Mariah Carey would like to clear the Christmas air.
On Dec. 7, the “All I Want For Christmas Is You” singer appeared on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” to promote her new special, “Mariah Carey: Merry Christmas To All.”
She also spoke on all things holiday cheer with a round of “The Colbert Questionert.”
Still, when Colbert addressed her as the “Queen of Christmas,” the vocalist paused his questioning to straighten out a few things regarding the nickname.
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“First of all, may I say I never called myself the ‘Queen of Christmas’?” she said, interrupting him. “Can we please be clear on that?”
“I never accused you of that,” Colbert replied.
“You did not, my friend, but others have,” she responded before mimicking verbiage that she is the “self-proclaimed ‘Queen of Christmas.'”
“Really? I’m gonna do that?” she quipped. “They can look up every interview I’ve ever done, and not to get super religious, but I was like, ‘I think, like, if anybody would be the ‘Queen of Christmas,’ that would be Mary.”
In November, Carey and the nickname “Queen of Christmas” made headlines after the U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board chose to deny her exclusive legal rights to the title. Fans of the singer’s fourth studio album, titled “Merry Christmas,” have come to refer to her as the “Queen of Christmas” on social media.
In response to her application, singers Elizabeth Chan and Darlene Love challenged Carey’s attempt to trademark the title.
“As an independent artist and small business owner, my life’s work is to bring people together for the holiday season, which is how I came to be called the Queen of Christmas,” Chan explained in a press statement. “I wear that title as a badge of honor and with full knowledge that it will be — and should be — bestowed on others in the future… My goal in taking on this fight was to stand up to trademark bullying not just to protect myself but also to protect future Queens of Christmas.”
Trademarked or not, Carey went on to express to Colbert that while she might not call herself the “Queen of Christmas,” there’s no doubt the Christmas season is one that she adores.
“I just happen to actually really love Christmas,” Carey explained to Colbert. “Because I grew up and had kind of a tough childhood, and I always wanted Christmas to be perfect, and it never was. So then when I was able to finally provide myself and my friends and then later now my little kids who are 11 … we have the most festive Christmas ever.”
This article was originally published on TODAY.com
