JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
The holidays are upon us, which means this one song might feel virtually inescapable.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS YOU")
MARIAH CAREY: (Singing) I don't want a lot for Christmas. There is just one thing I need.
SUMMERS: That, of course, is Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas Is You." It first came out - can you believe this? - 30 years ago, even though its ubiquity this time of year kind of makes it seem like it's been around forever.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS YOU")
CAREY: (Singing) I don't want a lot for Christmas. There is just one thing I need. And I don't care about the presents...
SUMMERS: Whether you play it on a loop or whether it drives you crazy, there's no question Mariah Carey's song has become a permanent fixture of the Christmas song canon. That holiday song canon is big, but it is not easy to break into. You can take your pick of pop artists who have made their own yuletide jingle since 1994, like John Legend...
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BRING ME LOVE")
JOHN LEGEND: (Singing) Baby, I hope Santa brings you to me.
SUMMERS: ...Justin Bieber...
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MISTLETOE")
JUSTIN BIEBER: (Singing) I should be playing in the winter snow, but I'ma (ph) be under the mistletoe.
SUMMERS: ...Taylor Swift.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CHRISTMAS MUST BE SOMETHING")
TAYLOR SWIFT: (Singing) Christmas must be something more.
SUMMERS: But not even the woman who shattered records with her Eras tour has given us a holiday song that has had the staying power worthy of the canon. Was Mariah Carey's song the last? Who else has made a song worthy of consideration? To discuss, we've got NPR Music's Stephen Thompson here in the studio. He's been dancing along with the music. Hey, Stephen.
STEPHEN THOMPSON, BYLINE: Hello, Juana.
SUMMERS: Stephen, I know a lot of ink has been spilled about "All I Want For Christmas Is You," but for the select few people out there who are not Carey converts or even for people who love to listen to the song every season without thinking about it, what is it about the song? Why do you think it works so well?
THOMPSON: Well, I think it manages to combine a lot of what works in the best Christmas music, which is a sense of timelessness, a nostalgic through line back to things like girl groups. Like, if you think about "A Christmas Gift For You" from Phil Spector, with those great Ronettes songs on it...
SUMMERS: Right.
THOMPSON: ...It's tapping into some of that stuff. It's also just an impeccably produced song. The way the (vocalizing) comes in is hard to resist, though I know there are many people listening to this for whom familiarity has managed to build up an enormous wellspring of contempt. It is a song that is wildly, wildly overplayed.
SUMMERS: I mean, first of all, I will just note that the song is going to be stuck in my head for the rest of the day, so...
THOMPSON: I'm so sorry.
SUMMERS: Thanks for that. But question here - I'm curious. What do you think it is? What are the ingredients that one needs to create a genuinely good and lasting Christmas song?
THOMPSON: For me, one of the first things that I look for is sincerity. I will often be drawn to holiday music that has real feeling to it. I'm often drawn to some note of melancholy. Even though there's not a great deal of melancholy in "All I Want For Christmas Is You"...
SUMMERS: Right.
THOMPSON: ...A lot of the Christmas music that I'm drawn to has this sense that the holidays are not 100% cheerful. And when I think about the Christmas music or the holiday music that I hate, it's music that is essentially asking, why aren't you happy? And that is just the cruelest thing you could do for - to me, you know? And I would much rather you make me sad than tell me I should be happy.
SUMMERS: Are there any Christmas songs that are written after the release of Mariah Carey's hit that you think do deserve a place in the canon? I want to hear about your holiday playlist.
THOMPSON: Yeah. I mean, I'm constantly railing about this because there has been a ton of magnificent holiday music made in the last 30 years. We've somehow decided as a society that we're only going to listen to about eight Christmas songs.
SUMMERS: Yep.
THOMPSON: And one of them is "Jingle Bell Rock," and one of them is by Andy Williams.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "IT'S THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR")
ANDY WILLIAMS: (Singing) It's the most wonderful time of the year.
