m not really in stores, except at Christmas time which is the only time I go shopping.”
Mariah Carey: Merry Christmas To All airs on Dec. 20 on CBS.