>her perennial smash “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” which is, at this point, a total cultural anomaly, a phenomenon unto itself, a singular sensation, if you will. It might be the happiest song about heartache. The joy of this indefatigable song casts Christmas both as an exacerbation of preexisting melancholy and a salve—Carey’s yearning, belting narrator is fine by virtue of her yuletide surroundings. Snow makes a fine cushion.
>The song is a multivalent blur of sensibilities, yet simple enough for a child to understand, like Disney at its most optimal. Multiple in-depth dissections of its inherent appeal have yet to explain it adequately or sap it of its magic. It is the apotheosis of the nearly diabolical populist ambitions of Carey’s early work. No mere chestnut of recurrent radio, it re-becomes a smash hit year after year, as it’s propelled into the upper echelons of the Billboard Hot 100 alongside contemporary songs. (Last year, it hit a new peak: No. 3.)
>It become the definitive Wall of Sound carol—Carey cited the legendary producer Phil Spector’s influence in the initial press cycle for Merry Christmas (she generally referenced the Ronettes), though her riff is decidedly cleaner with a dynamic range that gives its parts even more room as they bounce off the song’s walls. Carey’s version must be just what the style sounds like to recent generations of listeners.
