For all those in search of pop star-infused festive cheer, Mariah Carey’s Holiday Bar opened earlier this month at the Mondrian Hotel’s Skybar.
The pop-up’s Los Angeles debut is steeped with the signature seasonal touch from the Queen of Christmas — neon signs of her lyrics light up the room, massive portraits of the star fill the space and every single song that plays — holiday-themed or not — is from Carey’s discography. (Disclaimer: “All I Want For Christmas Is You” does play every 30 minutes.)
“For as long as I’ve known Christmas, Mariah has always been there. It signals to me that childlike wonder and excitement of Christmas time that kind of harkens back to when I was a kid,” said Cathy Kwon, who was posing for a photo on the decorative sleigh. “The fact that the song itself [‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’] has stayed this popular for this long is remarkable.”
Ever since releasing her holiday album, “Merry Christmas,” in 1994, Carey has established herself as a permanent fixture in the holiday season. Every year, the 56-year-old singer has gift-wrapped a new festivity for her fans.
Last year, she embarked on Mariah Carey’s Christmas Time tour to celebrate the album’s 30th anniversary and this year, she’s doing a Vegas residency called “Christmastime in Las Vegas.” She’s also previously hosted several holiday specials for Apple TV and CBS. And nearly every year, her modern holiday classic, “All I Want For Christmas Is You,” climbs to the top of the charts.
For her holiday bars, she partnered with the event company Bucket Listers to open four locations across the country, in Los Angeles, New York City, Miami and Las Vegas. The WeHo bar is complete with endless photo ops, including life-size cutouts and large-scale holiday-themed portraiture of the “Obsessed” singer, as well as cocktails featuring her own liqueur company, Black Irish. The bar’s pool is filled with candy cane floaties, twinkling Christmas trees decadently line every walkway and bursts of soapy snow fly through the air (occasionally landing in a cocktail or two).
Bucket Listers founder Andy Lederman says the demand for this experience has “surpassed every expectation” that the company had.
“She’s the queen of Christmas. Outside of Santa Claus and the Grinch, I don’t know if there’s anything more iconic,” Lederman said. “There’s really nothing like her during this time of year. It gives you such a great feeling to be able to celebrate her and to be a part of her wonderland with the people you love.”
Though Carey has since built out her holiday world far beyond its original soundtrack, many of the bar’s patrons came to indulge in the nostalgia provided by the 1994 holiday album. The record is a 10-track collection of reworked classic holiday covers and a handful of originals, offering a diverse selection of love songs, traditional festive tunes and modernized religious hymns.
Shannon Armah was sitting in the bar, catching up with a group of friends. The Miracle Mile resident grew up with the Mariah Carey Christmas album on repeat and describes early memories of listening to its songs in a car seat. To her, it’s the perfect balance of “fun and playful music” and music that is rooted in the religious “reason for the season.”
“We went to a Baptist church growing up, so hearing the gospel influence in the album is reminiscent of our usual Sunday experience,” Armah said. “It was very relatable. It also taps into the ‘90s nostalgia and brings back that feeling of simpler times.”
Beyond being played in almost every festive setting, the eternally cheery earworm has tied for yet another record this year. Despite its release 31 years ago, the single currently sits at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It is now tied with Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” and Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” featuring Billy Ray Cyrus for most weeks on top. The track is also Carey’s 19th No. 1 on the Hot 100, the most for any solo artist.
Anthony Escalante, a real estate agent and manager of a luxury retail store, came to the Christmas bar dressed in his holiday best — a well-fitted, all-white vest and matching pants. He says he admires Carey’s holiday music for its ability to tell a story beyond the typical seasonal festivities.
“She’s the pioneer of reinventing modern Christmas songs,” said Escalante. “She speaks beyond a generic Christmas. [‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’] is about experiencing a holiday without the love of your life. She sets a tone for something that is more than just another Christmas song.”
The track’s ability to amass popularity year after year is what makes it one of the few contemporary holiday classics. Decked out in their Carey holiday apparel, Sara Rushton and Benji Flowers credit the singer as being one of the few pop stars to successfully put a modern twist on Christmas.
“Growing up, everything Christmas was old-fashioned. Christmas movies were really old, and there wasn’t really a new version of Christmas for millennials, or postmillennials,” said Rushton, who received her first Carey record in her stocking as kid. “But Mariah was someone who celebrates Christmas in a different festive way.”
Flowers, who works as a yoga instructor, looks to the pop star as one of the last exciting elements of the season. He proposes that the Mariah Carey bars should stay open all year, as Carey’s discography can lend itself to more than just the holiday season.
“I do think that it could be like a year-round thing, and they could have seasonal changes to it. She has a song for every moment in life. She’s got slow romantic songs and heartbreak. She’s got hip-hop and old disco. I mean, I can go on and on,” Flowers said. “It’s not a bad idea. At night, it could be all about the EDM remixes of her songs.”
Mariah Carey’s Holiday Bar will be open until Dec. 28.
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