Updated November 6, 2026. This is a summary of public reporting, with sources linked at the end.
Mariah Carey started the Christmas season on November 1, 2026 the way she has for years: with a short video that announces “It’s time.” This year’s clip opens with a surprise from deep in her catalog, moves to a snowy Christmas tree and ends with the song everyone expects. Here is what happens in it, how it compares with earlier years and why one short clip spreads so fast every autumn.
What happens in the 2026 “It’s Time” video
According to Tribune’s report, the video opens with Carey performing “Hermit,” a track from Someone’s Ugly Daughter, an album she wrote and produced in the mid-1990s. It came out under the band name Chick, with her friend Clarissa Dane. Carey sang backing vocals but did not publicly acknowledge the album until her 2020 memoir.
The scene then shifts to a winter wonderland, where Carey appears in festive attire as the topper on a Christmas tree. She sings “it’s time” in her whistle register, and “All I Want for Christmas Is You” begins to play. The page embeds both an Instagram reel and a YouTube version of the clip.
A yearly ritual with a track record
The video has changed every year, but the formula has not: a surprising setup, then the two words, then the song. Here is how earlier editions looked, according to the coverage at the time:
- 2019: Carey is in bed in her Halloween costume as the clock hits midnight, and Santa calls. The tweet drew more than 100,000 likes and about 46,000 retweets in its first five hours (Fox 2 Detroit).
- 2022: she appears on an exercise bike (Tribune).
- 2023: a vault opens to reveal Carey frozen in a block of ice, and people in Halloween costumes try to free her with hair dryers (RTTNews).
- 2024: she turns from Morticia Addams into Mrs. Claus (Tribune).
- 2025: comedian Billy Eichner plays a mischievous elf in a video made with Sephora (Good Morning America).
Looking at the list, the pattern is clear: Carey leans into humor and costume changes, and each year’s setup is different enough that the reveal feels like an event rather than a rerun. The one constant is the sound of those two words and the song that follows them.
Why it goes viral every year
A few ingredients make the clip easy to spread, and none of them are accidental:
- A fixed date. It lands on November 1 every year, so people expect it and share it the moment it appears.
- A phrase everyone knows. “It’s time” needs no explanation, which makes it easy to reuse as a caption or a joke.
- A new twist each time. Every year’s setup gives fans something fresh to remix. Kapwing even lists a Mariah Carey “defrost” meme template that came from the frozen-in-ice year.
- A song with staying power. Tribune notes that “All I Want for Christmas Is You” (1994) has reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for a record 22 non-consecutive weeks.
The trend has moved beyond her own post, too. NewEngen’s November 2026 TikTok trend list includes “Mariah’s ‘It’s Time’,” where families mark the start of the holidays by decorating, pulling out ornaments or ordering seasonal drinks to her audio.
What to do now that the season has started
If “it’s time” has you thinking about gifts, Black Friday is November 27, and shopping early is easier than shopping in a rush. Our Black Friday 2026 plan for home and garden explains what is worth watching, and these gift guides are good places to start: stocking stuffers for adults and gifts for women who have everything.
Whatever you think of the early start, the video has done its job again: it got people talking about Christmas on the first day of November.
Sources
- Tribune: Mariah Carey launches 2026 Christmas season with new “It’s Time” video (November 2, 2026)
- Good Morning America: Mariah Carey ushers in the holiday season with new video (November 1, 2025)
- RTTNews: Mariah Carey declares it’s time to begin Christmas season (November 5, 2023)
- Fox 2 Detroit: “It’s Time!” Mariah Carey says Christmas season has begun (November 1, 2019)
- NewEngen: TikTok trends, November 2026 (updated November 4, 2026)
- Kapwing: Mariah Carey defrost meme template
Details come from the linked reports and may be updated.