"Where Are You Christmas?" is a song written by

Mariah Carey Mariah Carey ( ; born March 27, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Songbird Supreme" by ''Guinness World Records'', Carey is known for her five-octave voc ...

James Horner James Roy Horner (August 14, 1953 – June 22, 2015) was an American film composer. He worked on more than 160 film and television productions between 1978 and 2015. He was known for the integration of choral and electronic elements alongside tr ...

and

Will Jennings Wilbur Herschel Jennings (June 27, 1944 – September 6, 2024) was an American lyricist. He was known for writing the songs " Up Where We Belong", " Higher Love", " Tears in Heaven" and "My Heart Will Go On". He was inducted into the Songwriter ...

for the movie ''

How the Grinch Stole Christmas ''How the Grinch Stole Christmas!'' is a children's Christmas book by Theodor "Dr. Seuss" Geisel written in rhymed verse with illustrations by the author. It follows the Grinch, a green cranky, solitary creature who attempts to thwart the pu ...

'' in 2000. In the film, it is first sung by

Taylor Momsen Taylor Michel Momsen (born July 26, 1993) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, model, guitarist, and former actress. Prior to her retirement from acting, she portrayed the character of Cindy Lou Who in the film ''How the Grinch Stole Chr ...

, who played

Cindy Lou Who ''How the Grinch Stole Christmas!'' is a children's Christmas book by Theodor "Dr. Seuss" Geisel written in rhymed verse with illustrations by the author. It follows the Grinch, a green cranky, solitary creature who attempts to thwart the pub ...

under the title, "Christmas, Why Can't I Find You?".

wrote a full-length pop version of the song with additional lyrics for the film's soundtrack. The song was originally recorded by Carey, but because of a

legal case Legal proceeding is an activity that seeks to invoke the power of a tribunal in order to enforce a law. Although the term may be defined more broadly or more narrowly as circumstances require, it has been noted that " e term ''legal proceedings'' ...

with her ex-husband

Tommy Mottola Thomas Daniel Mottola (born July 14, 1948) is an American businessman, record executive, television producer, theater producer, film producer, investor, and serial entrepreneur. Mottola is the chairman of Mottola Media Group, co-founder of Nter ...

, it could not be released, so it was re-recorded and released by

Faith Hill Audrey Faith McGraw (; born September 21, 1967), known professionally as Faith Hill, is an American Country music, country singer. She is one of the most successful country music artists of all time, having sold almost 50 million albums worldwide ...

. A

CD single A CD single is a single (music), music single in the form of a compact disc (CD). Originally the ''CD single'' standard (as defined in the Rainbow Books, Red Book) was an 8 cm (3-inch) "mini CD" (''CD3''); later on the term referred to any si ...

of Hill's rendition was released December 11, 2000. A video was released featuring Hill singing from the

Grinch The Grinch is a character created by children's author and cartoonist Dr. Seuss. He is best known as the titular main protagonist of the 1957 children's book ''How the Grinch Stole Christmas!'' He has been portrayed and voiced by many actors, i ...

's mountaintop home, interspersed with clips from the film and a cameo appearance by Momsen as Cindy Lou Who.

Composition

"Where Are You Christmas?" is a

power ballad A sentimental ballad is an emotional style of music that often deals with romantic and intimate relationships, and to a lesser extent, loneliness, death, war, drug abuse, politics and religion, usually in a poignant but solemn manner. Balla ...

written by James Horner and Will Jennings, with additional lyrics provided by Mariah Carey. The song is composed in the key of

B major B major is a major scale based on B. The pitches B, C, D, E, F, G, and A are all part of the B major scale. Its key signature has five sharps. Its relative minor is G-sharp minor, its parallel minor is B minor, and its enharmonic equi ...

and set to a slow tempo of 56 BPM. Hill's vocals range almost two octaves, from F to E. In a 2021 interview with ''

Harper's Bazaar ''Harper's Bazaar'' (stylized as ''Harper's BAZAAR'') is an American monthly women's fashion magazine. Bazaar has been published in New York City since November 2, 1867, originally as a weekly publication entitled ''Harper's Bazar''."Corporat ...

'', Carey stated that she thought "up the song's bridge, which transforms melancholy into triumph, in the car en route to work with" Horner.

Critical reception

Billy Dukes of ''

Taste of Country Townsquare Media, Inc. (formerly Regent Communications until 2010) is an American radio network and media company based in Purchase, New York. The company started in radio and expanded into digital media toward the end of the 2000s, starting wit ...

