A surprise “Oh Santa!” reunion happened in New York City Saturday night (Dec. 9).
Mariah Carey, bringing her Merry Christmas One & All! Tour to town, was joined by Ariana Grande and Jennifer Hudson at Madison Square Garden, where the pop trio debuted a festive live collab of “Oh Santa!” on the stage.
Carey’s version of “Oh Santa!” featuring Grande and Hudson was released during the holiday season in 2020, and was included on her Magical Christmas Special that year. The three stars trade verses and harmonies on Carey’s Christmas tune.
“I wrote ‘Oh Santa!’ for my album Merry Christmas II You, which was sort of the follow-up to my first Christmas album — we have several [laughs] — and so I think it was all about the actual event, of course, of doing ‘Oh Santa!’ with Jennifer and Ari, but it was also like, how do I see this as a producer?” Carey told Billboard in December 2020. “How do I see these vocals having different textures, what are they? Because originally, I was blending with myself, which that’s kind of one of my favorite things, but it was cool to be able to work with the different vocal textures and play around with it and reimagine it. So that’s what happened. And visually, in the special, it really does feel like a girl group moment. I think we all had a good time with it. That was the fun part about it.”
Watch a fan-captured clip of Carey, Grande and Hudson’s surprise “Oh Santa!” performance at Madison Square Garden below.