Mariah Carey has officially defrosted! For years now, the former “American Idol” judge takes to social media on November 1, immediately after Halloween, to let fans know that the Christmas has officially arrived, and that it’s perfectly okay to start hanging up holiday lights and put up the tree.
But before declaring “It’s Time!” Carey surprised fans with her brand-new holiday video that was unlike anything they’d seen before. The singer traded her usual glamorous look for a punk-rock transformation before returning to her iconic Christmas-inspired outfit and belting out her beloved holiday hit, “All I Want for Christmas Is You.”
Mariah Carey Goes Punk Before Declaring ‘It’s Time’ For Christmas in New Annual Video
Mariah Carey has waited all year to declare that “It’s Time!” to start celebrating Christmas. At midnight, November 1, the singer took to Instagram to share her annual holiday video, a tradition that seems to get more elaborate with each passing year. For 2026, Carey switched things up in a major way, trading her signature holiday glam for a punk rock transformation that caught fans complety by surprise.
The clip opens with the words “New York City… October 31st,” followed by a countdown clock showing 11:58 p.m. The camera then pans through a dive bar filled with patrons dressed in Halloween costumes and punk rock attire, before turning towards the stage, where Carey is seen sporting a punk rock look of her own, complete with a plaid skirt, fishnet stockings, a leather jacket, and colorful makeup, including a very glittery purple lip.
Carey then stage-dives into the crowd as the clip cuts to black and the countdown reaches midnight. A moment later, Carey reappears as her punk-rock alter ego, belting out “It’s Time!” before transforming into a festive look. The singer swaps her edgy ensemble for a glittery, Santa-inspired red outfit as the camera pans out to reveal her perched atop a massive Christmas tree as its star. She then launches into her timeless holiday hit, “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” officially kicking off the holiday season.
How Carey’s Annual ‘It’s Time’ Tradition Began
Carey released “All I Want for Christmas” in 1994 as the lead single from her first holiday album, “Merry Christmas.” However, her annual video declaring that it was officially time to start celebrating Christmas didn’t begin until 2019.
Speaking to the New York Times, Carey shared that people would ask her when it was appropriate to put up Christmas decorations and play holiday music. She decided to answer those questions by creating her “It’s Time” announcement, declaring that after Halloween, it was officially the holiday season.
“People would just ask me that because I guess they thought I was very Christmassy,” she said, adding, “I love ‘It’s time.’ It’s so fun.”
According to Know Your Meme, the joke of Carey hibernating until November 1 and finally defrosting first appeared on Twitter (now X) in 2017, but it didn’t go viral until the following year. In fact, Carey eventually embraced the joke herself and, in 2023, released a video of trick-or-treaters using blow dryers to defrost her from a block of ice before she sang “All I Want for Christmas Is You.”
‘It’s Time!’ Mariah Carey Rings in Christmas Season With Unexpected Punk Rock Transformation