THOMPSON: There is a Christmas canon that sprawls out for thousands and thousands of songs. And some of them are magnificent and should be just as popular as "All I Want For Christmas Is You," which is a song I do like.
SUMMERS: OK - like what, though? Give me some examples.
THOMPSON: OK. I'm going to give you an example. It's a song from 2003 by a duo called The Weepies. And I know. The Weepies - you're going to be like, OK, sad Christmas. Here's sad boy, talking about his sad Christmas music. I understand. I know what you're thinking, people. They have a song called "All That I Want," which, to me, is one of the most irresistibly beautiful Christmas songs I have ever heard.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ALL THAT I WANT")
THE WEEPIES: (Singing) ...With all that I want, all that I want.
THOMPSON: It's a song that has a lot of kind of classic holiday song signifiers. But it's a song about finding comfort in the love in your life, in your family, in kind of some of the majesty and beauty of winter without it ringing false in any way. And I got to say, Deb Talan's voice is just like a balm on my soul.
SUMMERS: Absolutely.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ALL THAT I WANT")
THE WEEPIES: (Singing) The ships come in. It's Christmas time.
SUMMERS: Give us another example of a song that is on your holiday playlist.
THOMPSON: Well, another one in a little bit the same vein of just deep, deep warmth - there's a band called Low. Low, you know, was around for, like, 30 years, put out a ton of really stunning records. And in 1999 they put out an album called "Christmas." And for me, when I think about songs that should be in the holiday canon, I think about the song "Just Like Christmas" by Low.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "JUST LIKE CHRISTMAS")
LOW: (Singing) The beds were small, but we felt so young. It was just like Christmas.
THOMPSON: There's something about the production of this song where it feels like it's being beamed in from, like, a faraway satellite or you're listening to it on an AM radio. And so much Christmas music has these feelings of nostalgia that can feel really forced. And for me, this song has completely unforced nostalgia.
SUMMERS: Stephen, beyond those two examples, are there any other songs that you could see getting more popular with age?
THOMPSON: I think of somebody like a Kelly Clarkson - you know, a pop singer with a really, really big and vibrant voice. And she's leaned into the holidays in ways that I think are kind of scratching the itch that Mariah Carey is scratching a little bit.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "UNDERNEATH THE TREE")
KELLY CLARKSON: (Singing) You're here, where you should be. Snow is falling as the carolers sing. It just wasn't the same alone on Christmas day.
THOMPSON: She's drawing on girl groups and classic pop and standards in ways that still feel contemporary.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "A NONSENSE CHRISTMAS")
SABRINA CARPENTER: (Singing) Think I only want you under my mistletoe.
THOMPSON: I think Sabrina Carpenter, you know, who's had this massive 2024 - you look at at the Christmas canon she's started to put together. She has a Christmas special on Netflix.
SUMMERS: Right.
THOMPSON: She's got a real sense of humor.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "A NONSENSE CHRISTMAS")
CARPENTER: (Singing) Let me come warm you up. You been out in the snow. Baby, my tongue goes numb - sounds like ho, ho, ho. I don't want Santa's elves...
THOMPSON: I think she's somebody who really could kind of continue to grow into being one of the queens of Christmas. And you just never know when one of those songs is going to break through and suddenly it's on all of those Christmas playlists. But I really encourage people listening at home to track down your own favorite holiday music. Go on Spotify. Go on YouTube. Get down a rabbit hole of some beautiful Christmas music that evokes more than just this canned cheer.
SUMMERS: NPR Music's Stephen Thompson. Stephen, thanks as always.
THOMPSON: Thank you, Juana.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "A NONSENSE CHRISTMAS")
CARPENTER: (Singing) I'm talking decking all the halls. I'm talking spiking eggnog. I'm talking opposite of small. I'm talking big snowballs. You got a new toy for me. I'm out here trimming the tree. I caught that holiday glee... Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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