Mariah Carey Reflects on ‘Challenging’ Dance Sequence in ‘All I Want for Christmas’ Anniversary Video

Mariah Carey‘s “All I Want for Christmas (Make My Wish Come True Edition)” music video is the latest subject of Vevo’s Footnotes series, just in time for the holiday season.

In messages printed next to shots from the 2019 visual for the Footnotes episode, posted Friday (Dec. 6), the superstar sheds light on its creative direction and memories from the shoot. “We wanted to create a video that is different from the original one, but still very fun,” Carey writes. “The concept was to be very glamorous and in the style of a Busby Berkeley film.”

The Songbird Supreme added that “working with the female dancers and figuring out how to blend with them” was the most “challenging” part of the shoot. “I think it worked out well although dancing is not my forte.”

Directed by Joseph Kahn, the “All I Want for Christmas Is You (Make My Wish Come True Edition)” video dropped in 2019 in celebration of the 25th anniversary of the song. It finds Carey standing as part of a department-store window display, dressed in her signature holiday jumpsuit, before cutting to a white winter wonderland, where the vocalist is joined by dancers dressed in peppermint outfits and nutcracker costumes.

The anniversary edition was pointedly more glamorous and showy than the original “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” filmed in the style of cozy home videos. Of the decision to go the opposite direction for the “Make My Wish Come True” version, Kahn explained in Footnotes, “The goal was to make the definitive Christmas music video that should have been made but never was until now.”

The superstar’s Footnotes episode comes as “All I Want for Christmas Is You” returns to the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 on the chart dated Dec. 7, where it sits at No. 10. In total, the smash has spent 14 collective weeks at No. 1 since it was originally released in 1994.

Carey is currently finishing out her 2024 holiday tour, which kicked off early November. Her next show is slated for Saturday (Dec. 7) in Baltimore, and the limited trek will end Dec. 17 with a performance in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Watch Carey’s episode of Footnotes below.