Tired of Mariah Carey and Carol of the Bells? Try This New Christmas Tune

A cheerful Christmas song

Several months back, I challenged myself to write a song as good as Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas Is You. And I did. One thing led to another and I decided to record it too. And today, I feel it’s a natural sequel to the Mariah Carey hit song. The title is — It’s Christmas.

But I want to show you how it all came together. (Scroll down to see the embedded lyric video if you’re in a hurry).

What Makes “All I Want For Christmas Is You” Special?

This was the first question I had to face. If I am going to write something as good or even better, this is the first puzzle to solve.

The obvious first answer is the marketing reach. And this is the amount of money that is put in, and also the number of resourceful people working on the marketing team. This is not easily replicated.

Yes, there are tons of other big artists with similar resourceful people, but other things have to click together. Mariah Carey’s song became the undisputed king of the Christmas season when the fans became way more engaged with the promotion.

Big record labels are starting to recognize this as the ultimate magic formula. This is when fans become marketers and it coincides with a seasonal celebration. They are trying to replicate this with Michael Jackson’s Thriller for Halloween. But the impact is not as strong yet.

I know that I don’t have the resources to pull that off for now. So, in terms of reach, I have no expectations. But there must be something else special about the song. And to this, I turned to other Christmas hit songs like Carol of the Bells and It’s Beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

What do they all have in common?

Common Factors in Christmas Hit Songs

The first thing I noticed was that even though the season is to celebrate the birth of Jesus, the hit songs rarely talk about that. Instead, they go in a slightly different direction that I think makes more sense and global appeal.

Jesus was definitely not born in the winter season. No sane shepherd will be outside with their flock by night in winter in that part of the world. But I think it is cool that we have a special day to celebrate the birth of Jesus. The date is irrelevant. The celebration matters more.

Some Christians like to argue that Christmas shouldn’t be celebrated, and I have read about all their reasons. But they miss the point. Yes, the celebration is about baby Jesus, but more importantly, it celebrates God’s gift to mankind. That deserves a seasonal celebration.

The hit Christmas songs focus on the celebration and the fanfare of the season. The things we have known to accompany this season, such as Santa, Christmas tree, decorations, bells, gift exchange, etc.

Carol of the Bells is all about the season. It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas is about the Christmas feel and decorations. All I Want for Christmas is You is mainly about gifting and the emotion of seeing people you haven’t seen in a long time.

So, my conclusion was that a good Christmas song would be a song that accurately depicts the emotions people are feeling in the moment, together with the notable identifiers of the season.

The Christmas Song

I would be surprised if my song performs as well as the well-known Christmas songs in 2023. That would be thrilling and amazing. But my plan is to gradually build it into one of the top go-to songs every Christmas season.

Instead of following the “All I want for Christmas is you” feel by Mariah Carey, I went with a gratitude feel that says:

My year is made, cos you’re in it

You have to be a top-notch vocalist to sing Mariah Carey’s song and hit all the notes right. I think of that as a disadvantage. I wanted a song that everybody could sing. Something so simple. That’s my style, as I don’t consider myself a vocalist nor do I aspire to be.

I wanted something very easy to sing along. And I think I accomplished that. The words and vocals are so simple that anybody can do it. But the best part is the chorus. It says:

Ho ho ho ho

Ho ho ho ho ho

Ho ho ho ho

Ho ho ho ho ho

I loved the way it breaks language barriers. It’s the same thing in Spanish, Italian, Swahili, Russian, Portuguese, Chinese, Arabic, French, etc. Anybody can sing along with that part. So easy and frictionless.

It’s super easy for kids to pick up too. Maybe one day I’ll make a remix of it with a famous American pop star. But until then, put this in your favorite Christmas playlist and enjoy: