Hamberites on Christmas Music: When It Should Start, Their Favourites, and Mariah Carey
Photo Credit: Mariah Carey/YouTube
On Nov. 1, singer Mariah Carey released a video titled “Mariah Carey - IT’S TIME!” on her YouTube channel. It depicts her inside a vault, being defrosted from a block of ice by figures in Halloween costumes. She then screams “It’s time!”, which breaks the ice, and she proceeds to dance to her signature song, “All I Want For Christmas Is You”.
This video blew up online, receiving 9.3 million views in one month. This only added to the long-standing popularity of the song. The original music video has over 772 million views, and a remake released on Nov. 19 of this year for the 2023 Billboard Music Award received more than 5.5 million views. "It’s basically a religion at this point," said Yolanda Yan (12).
With its popularity, the song has also attracted dislike from some people, who believe it is overplayed. In a 2019 survey conducted by phone company Huawei, Carey’s song was voted as the number one most annoying Christmas song in the UK. Additionally, there has been debate over when to begin playing the song every year. In 2021, the Washington Post reported on a Texas bar that went viral for banning the song from being played on their jukebox before Dec. 1.
What are Hamberites’ opinions on holiday tunes? Do they think Christmas music should be blasted from every radio station earlier? Or is it overrated? If so, what other songs have they been playing on repeat for the festive season?
Mr. M. Todd (Mathematics) used the same start date for Christmas music as the Texan bar. “It should only be playing for a few weekends so I don’t get sick of hearing “Jingle Bells” playing over and over,” he said. Even if he thinks that they can be a bit overplayed, he still loves the songs "because [of] the words, and how everyone knows them.”
“I like to play piano at Christmas parties all night long. I know all the songs, and I’ve played them for years and years,” said Mr. Todd. His favourite carol is “Once in Royal David’s City”, because “it’s very heartwarming” and “the lyrics are very poetic, about Jesus going through a life we have, [...] with childhood and weakness.”
He also shared his opinion on “All I Want For Christmas Is You”, saying that “if you listen to the lyrics, they sound very strange. She’s saying she just wants a person, a romantic interest I suppose, [but] she seems to be putting the person below the things. It’s saying ‘you’re not much, but I’ll take it.’ Although the melody is catchy and all, I think that if you have that message in your mind, it can be a little problematic. People are more important than things.”
In contrast, Yuxuan Wu (9) loves the Mariah Carey song. “It’s my second favourite song after “Deck the Halls”. I like “Deck the Halls” because it has a really nice melody,” she said. Wu has been playing her Christmas playlist since Halloween this year, as she “really feel[s] the Christmas spirit”.
Mr. N. Francis (Music) said that his experience as a band director has shaped his Christmas carol preferences. “It's really tough to choose, but I have two favourites: an old and ancient English carol called ‘The Coventry Carol’, and an old German one, the famous setting by Michael Praetorius called ‘Lo, How A Rose 'Ere Blooming’ (‘Es ist ein Ros' Entsprungen’).”
In his opinion, Christmas music should start playing “about 5:00 PM on the 23rd [of December]. I could handle December 15th. Any earlier than that, no way.”
Mr. Francis was very strongly against Mariah Carey’s song. “It really is the last thing I want for Christmas. If I could have anything else for Christmas, like a broken leg, serious property damage, they'd all come ahead of that song. Mariah Carey should just stop. She should really just stop.”
Donovan Wong (10) reflected on the impacts of playing Christmas music too early. “Three weeks straight of Christmas music is so annoying, and also, it’s meant to be special. If you play it every single day, then it’s no longer special and it loses the Christmas feel to it. So December first, earliest.”
Louie Lee (12) had a similar view, commenting that carols should be played “during Winter Break, [starting on] the first day.”
Ms. T. Florian (Fine Arts) shared a different experience with Mariah Carey’s Christmas hit. “It used to annoy me so much, but now I love it. Actually, that was the first song that I played for my class a couple weeks ago,” she explained. “How can you resist? She hits some really high notes. My favourite is when everybody goes up, singing ‘All I want for Christmas is YOUUUUUUU’ and everybody’s voice breaks and it’s an absolute disaster.”
Ms. Florian’s view on “All I Want For Christmas Is You” is not her only Christmas song-related opinion that’s changed over time. Her current favourite is Chance the Rapper’s “Merry Christmas Lil’ Mama”. But she has loved many Christmas songs from around the world over the years, including the Trojan Records's CD box set of Jamaican Christmas Classics. “I wish we could learn different songs from different cultures,” she concluded. “We’re going to be doing that in my Socials class. I’m very excited.”