Mariah Carey Makes Another Christmas Dream Come True By Praising 4th Grader’s ’All I Want’ Performance
‘Tis the season to spread a little joy and love and nobody knows that better than Christmas queen Mariah Carey. A few days after making a South American fan’s dreams come true by bumping her up to the front row of her Madison Square Garden “Merry Christmas to All” show, MC did it again on Wednesday (Dec. 14) when she heaped praise on a young singer’s enthusiastic performance of “All I Want For Christmas Is You.”
It all started when proud mom Jen White-Johnson posted a video on Tuesday of her fourth grade son Knox singing Mariah’s perennial December No. 1 hit with his school choir at a school holiday concert with the inspiring message: “Timeline cleanse if you need one! Knox tonight at his 4th grade school winter concert singing @MariahCarey ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ #AutisticJoy on full display! My kid is everything! I hope Mariah sees this!!”
In the clip, Knox, wearing a seasonal-appropriate red sweater, can be seen happily singing along with his peers before taking a killer solo that drew howls of delight from the audience. Mariah saw it and responded with a joyful message of her own.
“Your kid IS everything!!!!!! Knox, you made my day,” she tweeted. “Your JOY gives me and everyone watching JOY. THANK YOU for reminding me why I wake up in the morning and do what I do. I love you.” White-Johnson, whose Twitter bio describes her as an “Neurodivergent Mama” and “ADHD artist + educator for disability culture + justice,” was, of course, overjoyed by the note from Carey.
“So this just happened. @MariahCarey just said Knox’s name,” she responded after Carey’s post. “We thank you Mariah for giving us the best Christmas ever. We appreciate you showing us your amazing love and light this holiday season and for amplifying Knox’s #AutisticJoy#BlackBoyJoy This made our world!”
Billboard caught up with White-Johnson on Thursday morning (Dec. 15) and she revealed that Carey did more than just let Knox know he was seen and loved. “Mariah sent me a DM saying she knows it might be a bit too late for a fourth grader, but she would be happy if we would join her on Friday (Dec. 17) for front row seats [at her second MSG holiday concert],” White-Johnson says, adding that the singer also acknowledged that it might be a bit loud for Knox, but that the invite was open if they could make it.
“The fact that she was so caring in paying attention to the fact that he’s autistic and that he would need accommodations? It’s last minute for us and we probably can’t make it, but I love the fact that she invited us,” White-Johnson says. “She’s really taking her role as the queen of Christmas very seriously and that’s what this is about. I feel like because she’s a mother she understand the joy kids are innately going to give the world with all this negativity around us.”
White-Johnson,42, says it was a “full-circle” moment for her, since she grew up listening to Carey’s music and sang her songs in talent shows in high school. As for how Knox reacted to the shout-out from the pop superstar, she says he was super excited and definitely zeroed in on the part of the tweet where Mariah said she loved him. “He was looking at the screen and out of everything that she said, that stuck out,” she says.
“‘She loves me? She loves me? And she doesn’t even know me!’,” she says Knox responded, adding that she told her son that his joy is infectious and that “she loves everyone. I believe she’s waiting and hoping for these little moments and gems to drop and her Christmas spell is working. Her fairy dust is happening. The spirit she’s illumination is working in the world.”
Check out the heart-warming exchange below.
Gil Kaufman
Billboard
