💿 It’s tiiiime. In this new monthly section of the Weekend Edition, we will be shining the spotlight on an album or artist who has shaped or enriched the musical landscape as we know it. From pop and soul to blues and rock, Now Playing will explore global tunes to recommend the next soundtrack to your weekend.

In this week’s edition, we’re dissecting and defrosting a classic holiday anthem — one that, since its release, has conquered the season so effectively that it’s become a meme. That is, of course, Mariah Carey’s seminal Christmas anthem: 1994’s All I Want for Christmas is You.

It’s 1994, Mariah Carey is still fresh in the biz, having just debuted four years prior with her hit self-titled album. Her star was on the rise, with hits like Emotions making the rounds and topping the charts — yet there remained one pivotal move yet to be played by the whistle-tone master: a Christmas album.

A rite of passage for many an artist, Carey’s pivotal work cemented her as The Queen of Christmas. Now almost 32 years later, All I Want for Christmas is You is one of Carey’s most popular — and successful — songs.

Co-written by producer Walter Afanasieff, the song was a hit from the minute it was released, but streaming has taken it to new heights over the past decade. In 2017, the song made the top 10 on the charts for the first time in its history. It’s been unstoppable since. In 2019, it hit number one on the charts — and that’s been the case since. In 2023, Billboard crowned it the greatest holiday song of all time. This year, the song broke the record for most weeks at number 1 at 20 weeks — but why?

“When you think of Christmas right now, you think of that song,” Grammy-award-winning composer David Foster once said. In the months leading up to the holidays, the song is everywhere and inescapable — third only to death and taxes, as the BBC so humorously puts it. Of all the Christmas songs out there, it’s this one that never stops playing, rising in the ranks to sit comfortably next to White Christmas, Last Christmas, Santa Baby, and Baby It’s Cold Outside — the staples.

It’s not just a holiday song — it’s a timeless love song. What the song essentially did was subvert all that has come to be synonymous with Christmas — gifts, festivities, or holiday traditions — and made it about a woman just wanting her lover by her side. It’s fresh, fun, and proudly festive in melody and composition. Plus, Carey slayed (sleighed?) on the vocals front. In short: it was a recipe for success, and it still cooks. It doesn’t feel like a song from the ‘90s.

Carey’s cultural impact is palpable. The song has been entrenched into the very fabric of the season. Words like “defrosting” and “hibernation” have become more so synonymous with Carey than with actual winter. Her success — though yet to be replicated — has paved the way for a slew of other pop artists to have similar trajectories and experiment with their holiday tunes, from Ariana Grande’s Santa Tell Me to Kelly Clarkson’s Underneath the Tree.

Now, don’t let us keep you. Do yourself a favor and press play.

WHERE TO LISTEN- Aside from hearing it blasted from speakers in any and all public establishments throughout Cairo, you can listen to Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas is You on Apple Music | Spotify | YouTube | Anghami.

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