Mariah Carey brings back "Oh Santa!" with a lil' help from Ariana Grande and Jennifer Hudson

With Mariah's Apple TV Christmas special came a remix of her 2014 Christmas song "Oh Santa!" featuring Ariana Grande and Jennifer Hudson. Because why have just one Christmas song go number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 when you could have a second?!

The inclusion of Ariana Grande was a surprise, especially given the way both Mariah and Ariana have been compared, with neither showing a great deal of love to one another, and fans running with that. I figured we'd never see Mariah and Ariana do something together. But the real surprise for me was Jennifer Hudson. Because knowing her style of music and how she sings, I just couldn't imagine her on "Oh Santa!".

Hennyway.

I'mma get right to it. This shit was a mess. But one moment made it memorable from being just a mess.

The original version is still the one for me, so I shalln't be replacing it on my Christmas playlist.

The song was so strangely divided between Mariah, Ariana and Jennifer. Each of them sang so differently from one another, that it just threw the dynamics of the song off for me. Jennifer is singing how Jennifer always sings. Ariana is singing soft and almost willingly fading herself into the background. Then you've got Mariah who is all over the place. I don't get why we didn't get more prominent Rockette's style harmonies and verses divided in a way that made sense. For Mariah and Ariana to both be such talented vocal producers and arrangers, it's a shame we didn't get something more magical throughout the song. But we did get one magical moment, which was Mariah and Ariana's harmonised whistle, which was most certainly...A MOMENT. Other than this, what was a very nice song was a bit of a sleigh wreck.

"Oh Santa!" should have just featured Ariana, as the sound is right up her alley, given the 60s, doo wop style throwbacks she's given on just about every album. Jennifer Hudson is an amazing singer, but this wasn't the right style of song for her. I don't know what Mariah was thinking putting her on this. If you know the song and you know Jennifer's voice and singing style, you just know the two won't go together.

Then there's the music video. Mariah's outfit looked like something a queen who can't sew put together for a design challenge on RuPaul's Drag Race. Jennifer Hudson looked like she didn't know what she was doing half of the time. And Ariana, once again, was like 'Chile, lemme just be a good lil' background bitch'. There was no real sense of chemistry of togetherness between them, which was a shame. They may as well have shot this shit over Zoom.

If this goes to number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, which it very well has the potential to because of Ariana, then great. I'll be happy for the ladies. Also, Mariah just deserves all the things every Christmas. But it's a shame this didn't turn out better as a whole.

🎅 The original: Oh Santa!
💿 Album review: Mariah Carey's Merry Christmas II You
🎄 The Mariah Christmas song that deserved: #JusticeForChristmasTimeIsInTheAirAgain
🎧 Festive Mariah playlists: Merry Christmas, from Mariah | A Gospel Moment