It doesn’t matter that The Shins have replaced Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” in the favor of mall proprietors with their cover of Paul McCartney’s “Wonderful Christmastime.” Carey’s 1994 track is still the gold standard for “new“ Christmas music, whose enduring appeal has been attested to here at The A.V. Club. Also, it’s one of the few Carey songs that anyone other than the chanteuse can even attempt to perform at karaoke. Maybe that’s what inspired James Corden to splice together this group sing-along of his various Carpool Karaoke riders performing “All I Want For Christmas Is You,” with an intro from the song’s originator herself.
Carey recently performed the song in full at VH1’s Holiday Divas: Unsilent Night (really, guys?), but she continued to indulge fans, including the Late Late Show host, by singing snippets of the song in the car. Apparently, Corden had asked previous guests Adele, Lady Gaga, Nick Jonas, Demi Lovato, Chris Martin, and Selena Gomez to sing the song, which his team then pieced together for this Carpool Carol-oke. It’s easily the best segment Corden’s show ever produced in this vein, with this Broadway chorus as a close second.