Christmas is coming early for 2019.
More than 25 years after the release of her iconic winter carol, “All I Want For Christmas Is You,” legendary songstress Mariah Carey released an updated music video for the winter classic Thursday night (Dec. 19).
The Queen of Christmas is already making this anniversary (and holiday season) one to remember as she’s dropped off a string of new Christmas content including previously unreleased behind-the-scenes footage from the song’s original 2009 video.
Whereas the original video was a home-shot styled montage of a then-24-year-old Carey gleefully frolicking in the snow with Santa Claus, decorating her Christmas tree and tending to reindeer, the rebooted Joseph Kahn-directed visual, is shot through from the perspective of children, aptly capturing what makes the holiday so special: the magic of wonder.
Carey’s twins, Moroccan and Monroe, alongside ABC’s Mixed-ish actress, Mykal-Michelle Harris, snap into the holiday spirit for the visual as they watch Christmas comes to life around them after a wink from Santa Claus. Carey then whisks them away to her secret winter wonderland filled with candy canes and dancing nutcrackers backdropped by a snow-white mansion.
“We wanted to make a modern classic,” Carey explained of the new visual during a YouTube-broadcast Q&A session, according to Entertainment Tonight. “It’s kind of the opposite of the original video…This is more of a production.”
The music video’s 2019 makeover comes after the Christmas classic recently topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart for the first time ever since its 1994 release. Not only did this give Carey her 19th chart-topper, but “All I Want For Christmas Is You” made history as the second Christmas carol to ever go No. 1, a feat that even shocked Carey herself.
“We definitely wanted to kick it into high gear this year with the song to celebrate the 25th anniversary, but I definitely didn’t expect it to hit No. 1 two weeks before Christmas,” Carey told Billboard.
In a separate interview with Entertainment Weekly, Carey revealed that she was initially hesitant about recording her Merry Christmas album, which graced the world with “All I Want For Christmas Is You.”
“That’s because it was so early in my career. I didn’t feel, from a strategic point of view, that it was time to do something like that,” she explained of her initial reluctance. “As much as I love Christmas, I thought that the record company was off. Obviously, I couldn’t have been more wrong.”
Thank goodness for Mimi’s change of heart!
Watch Mariah Carey’s new visual for “All I Want For Christmas Is You (Make My Wish Come True Edition)” below.