In hindsight, Mariah Carey regrets the bangs.
“Even then it wasn’t good,” she scoffs, condemning the offending fringe and ringlets she sported at her first Christmas concert in December 1994. Then 24 with a handful of No. 1 hits already to her name, Carey had just released her first holiday album, Merry Christmas, when she and a gospel choir took the stage at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York. Along with classic carols, she performed live for the first time some of the album’s new songs -- including “All I Want for Christmas Is You.”
Carey has been thinking a lot lately about that St. John the Divine concert, which over the years has achieved legendary status among her fans. In November, she released a deluxe anniversary edition of Merry Christmas that included previously unreleased live recordings from that show, and she has been revisiting the film footage from that night, like the performance of “Joy to the World” she released as a music video 25 years ago. But she still can’t quite get over her style choices.