Mariah Carey has revealed a series of new concert dates for her latest holiday revue titled “Merry Christmas To All!” Running two days on Dec. 11 at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Canada, and Dec. 13 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, both shows will celebrate Carey’s catalog of recorded holiday songs.
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Fans purchasing tickets to “Merry Christmas To All!” will also be able to purchase an exclusive t-shirt in addition to a copy of Carey’s upcoming illustrated holiday fairytale picture book. The Christmas Princess, available Nov. 1.
Carey’s 1994 hit “All I Want for Christmas Is You” hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2021 for the third time, making history as the first song to hold three distinct runs on the chart. Released on Carey’s holiday album, Merry Christmas, the song reached the top 10 on the chart for the first time in 2017, before hitting No. 1 in 2019, 2020, and again in 2021.
In 2021, Carey was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. “She has always been a serious songwriter and a serious artist,” said Questlove, who inducted Carey. He added, “Success at this level, especially for Black artists, is a real obstacle course.”
Carey, who has written 19 No. 1 hits throughout her career—including “Fantasy,” “Always Be My Baby,” “Vision of Love,” “Emotions,” “Honey,” and more—said she was often overlooked as a songwriter. “I need to check out this lighting,” joked Carey about her diva personality. “My lighting guy… it’s a long story, he couldn’t get on the plane.” Carey said this was her first live appearance since the pandemic and was upset that her collaborator Jermaine Dupri, who was inducted in 2018, wasn’t present.
She added, “I constantly have to remind people I’m a songwriter.”
Sticking to her holiday theme, Carey recently began pursuing a patent for the title “Queen of Christmas.” If the trademark is granted to Carey, no one else will be able to use the term “Queen of Christmas,” which met some resistance from holiday singers like Darlene Love and Elizabeth Chan, who have both been dubbed “Queen of Christmas” throughout the years.
“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,” said Carey. “And let’s face it, you know, everybody’s faith is what it is. But to me, [the Virgin] Mary is the Queen of Christmas.”
