Meghan Trainor Reveals How ‘Queen’ Mariah Carey Influenced The Songs She Chose For Her Christmas Album

Meghan Trainor chose to leave a certain Christmas song off her new holiday album. The pop star revealed how Mariah Carey influenced this decision in a video interview!

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Meghan Trainor thought of the queen of Christmas herself — Mariah Carey — when putting together her own holiday album. This is actually why Meghan decided not to include a certain song on the new project, A Very Trainor Christmas, which she explained during an EXCLUSIVE interview with HollywoodLife TVTalk on Nov. 10!

Meghan Trainor
The cover of Meghan Trainor’s new Christmas album, A Very Trainor Christmas. (Courtesy of Safeguard)

Meghan’s Christmas album, which dropped on Oct. 30, is a mix of originals and classics like “Winter Wonderland.” While deciding which songs would make the final cut, the “All About That Bass” singer told HollywoodLife, “It’s the first album that I got to have 18 songs on, so we were so excited and we all discussed as a family because at the beginning, this was a big family album. We were like, ‘What are we going to sound like? How many originals can we do?’ We did six originals. I could’ve kept going and they were like, ‘It’s OK. Let’s do some covers that everyone knows,’ and I was like, ‘OK’.”

Of course, one song that “everyone knows” is Mariah’s 1994 Christmas anthem, “All I Want For Christmas Is You” — which Meghan ended up not covering! “We all picked our favorite songs and I wanted to sing songs that I knew I could sing. I didn’t want to shoot for a Mariah Carey or the stars,” Meghan admitted. “I was like, ‘We’ll let her have that and I’ll go the same length and sing the easier ones and make them my own.’ They all have personal meaning and we’re made for me, all the ones I chose. I’m super proud.”

Meghan went on to add that Mariah’s “got it” when it comes to “All I Want For Christmas Is You,” which has become a tradition for Mariah to sing and play! “Mariah comes every year with it. She’s literally on TikTok right now like, ‘It’s time!’,” Meghan said, referring to the TikTok below. Meghan continued, “So I’m not going to say, ‘Have you checked out my version?’ No. I’m going to let her have that. That’s Mariah’s song. I’m not going to touch that. I was like, ‘She’s too good at singing that.’ I don’t know. She’s the queen.”

@mariahcarey

Guess what? ❄️ #itstime

♬ original sound – Mariah Carey

With her Christmas album now out, the pop princess is already “100 percent” planning on dropping new music in 2021. “I might come in with a lullaby album. Just a little EP,” she teased. Meghan wants to dedicate her upcoming music to the first child she is expecting with her husband, Daryl Sabara, after announcing the pregnancy in October! “Nothing where I’ll do a crazy promo about [the new album or EP]. It’ll just be like, ‘This one’s for my kid’,” the expecting mom added.

Mariah Carey
Mariah Carey released one of her most famous songs, “All I Want For Christmas Is You,” in 1994. (Photo Credit: SplashNews)

In addition to dropping new Christmas music, Meghan has also become a brand ambassador for Safeguard hand soap! As an ambassador, Meghan has helped promote hand washing amid the COVID-19 pandemic and even surprised star teachers through Safeguard’s school donation program, which has already given schools around the country $10 million worth of educational and product resources.

“They donated $10M worth of product in things like hand soap and resources which was amazing, but surprising the teachers was so special and such an honor and something I will never forget for the rest of my life because my dad was a teacher,” Meghan gushed to HollywoodLife. “I always loved teachers to the point where I was like, ‘OK, if I don’t do music, I’ll be a teacher.'” You can watch the rest of Meghan’s interview in the video above!