State Champ Radio Mariah Carey
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Mariah Carey proved once again that she’s the reigning Queen of Christmas when she bumped a superfan who will be attending her Friday night (Dec. 16) “Merry Christmas to All” gig at Madison Square Garden to the front row.
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It all started when a Twitter user named Jordan Faso took to Twitter to reveal that they are planning to attend Carey’s show despite an injury. “Having a sprained foot is not going to stop me from seeing @MariahCarey on friday! i will crawl in MSG,” they tweeted along with a string of laughing emojis.
Carey, upon seeing the post, sweetly replied, “I wouldn’t want you to crawl!! Maybe instead you can sit in the front row for tomorrow’s show???”
Of course, Faso was thrilled over the news. “GUYS IM SHAKING LOL,” the fan wrote.
GUYS IM SHAKING LOL— 𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐤 #𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐡𝐒𝐙𝐍 (@JordanFaso) December 16, 2022
The interaction came just two days after Carey upgraded another member of her Lambily fanbase, who traveled from Uruguay to New York just to the the show, to front row. “Today I’m traveling from my country, which is 8.598km (5.342,55miles) away from NY, just to see my idol @MariahCarey,” the fan named Mai wrote on Monday (Dec. 12). “I remember when I started saving for this day 5 years ago, wishing and hoping for this day. Words can’t describe my happiness rn, love u forever Mimi!”
“I am so happy you’re going to be here!!!,” Carey responded along with a snowflake and Christmas tree emoji. “How would you like to sit in the front row for tonight’s concert??”
TORONTO — At her first live concert since the pandemic, the Queen of Christmas herself, Mariah Carey, brought out her princess, Monroe, to duet with her at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena on Friday night on the 19th-century carol “Away in a Manger,” and the 11-year-old is cut from the same tulle cloth as her mom. In other words, she can sing.
Both mom and daughter, resplendent in sparkly white dresses and tiaras, sat for the song on a set that included Christmas trees, presents and toy soldiers.
“This is my baby girl, here,” Carey said in her introduction. “Eleven years ago, I got the greatest gift. You know what, I don’t have birthdays, but the birthing day was the greatest gift ever, when I had my twins Roc and Roe [Moroccan and Monroe], and once again I’d like to introduce you to my daughter, Monroe.
“This is our first duet,” Carey told the sold-out crowd, before asking her daughter if her dress is OK. “Alright, this is a beautiful, beautiful hymn called ‘Away in a Manger.’ We’ve been working on this one for a minute,” she says, gently patting her daughter’s back.
Carey started the song with some notes showing off her inimitable upper range before Monroe — not looking the least bit nervous — started with the lyric, smoothly and indeed beautifully, to roars of approval from the impressed audience of 13,000. “My daughter, Miss Monroe,” she said proudly at the end of the 90-second song.
The family-friendly Merry Christmas to All! Concert was Mimi’s first of four, two in Toronto and two in New York City at Madison Square Garden, Dec. 13 and 16. On Saturday (Dec. 10), her stage has been dismantled for the night’s Maple Leafs vs. Flames game and will go back up again for Sunday night.
Carey kept referring to the show as a dress rehearsal and trial run, but with her killer band and dancers, and festive stage design, there were no lumps of coal in this hour and 45-minute set.
She was also funny, endearing, self-deprecating, gracious and warm, discussing the hardships of the lockdown, soaking in the audience, telling a fan she would keep the handmade pillow embroidered with her likeness, praising her band, and playing up her vanity by blotting her face with tissues and bringing her makeup artists out on the stage to do touch-ups.
The setlist was mostly comprised of Christmas songs, including the highly anticipated finale of her perennial Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” for which she received a diamond-certification plaque onstage.
And for those unable to catch any of the four shows, Carey’s two-hour concert special Mariah Carey: Merry Christmas to All! airs Dec. 20 on CBS and Paramount+.
Watch a fan-shot video of the moment below:
Mariah Carey graces The Late Show With Stephen Colbert with her presence on Wednesday night’s (Dec. 7) episode, and in the lead-up to the sit-down, the talk show gave fans a sneak peek at the Queen of Christmas taking Stephen Colbert’s famed “Colbert Questionert.”
The host kicks off the round of questions by asking, “You only get one song to listen to for the rest of your life. What is it?” Mariah’s answer turns out to inadvertently be one of her very own. “Stephen Colbert’s latest hit,” she replied cheekily, to which Colbert informed her, “The last song I sang was ‘All I Want for Christmas’ on this show, last night, actually. … I ended the monologue singing your song last night!”
Of course, the icon wanted to know just how much of her No. 1 hit the host crooned, and he treated her to the song’s iconic intro and part of the chorus. “You skipped a little part of the B section, but that’s all right,” Mariah sang along to the melody as the audience erupted into laughter with her.
“All I Want for Christmas Is You” has already begun its now-annual journey up the Hot 100 for this Christmas season. On the chart dated Dec. 10, the 1994 single sits at No. 2, just behind Taylor Swift’s “Anti-Hero.” It’s peaked at No. 1 three years in a row now, dating back to its first ascension in 2019.
Later this month, Carey is bringing her Christmas spirit to New York City and Toronto for a quartet of Merry Christmas to All! holiday concerts, and will also get her very own primetime holiday special on CBS.
Watch a preview of Mariah’s festive “Colbert Questionert” below.
Welcome to The Contenders, a midweek column that looks at artists aiming for the top of the Billboard charts, and the strategies behind their efforts. This week (for the upcoming Billboard 200 albums chart dated Dec. 10): Tis the season for holiday albums to invade the top of the charts, but albums from Taylor Swift, Drake and 21 Savage, and Bad Bunny could push back the tree-lighting for a week.
