Mariah Carey Will Wish ‘Merry Christmas to All!’ in Prime-Time Holiday Special

Mariah Carey is bringing her Christmas cheer directly into your house this season. The singer announced on Thursday (Nov. 10) that she will sled through all her holiday favorites on Dec. 20 during an all-new two-hour primetime special, Mariah Carey: Merry Christmas to All! , slated to air on CBS and Paramount .

The announcement came during an appearance on CBS Mornings on Thursday, where MC dropped by to promote her first-ever yuletide picture book, The Christmas Princess, as well to explain why she just can’t get enough of mistletoe and eggnog season. The special will be filmed at Carey’s upcoming two-night “Merry Christmas to All!” stand at New York’s Madison Square Garden on Dec. 13 and 16; she will also bring the show to Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena on Dec. 9 and 11.

With one of the most enduring modern Christmas classics of all time in “All I Want For Christmas Is You,” Mariah was asked if she feels like she has to continually up her holiday game in order to retain her Christmas Queen crown and whether she thinks the slow-rolling retail cheer creep is getting out of hand. It is too early! She said, “Tell that to the shops!” about the slow Santa slide that finds big box outlets pre-stocking jingle trinkets long before Halloween haunts have even left stores.

Carey said, “Honestly, we need to get to Thanksgiving,” and then added that she believes it’s appropriate to ramp up Rudolph’s game. And not for nothing she noted, her signature “it’s time” tweets were not originally her doing, but American Idol host Ryan Seacrest’s. “I believe Ryan Seacrest tweeted me, and he said, “Hey Mariah! I wanna get festive, it’s time to get into the holiday spirit.” Do you think it’s high time ?,'”? she recalled. “And I thought it’s funny and I’m like, ‘not yet.’ So we started filming people asking us questions, or I’d be in a dentist chair [and they’d] ask if we should put Christmas music on for them. ‘”

Carey stated that she was extremely proud of the fact that her first “Merry Christmas To All!” MSG show sold out in less than an hour. “I have no words,” she said, teasing that there will be a few “new sections” of the show she last performed in 2019, including fan requests of songs she hasn’t performed in the holiday showcase yet.

Below, Mariah’s announcements and interview.