It is December 12th. The third sunday of Advent. Gaudete Sunday. We are well into the Christmas season and by now you’ve already probably heard your favorite Christmas song once or twice, or more if you work retail. Maybe it’s the Christmas Waltz, or The Christmas song, or Christmas Wrapping, either by the Waitresses or Miranda Cosgrove. Whatever your personal favorite christmas song is, the internet’s favorite christmas song is “All I want For Christmas is You” by Mariah Carey.
Every year we return to this song. We play it over and over again. It is the rare seasonal meme that holds up. Maybe because our memories are fresh and it only takes a few minutes to remember how good the song actually is. Mariah stays with us through the season and every play gets to you. Somehow, Someway. Whether it be the bells in the beginning, the ramp up to the first declaration, the back up singers, the bridge, the instruments, some part of this song gets to you. Every year without fail, listen after listen, even when we have become desensitized to it or shut off the parts of our brain that enjoys it, it gets to you.
“All I Want For Christmas is You” is a perfect pop song with Christmas undertones, which makes it a perfect christmas song. I don’t know anything about music theory but this song is perfect in both worlds when many modern christmas songs fail to be good in either. We love the song not only because it is good but because it seems to have achieved an impossible feat. A song written after 1940 that people of all generations love in equal measure, that captures the Christmas spirit year after year? There can only be one, and obviously only Mariah Carey could achieve this.
I choose to believe that this song is a meme because it is popular, rather than the song is popular because it is a meme. The first scenario creates content from a song we hear all the time and joke about, it never takes away from the listening experience. When a song becomes popular because it is a meme, we have adverse effects. Something with a fun chorus or first verse becomes interminable upon the realization that its actually four minutes long and they only say the funny part once.
“All I Want For Christmas Is You” reaches an annoying point because it is played so often, but that’s also it’s charm. it falls victim to the same problems as all Christmas music but more so because it is acceptable to play in more places. It is a fun christmas song that gets in the spirit without being too Jesus-y or too sentimental. It’s acceptable to play in every location, except midnight mass. But you can listen in the car on the way home. No amount of effort is worth fighting this song because even the die hard haters will wain.
Seasonal holiday media is tricky. Everyone has their favorite and decry the ones that make them sick. Each song or film has to capture what the holiday means and by extension liking it, what it means to you. Striking the perfect balance between nostalgia and the saccharine and being an actually good piece of media, as well as being a worthy entrance into the Christmas canon. In the film world we fight between Love, Actually (stupid) and The Family Stone (good). Some make a play for Die Hard or other Christmas movies by technicality. These are discussions and arguments worth having. For music, the same is not true. There is no argument, there is only one song that has appealed to modern sensibilities as well as our parents and grandparents' need for genuine Christmas songs. It has achieved an earnest enjoyment of both its pop abilities and it's Christmas contribution. The memes themselves are secondary but help us revel in just how good the song itself is.
The most emblematic meme of this song is the google search interest graph. All year we wait. We know it will be more special if we hold off. As soon as Halloween ends, the graph starts to rise. Higher and higher each day with a pick up after thanksgiving, finally reaching ultimate peak on December 25th each year. The immediate drop off keeps us coming back for more. We’ve had our chance this year, we’ve enjoyed it as much as we could. Time to take down the tree, pack up the presents, and stop searching for “All I Want For Christmas Is You”. We’ll find it again soon.