"Oh Santa!" is a song by American singer and songwriter Mariah Carey from her second Christmas album and thirteenth studio album, Merry Christmas II You (2010). Carey wrote and produced the song in collaboration with Jermaine Dupri and Bryan-Michael Cox. It was released as the lead single from the album on October 1, 2010 by Island Def Jam Records. It is an up-tempo R&B song about Carey making a plea for Santa Claus to bring back her partner in time for the Christmas holidays. It received a positive response from music critics, with many praising its composition and style.
The track set a record on the United States Billboard Adult Contemporary songs chart, debuting at number twelve and peaking at number one the following week for four weeks. It became the first song to reach the summit in two weeks. It further became Carey's seventh number-one song on the chart. Carey filmed a 1960s-style music video to accompany the song's release as a single, and performed it on various programs in the lead up to Christmas, including her own TV special called Mariah Carey: Merry Christmas to You.
It was later adapted to be the finale of A Christmas Melody, a 2015 Hallmark Channel Christmas movie, with its lyrics tweaked to be relevant for Broadway child performer Fina Strazza's character singing about her single mother finding love. On December 4, 2020, a new version was released featuring singers Ariana Grande and Jennifer Hudson, as a single from the soundtrack to Mariah Carey's Magical Christmas Special for Apple TV+.
Background and composition
"Oh Santa!" was written and produced by Mariah Carey, Jermaine Dupri and Bryan-Michael Cox for Carey's second Christmas/thirteenth studio album, Merry Christmas II You (2010); Rye Songs administered by Songs of Universal (BMI)/Shaniah Cymone Music|EMI April Music Inc. (ASCAP)/WBM Music Corp Inc./Pamela & Lorrence's Publishing LLC (SESAC). Her vocals were recorded by Brian Garten, Marcus Johnson and Thomas Kanarek, Martin Cooke, Nicholas Essif and Peter Mack, and the music by John Horesco at Guardian Angel Studios, Westlake Recording Studios, Henson Studios and Capitol Recording Studios. It was mixed by Phil Tan and Damien Lewis at The Ninja Beat Club. Dupri played the drums and Randy Jackson performed bass. Cox plated the keyboard and percussion. The background vocals were sung by Angie Fisher, Melonie Daniels, Maryann Tatum, Sharlotte Gibson and Toni Scruggs.
"Oh Santa!" was one of four original compositions by Carey to be included on the album. It premiered on October 1, 2010, in the United States. An EP consisting of six remixes by Jump Smokers and Low Sunday were released on December 7, while a mix of "Oh Santa! and one of Carey's previous Christmas songs "All I Want for Christmas Is You", titled "Oh Santa! All I Want for Christmas Is You (Holiday Mashup)", was released on December 17. "Oh Santa!" is an up-tempo and festive R&B song, which lasts for a duration of three minutes, thirty-one seconds. It has a 1960s girl-group swing feel. The song, in the key of C♯ major, has a tempo of 80 beats per minute. Carey's voice spans more than three octaves, from B2 to the high note of F6. Instrumentation consists of sleigh bells, jingle bells, hand claps and a piano melody, backed by a "school-yard chant beat". Lyrically, Carey makes a plea to Santa Claus asking him to bring back her "baby" in time for Christmas, singing "Santa's gon' come and make him mine this Christmas."
Critical reception
Mike Diver of the BBC wrote that "Oh Santa!" is a "boisterous" song which "makes perfect sense" as a lead single. He continued to write that although it fell substandard to "All I Want for Christmas Is You", it would still "warrant revisiting 12 months down the line". Rolling Stone writer Caryn Ganz commented on the composition, writing "Mariah bops to a schoolyard-chant beat". Joey Guerra of the Houston Chronicle described the song as "irresistible" and predicted that it would "dominate ringtones" in the run up to Christmas. A reviewer for Idolator described the track as a "boppy" Christmas version of Avril Lavigne's "Girlfriend". Rich Juzwiak of The Village Voice was critical of the song, writing "Of the four Mariah-penned new tracks, the Jermaine Dupri/Bryan-Michael Cox collaboration 'Oh Santa!' tries the hardest, an antique kitchen-sink replica that manages to invoke a cheerleading squad, the Pointer Sisters, Mariah's own 'Loverboy', and Hey Ya!'. Full of mumbling and cattiness, it's difficult to sing along to, so its prospects of becoming a perennial favorite are dim."