'' ranked "Where Are You Christmas?" at number 6 on a list of the top 50

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

Christmas song Christmas music comprises a variety of Music genre, genres of music regularly performed or heard around the Christmas and holiday season, Christmas season. Music associated with Christmas may be purely instrumental, or in the case of Christmas ...

s, writing that the song was "touching" and that "Hill performs it like a woman at the top of her game, which she certainly was". Describing the song as underrated, Pip Ellwood-Hughes of ''Entertainment Focus'' praised Hill's vocal performance, writing that " hesounds incredible as she unleashes the full range of her powerful voice". Conversely, Cameron Martin of ''

The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher based in Washington, D.C. It features articles on politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 185 ...

'' labeled the song as one of the top ten "most annoying" holiday songs. Steve Simels of ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, vi ...

'' was critical of "Where Are You Christmas?" in his review of the Grinch film, writing that "none but the thoroughly perverse of hearing should stick around for the closing credits and Faith Hill warbling" the song.

Label dispute

The release of the song was involved with some controversy between American singer Mariah Carey, who co-wrote the song with

and

, against her former husband

, the chairman and CEO of

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the ...

at the time. During their divorce, Mottola blocked Carey's release of the song due to an ongoing legal battle. In 2020, during the promotion for her

memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based on the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autob ...

, Carey revealed on a ''

Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen ''Watch What Happens Live! with Andy Cohen'' (abbreviated ''WWHL'', previously named ''Watch What Happens Live!'') is an American pop culture-based late-night talk show hosted by Andy Cohen, that premiered on Bravo on July 16, 2009. It is availab ...

'' episode that "she did record it, and she does have the demo somewhere" but that she would have to "dig back into the vault to find erversion". In 2021, she said that she is "enthusiastic but hesitant" to release her version of the song.

Cover versions

"Where Are You Christmas?" has been

covered Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of ...

by a variety of artists since its release, including the American vocal group

Pentatonix Pentatonix (abbreviated PTX) are an American a cappella group from Arlington, Texas, consisting of vocalists Scott Hoying, Mitch Grassi, Kirstin Maldonado, Matt Sallee, and Kevin Olusola. Characterized by their pop-style arrangements wit ...

who recorded an ''

a cappella Music performed a cappella ( , , ; ), less commonly spelled acapella in English, is music performed by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Rena ...

'' version of the song in 2018.

Commercial performance

"Where Are You Christmas?" peaked at number 10 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...

chart in January 2001, becoming Hill's fifth top ten single at that format. The song experienced

crossover Crossover may refer to: Entertainment Music Albums * ''Cross Over'' (album), a 1987 album by Dan Peek, or the title song * ''Crossover'' (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles album), 1987 * ''Crossover'', an album by Intrigue * ''Crossover'', an album by ...

success at radio, peaking at number 26 on the

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data along with digital sales and streaming. ...

chart and at number 40 on the

Adult Pop Songs The Adult Pop Airplay (formerly known as Adult Pop Songs and Adult Top 40) chart is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and ranks "the most popular adult top 40 as based on radio airplay detections measured by Nielsen Broadcast Data Syste ...

chart, in addition to reaching a peak position of 65 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. In 2013, "Where Are You Christmas?" peaked at number 15 on the seasonal Holiday 100 chart, on which it has continued making appearances throughout the 2010s. The song has never entered the

Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music industry record chart in Canada for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine. It was launched on the issue dated March 31, 2007 as the standard record chart in Canada; a new chart ...

, but did reach a peak position of 38 of the

Hot Canadian Digital Songs The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in ''Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, p ...

component chart in 2018. "Where Are You Christmas" was placed seventh on the list of all-time best-selling Christmas/holiday digital singles in SoundScan history in 2016. As of December 2019, total digital sales of the Faith Hill recording has reached 1,002,000 downloads according to

Nielsen SoundScan Luminate Data, LLC (formerly MRC Data and P-MRC Data) is a provider of music and entertainment data. Established as a joint-venture in 2020, it brought together Nielsen Music, Alpha Data (formerly BuzzAngle Music) and Variety Business Intellige ...

Charts

Notes

References

{{Authority control 2000 singles 2009 singles American Christmas songs Faith Hill songs Music videos directed by Paul Hunter (director) Pop ballads Songs with lyrics by Will Jennings Songs written by James Horner Songs written by Mariah Carey Film theme songs Warner Records singles 2000 songs 2000s ballads The Grinch (franchise) Country ballads Music based on works by Dr. Seuss