Mariah Carey’s Recipe for the Perfect Bath: ‘You Must Be Aware of This, Darling’ (Exclusive)

Mariah Carey was about to perform her “Merry Christmas One and All!” concert at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.

It’s mid-November, and a cold front has chilled the air slightly, giving just enough time for a sold-out stadium full of Carey’s fans, known as the Lambs, to don their gay gear. Which is to say, thousands of Lambus are bundled up in various combinations of Christmas hats, light-up Christmas tree bulb necklaces, Christmas sweaters, and Mariah Carey-branded sweaters and t-shirts. (Continuing with the Christmas theme.)

Carey is still the queen of Christmas. Fans have been saying that for years. She declares, “It’s time!” every year on November 1st, changing the seasonal colors from orange and black to red and green. Then she presses play on her mega hit “All I Want for Christmas Is You” — her “holiday love song” — sending it back into our heads like a tinkling, tinkling, joyous earworm. For the Lambs, the holiday hymn not only feels like Christmas, it’s also a call to action. It’s a eulogy. And this night they are here to pray.

Mariah Carey for PEOPLE.

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It’s been a year. It was at this time in 2022, in a move that the Lambs collectively considered harsh (one more accurately called it a “hate crime”), that the Federal Trademark Board officially stripped Carey of the Christmas Queen title. Looking at the crowd, I’m not sure even the government could deny the palpable, unanimous opinion: Mariah Carey is the queen of this season. And, if not from Christmas, then maybe, well, let’s just say Mariah Carey is the queen of all things holiday.

“All I want for Christmas is your, Mariah!” screamed a fan next to me, Carey’s big smile and the words “It’s time!” spread across his chest. “She saves my Christmas,” he tells his friend sitting next to him. “Every year.”

Mariah Carey performs in Highland, California in November 2023.

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A week earlier, Carey is in a photo studio on the other side of town. Sitting down for this interview, she is in a great mood. “I’ve been looking forward to this Christmas all year,” she says. “Since last year — because last year was not the best. I’m grateful to them all, but it wasn’t my most fun version of Christmas ever.”

She has her own way of carrying herself, she says. “I would say it’s writing. It is a prayer. It’s like these little things that can take you from possibly being in a really bad mood to being in a better place instantly. And we’re really grateful for all the scenarios, all the moments that come our way. I don’t read anything written about me. It’s one of my coping mechanisms. It’s a bath.”

Mariah Carey for PEOPLE.

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Carey’s bathing game is legendary. She took a bath in her 2002 episode MTV nativity scene (albeit in a bodysuit). Jimmy Kimmel interviewed her while the two soaked in the tub together. I spoke to her, on the phone, twice while she was in the water. A woman knows how to get wet.

“If someone is kind enough to say, ‘OK, I know you’re probably going to want to go inside and go to the tub, so I’ll run it for you.’ Well… Things can go wrong. “They put too many bubbles. It gets a little out of hand because then you can’t just lay there without getting blisters all over yourself.”

Therefore, she is not so much for bubbles. “I prefer bath salts, and they can be really good, especially if you’re a little sore or whatever, you can just soak in the bath salts. My latest favorite are the orange ones. They are really good. Then there are the lavender ones that are really relaxing.” She recommends a good amount of bath salts. “Not the whole jug. And then some bath oil.”

Mariah Carey for PEOPLE.

Nino Munoz

Keep your phone close, he advises.

“Everybody gets mad at me when they talk to me and I’m in the bath,” she says. “They say, ‘It’s a little noisy where you are. What are you doing?’ But I’ve been like that since I was little.”

For more from Mariah Carey, check out the latest digital issue of PEOPLE here.

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Source: HIS Education