Mariah Carey talks Christmas tour and American Music Awards special

Mariah Carey loves anniversaries.

The 55-year-old Grammy winner does not recognize her birthdays and in 2014 insisted that she celebrate anniversaries instead. These anniversaries, which happen to fall on the day she was born, are often wink-nudge-nudge-inducing – but they can also mean she celebrates multiple anniversaries a year.

Next April marks the 20th anniversary of the release of her 2005 album “The Emancipation of Mimi,” although Carey kicked off the celebrations a year earlier with a Las Vegas residency called “The Celebration of Mimi.” She’ll continue the party on Sunday, performing a medley of songs from the album on the American Music Awards 50th Anniversary special (8 EDT/5 PDT, CBS/Paramount+).

“It’s really unbelievable that it took this long,” Carey tells USA TODAY of the album that spawned the chart-topping single “We Belong Together” and the hit “It’s Like That” featuring Jermaine Dupri and the late Fatman Szufelek .

Carey, who has won 10 American Music Awards over her three-decade career, teases that she will be rearranging some of her songs for her AMAs performance.

After Sunday’s special, what’s next for Carey?

“I’m getting ready for Christmas,” she says, refraining from announcing that “it’s time,” which fans will likely hear on November 1 in her annual season-opening video on social media.

And this holiday season brings – you guessed it – another anniversary. October marks 30 years since Carey released her holiday album, “Merry Christmas.” Buoyed by the success of the modern classic “All I Want For Christmas Is You,” the album catapulted the singer-songwriter, already the best-selling artist of all time, into a new stratosphere as the “Queen of Christmas.”

Carey remembers recording “All I Want For Christmas,” which she co-wrote and co-produced with Walter Afanasieff, in August 1994 at The Hit Factory, an iconic recording studio in New York’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood.

“It was an amazing recording session like no other,” says the singer. “I liked it very much. It was obviously my first Christmas album and we decorated the studio so it was like all Christmas decorations and a Christmas tree.”

Now, three decades later, the song annually breaks Spotify’s record for most plays in a single day and consistently tops the Billboard Hot 100.

Carey is also touring her Christmas album: the 2024 version of her Christmas trek includes 20 shows. It will kick off on November 6 in Highland, California and wrap up with three shows in December throughout New York, including her hometown of Long Island.

Mariah Carey the final performance of the Christmas tour dazzles with holiday hits, family celebrations, Busta Rhymes

During the performance, Carey will present some of his greatest, non-Christmas hits, as well as a few surprises. At last year’s concert in New York, the artist brought her twins, Monroe and Moroccan (13), whom she shares with ex-husband Nick Cannon. Carey hopes her children, known as “Dem Babies,” will grace the stage again this year.

“I don’t think everyone understands how… it just makes me very happy and it makes a lot of people happy,” Carey says of her Christmas performances. “It’s different than a regular trip.”

For Carey this holiday season, her first Christmas since the deaths of her mother and sister, spreading joy was not something she missed.

“I think we all go through difficult times, and there are a lot of people who, especially during the holidays, have a really hard time,” Carey says. “And that’s why I try to make people happy and get through the Christmas moment, you know, to get through it. I try to be a friend to anyone who needs it.”