What makes Mariah Carey’s now annual “It’s time!” announcement so different this year isn’t just how much she’s leaning fully into the short-lived Chick era she first described in detail in her 2020 memoir, The Meaning of Mariah Carey, but also how antithetical being in a “punk rock” band (though, technically, Chick is supposed to be of the “grunge” genre [after all, she recorded the album, Someone’s Ugly Daughter, in 1995, when grunge was still having a moment with more corporate ilk like herself…and The Gap]) is to promoting Christmas. The most commercial time of the year, in addition to the so-called most wonderful one (though, to be fair, Christmas in its undiluted, non-commercial form could be considered punk, what with Mary defying the laws of nature by immaculately conceiving—either that, or being bad ass enough to make up the greatest lie of all time).
But, considering how Carey viewed “doing” grunge when it was still relevant, it’s not surprising that she should package a “punk” image into a Christmas-promoting (ergo, self-promoting) video to announce, as she has every year since 2019, “It’s time!” That view being, in Carey’s estimation, “I created an alter-ego artist and her Ziggy Stardust-like spoof band. My character was a dark-haired brooding goth girl who wrote and sang ridiculous tortured songs.” To present grunge or anything “alternative” as “ridiculous” should give one some indication of Carey not quite “understanding” the genre the way she does pop and hip hop/R&B.
In fact, treating it like something to “dress up as” for Halloween (when the opening part of the video sets its literal stage) should give an indication of just how “ridiculous”—cartoonish even—she does see punk/grunge/alternative music. To the point where, in order to funnel that dark-haired, “goth” “character” she created in 1995 while recording Daydream (incidentally, one of her cheeriest, poppiest albums) into something, she repurposed it in the form of cunty and outlandish “Bianca” (a more, let’s say, coiffed version of the Chick alter ego), who she first presented/embodied in the 1999 video for “Heartbreaker” featuring Jay-Z (the lead single from Rainbow). However, now that Carey is clearly more open to exploring a period in her past that she was forced by her erstwhile longtime record label, Columbia (a.k.a. Tommy Mottola), to suppress (not unlike Britney Spears with Original Doll), it seems she’s unlocked a new way to remind people that there is/still remains that part of herself somewhere inside. A part that would ostensibly never be such a corporate shill. Or so this alter ego would have the untrained eye believe. But clearly, Carey’s “interpretation” of what it means to be punk is superficial at best, and outright insulting at worst. Complete with the lyrics from Chick’s “Hermit” that she chooses to showcase at the start of the “It’s time!” video: “Like the hermit with his puzzle/Like the pit bull with no muzzle/Like Travolta with no hustle/Schwarzenegger with no muscle/So antisocial antisocial.”
Lyrics that, ultimately, amount to nonsensical gibberish. And, with the “benefit” of a modern perspective, they might even be likened to AI being told to come up with Hole-esque lyrics. To be sure, Carey (and Clarissa Dane, the singer/friend she eventually had to get to rework the songs so that no one would know it was her singing them anymore) was definitely going for a Courtney Love vibe with this project. Which just goes to show what a poseur she was in the first place for glomming on to this musical project as a means of “escape” from the torment of her personal life at that moment, with Carey explaining of retreating into this alter ego/recording in an entirely different genre, “I was in desperate need of release.” And apparently, must still be. That is, to dredge up a version of her Chick era for “It’s time!,” 2026 edition.
Indeed, reviving Chick at a moment that coincides with Carey also reviving her additionally (though not equally) underlooked and unappreciated Glitter era appears to be in keeping with her current mission to ensure that each and every one of her “babies” are shown the same respect and attention. Even if, fundamentally, the “Chick presentation” here is still all about “goofing off” and “having fun.” Though she can apparently see no irony in how “being punk” just doesn’t translate into being a mascot for corporate Christmas.
Which is why, after diving off the stage to crowd surf, Carey can then transition from that 11:59 p.m. “punk” instant on October 31st to that 12:00 a.m. one on November 1st when she becomes her “true self” (and literally breaking the ice to become it): the self-proclaimed Queen of Christmas. Reigning over all the sales and publicity that go with it (her commitment to capitalism being, thus far, most overt in the 2025 edition of “It’s time!”). As for the former, Carey has created a second career, of sorts, out of touring during the holiday season with her “Christmas concerts.” A seasonal show that’s been called everything from Merry Christmas to All! to Merry Christmas One and All to All I Want for Christmas Is You: A Night of Joy and Festivity. Until Carey finally decided to make it more cohesive with an annual event called Mariah Carey’s Christmas Time starting in 2024.
It’s all just part and parcel of being the “Queen of Christmas.” A title that’s a long way from the “punk” persona Carey channels in the first part of the “It’s time!” video this year. For what punk would take millions of dollars to randomly spray some Sol de Janeiro (call it her 2020s version of plugging Calgon in a song) at the camera in between penguins looking on and Santa riding by in his sleigh? (For you see, Carey has a direct line to Santa the way the Pope has a direct line to God.)
And after that bit of randomness (a.k.a. product placement), it concludes with “It’s time!” spelled out in a candy-cane pattern (naturally). To be sure, Carey also seems to think it’s time that the masses remember she’s capable of being “alt.” Though only if the appearance fee is conducive to her bottom line. Which, of course, means she’s not capable of it at all.
+ There are no comments
Add yours