Michael Bublé, Christmas (143/Reprise): It’s beginning to look a lot like Michael Bublé season on the Billboard 200 once again. The 21st century crooner peaks his head into the chart’s top tier this week with his 2011 Christmas set, which climbs 19-10 on the listing dated Dec. 3, and should continue its ascent in the weeks to come.
Christmas, featuring Bublé’s velvety versions of holiday standards like “Jingle Bells,” “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town,” and “White Christmas” (the latter a duet with Shania Twain), is no stranger to the top of the Billboard 200: The album spent five weeks at No. 1 across 2011 and 2012, and finished No. 2 on the Year-End Billboard 200 for 2012, behind Adele’s 21. Last holiday season, Adele was once again the Grinch who stole the Christmas No. 1, as Bublé’s album rose to No. 2 on the Billboard 200 dated Jan. 1, 2022, after her 30.
This year Bublé will face a different challenger: Taylor Swift’s Midnights, which has reigned on the Billboard 200 for four of the past five weeks, posting equivalent album units in the six digits each frame. Time will tell if the Christmas spirit is strong enough to prevail. (Last holiday season, Christmas‘ biggest one-week unit sum was 77,000.)
Mariah Carey, Merry Christmas (Columbia): No artist of the last 30 years is as synonymous with the holiday season as Mariah Carey. However, while Carey’s Billboard Hot 100 dominance has become an annual event – her perennial “All I Want for Christmas Is You” has bested the chart each of the last three holiday seasons, ruling for a combined eight weeks – she has yet to top the Billboard 200 with that single’s parent album.
Merry Christmas climbed as high as No. 3 when it came out in 1994 – Kenny G’s less enduring seasonal set Miracles: The Holiday Album ruled the Dec. 17 chart – but has yet to return to a higher perch than No. 4, which it reached on the chart dated Jan. 4, 2020. (The album’s sequel, Merry Christmas II You, also reached No. 4 upon its Nov. 2010 release.) This week, Merry Christmas jumps 40-19 — still behind Bublé, but you can never count out the Queen of Christmas.
Vince Guaraldi Trio, A Charlie Brown Christmas Soundtrack (Fantasy): It’s not all seasonal pop standards on the Billboard 200: The sentimental pull of jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi’s 1965 soundtrack to the classic A Charlie Brown Christmas special spans generations, and makes the set an annual chart contender in the streaming era. The album hit the Billboard 200’s top 10 for the first time two holiday seasons ago, on the chart dated Jan. 2, 2021, then reached a new peak of No. 6 on the Jan. 1 chart this year. Now it’s once again on the rise, climbing from No. 43 to No. 17 on this week’s chart.
IN THE MIX
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Live at the Fillmore 1997 (Warner): This new 58-track live set from Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, which spans the group’s 20-night residency at the storied San Francisco venue a quarter-century ago and is available in 2-CD and 3-LP regular editions, 4-CD and 6-LP deluxe editions, plus a limited edition 6xLP Uber Deluxe — should also make a sizeable debut.
Quando Rondo and YoungBoy Never Broke Again, 3860 (Quando Rondo, LLC/Never Broke Again/Atlantic): It’s been five whole weeks since we last covered YoungBoy Never Broke Again in The Contenders, but before the holidays get into full swing, he’s got one more set to sneak into his already project-strewn 2022. This time, it’s a collaborative mixtape with fellow southern rapper Quando Rondo, who is signed to YoungBoy’s label (called Never Broke Again), and takes center stage on the release, with solo showcases on five of its 16 tracks.
Brockhampton, TM (Question Everything/RCA): Brockhampton pulled double duty last week with a pair of farewell releases, The Family and TM. The former set debuted at No. 15 on the most recent Billboard 200 (dated Dec. 3), but the latter was nowhere to be found – a state of affairs that should change this week, as sales of signed CDs available on the band’s website will likely boost the set’s totals to charting levels.
Mariah Carey hit the town in New York City on Saturday night with 11-year-old daughter Monroe Cannon in tow for an adorable mommy-and-me date night.
“Mom/Daughter Duo Hair Extravaganzas!!! #Thehairtales,” the icon captioned the snap of herself and the female half of Dem Babies in matching, curly hairstyles pulled back with braids and all-black ensembles. In the photo, Carey gazes lovingly down at her daughter while Monroe grins directly at the camera.
Earlier this month, Mimi enlisted Monroe and her brother Moroccan to help remind fans that it’s almost time to break out the Christmas music in a cheeky Instagram video filmed from her bathtub. (From off-camera, the twins pester their famous mom to listen to “All I Want for Christmas Is You” and decorate the tree, though Mariah is quick to chide, “not yet!”)
Since then, Carey has announced a pair of “Merry Christmas to All!” holiday concerts set for Dec. 11 at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena and Dec. 13 at New York City’s Madison Square Garden. Meanwhile, Monroe and Moroccan have recently become half-siblings to not one, not two, but three new babies in the last three months thanks to their dad Nick Cannon welcoming son Legendary Love Cannon with model Bre Tiesi, daughter Onyx Ice Cold Cannon with model Lanisha Cole, and Rise Messiah Cannon with model Brittany Bell.
All in all, Dem Babies are now the oldest of Cannon’s 10 children with six different women. And despite juggling all the newborns, the Masked Singer host clearly still makes plenty of time for the twins — posting a sweet video dancing to Carey’s hit “Emotions” with Monroe back in August.
Get a look at Mariah and Monroe’s night in NYC below.
