Kelly Clarkson covers "All I Want For Christmas Is You"—but not the one you're thinking of, and that's rude
Aux Features Kelly Clarkson
Whether you like it our not, it’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” season. Mariah Carey spends the end of October preparing us for this moment. So if you happened to see Kelly Clarkson announce her new Christmas track “All I Want For Christmas Is You,” it would have been totally within reason to think, “Oh man, I bet she actually does that Mariah Carey song justice.” And while Clarkson likely could go toe-to-toe with Carey in performing her 1994 classic, this is not that. This is not that at all.
Clarkson has actually covered the song of the same name from novelty act Vince Vance & the Valiants. Originally released in 1989 with lead vocals from Lisa Burgess Stewart (also known as Lisa Layne), the song first charted on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks list after it got a music video in 1993. The song only got more popular over time, charting even higher on that same list at the turn of the century. (Admittedly, it likely benefited from sharing the name with Carey’s song, which was released a year after the Vince Vance video and continues to chart every year.)
“I have been singing Vince Vance & the Valiants’ song ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ since I was a little kid,” Clarkson says in the press notes sent along with the single release Friday. “I always loved that it’s a ballad but the woman always sounded so rock n’ roll with her raspy tone on the big notes. It has an old school vibe and is a little pop, country, and rock n’ roll.”
Clarkson sings the shit out of the Vince Vance song, but it still left us craving her version of Mariah Carey’s hit. Luckily, there’s this thing called YouTube and we found a few different versions of the Emmy-winning talk show host performing the 1994 song as part of her Miracle On Broadway show in 2014 and 2016. (Warning: there’s lots of crying in the 2014 version.)
18 Comments
On!
All I want for Christmas each year is to not have to deal with Christmas each year.
Boy are you in luck this year!
Sheriff’s orders:
There’s a difference between not dealing with Christmas, and not dealing with aged racist relatives at Christmas.
No, I’m being serious. If there’s any year where you can basically go “I’m doing/not doing X because of (take your damn pick)“, it’s this year. Might as well take advantage.
Fair enough – you do you, Cap.
Melania’s AV Club account spotted.
Literally just discovered yesterday that there’s a cover of Do They Know It’s Christmas by Fucked Up, Yo La Tengo, Bob Mould, Tegan & Sara, and divers others. This is the only Christmas song we need, cancel all others.
Nah, gotta include the two Weird Al Christmas songs, too.(Christmas at Ground Zero & The Night Santa Went Crazy)
Does “Nature Trail to Hell – IN 3D” count?
Kelly Clarkson’s “Underneath the Tree” is a very good entry in the “All I Want for Christmas Is You” knockoff category.
I’ll co-sign.It’s a strong member of the modern-day holiday song book.
All I want for Christmas is you, pot roast.
I’d like to announce the release of my new Christmas singles:“All I Want is You for Christmas”“For Christmas All I Want is You”And “You is All I Want for Christmas.”Now searchable on YouTube and Spotify.
it would have been totally within reason to think, “Oh man, I bet she actually does that Mariah Carey song justice.” And while Clarkson likely could go toe-to-toe with Carey in performing her 1994 classicWhat? No.Strong, strong disagree. I got nothing against Kelly Clarkson, but that’s a no from me, dawg.
Any reason you couldn’t link to the song the article is actually about?
Who’s High-Pitch? This is Kelly Clarkson!