MAGICAL MARIAN
Carey on her A-game with streaming Christmas special (and special guests)
MEET the new Supremes. It is indeed the ultimate girl group when Mariah Carey — in the Diana Ross role, naturally — joins vocal forces with Ariana Grande and Jennifer Hudson to sing “Oh Santa!”
It’s more like, “Oh snap!” This holy diva trinity goes down as the must-see moment in “Mariah Carey’s Magical Christmas Special,” now streaming on Apple TV+.
Over the happy, hand-clapping jam, the three songbirds do more cooing than real belting. You can just feel J-Hud holding back — perhaps as not to upstage the star of the show — although she can’t help but bust out a few bigger notes.
Then they all let loose a bit at the end with a brief battle of runs and riffs, as elves hoof around them in the toy factory. It’s not the epic sing-off that it could have been, but only a real Scrooge could deny the glittery gift of this all-star summit.
It’s especially nice to see Grande — who practically owes her career to Carey — pay her respects to the Queen of Christmas.
But the “Positions” singer and Hudson aren’t the only big-name guests that come to kiss Carey’s blinged-out ring. Tiffany Haddish narrates the action in “Twas the Night Before Christmas” style, while Billy Eichner plays Billy Kringle Jr.
“I’ve got four wind machines on standby and enough glitter in the closet to fill a swimming pool,” Eichner quips to Carey after she arrives in the North Pole.
Snoop Dogg and longtime Carey collaborator Jermaine Dupri swing through for “Here Comes Santa Claus,” with the Doggfather rapping over a G-funk-lite groove. Meanwhile, ballerina Misty Copeland appears as “a real-life Sugar Plum Fairy.”
But even more impressively, Carey gets the Peanuts gang to join the merriment. Linus noodling a bit of “All I Want for Christmas Is You” on the piano is a vibe.
Then Carey sings the Peanuts classic “Christmas Time Is Here,” Mariah-fying it all the way.
Mimi also gets jazzy on the original “Christmas Time Is in the Air Again,” while taking it to church on “O Holy Night” and “Joy to the World — complete with gospel choir, of course.
No surprise — she brings it all home with “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” whose festive bounce remains irresistible. And with the soundtrack to her holiday special also dropping on Friday, Carey is making sure you will have plenty of her music to bop to this season.