Mariah Carey shuts down diva claims and reveals what she wants for Christmas as she kicks off the festive season on BBC Radio 2

Mariah Carey has insisted she is not a diva when it comes to Christmas presents.

The self-styled Queen of Christmas, 55, said she believes she is an easy person to buy a present for as she kicked off the festive season on BBC Radio 2 on Monday.

Mariah called into Zoe Ball’s breakfast show and explained that she doesn’t care what she gets for Christmas as long as it’s something thoughtful.

She said, “I think [I am an easy person to buy for] because it’s really the thought that counts.

“I mean, I know it sounds cliché, but it’s true. If someone takes the time and goes and gets something for you, that’s a big deal.”

Mariah did this before officially starting Radio 2’s Christmas countdown by introducing her legendary festive song All I Want For Christmas Is You.

Mariah called into Zoe Ball’s breakfast show and explained that she doesn’t care what she gets for Christmas as long as it’s something thoughtful.

The star went on to recall that she “had the best moments” when she was in the studio recording the song, which is 30 years old this year.

She explained: “I remember being in the studio and having the studio all decked out in Christmas splendor. And I was there with the backup singers doing all that [sings]…background parts. You know, I remember it so vividly.

‘I could never have known how far it would go. But it was a great moment, one of the best moments in the studio I’ve ever had!’

Mariah’s radio appearance comes hours after she took the stage in Atlanta, Georgia for her Christmas Time tour.

Nick Cannon’s ex-wife announced Mariah Carey’s Christmas Time Tour in August to celebrate the 30th anniversary of her mega-holiday hit All I Want For Christmas Is You.

The five-time Grammy winner kicked off the concert tour on November 6 in Highland, California. She will perform the final show of the tour on December 17 in Brooklyn, New York.

Her show in Atlanta was the Emotions singer’s seventh stop on the 20-show tour. After her time in the City in a Forest, she flies to Nashville, Tennessee.

The set list includes a whopping 26 songs and typically lasts about 90 minutes, during which she performs a mix of holiday classics with modern twists and her biggest hits.

Every evening she closes the show with her 1994 hit All I Want For Christmas is You, which is also called the most popular Christmas song in the world.

Mariah’s radio appearance comes hours after she took the stage in Atlanta, Georgia for her Christmas Time tour

Last November, Carey opened up about the real history behind her famous song, which she composed with 66-year-old Brazilian songwriter Walter Afanasieff.

She told me Parade: “I started writing that on a little DX7 or Casio keyboard that was in this little room in the house I was living in at the time in Upstate New York, lifetimes ago.

‘Write down everything that was on my mind. All things that reminded me of Christmas, made me feel festive and I wanted other people to feel that.”

While it is widely known that the track took 15 minutes to write, the hitmaker revealed that the recording process was a completely different story.

“We took some time to make the record because when you listen to all those background vocals and all that stuff, you can’t do it in five minutes,” she continued. “It’s literally impossible unless you have three choirs.”

In 2014, Billboard asked Afanasieff if he knew the song would be as successful as it was when he and the blonde beauty were writing it in her New York home in the summer of ’94.

She said, “I think [I am an easy person to buy for] because it’s really the thought that counts. I mean, I know this sounds cliché, but it’s true. If someone takes the time and goes and gets something for you, that’s a big deal.

“Twenty years ago, Christmas music and artists’ Christmas albums weren’t as big a deal as they are now,” he explains. ‘Back then you didn’t have many artists with Christmas albums; It was not a known science at all at the time and there was no one making new, great Christmas carols.’

During Amazon Music’s 2019 mini-documentary, the singer revealed that her favorite line in All I Want for Christmas Is You is: “I won’t even wish for snow.”

She explained: ‘[It’s my favorite line] because I always long for snow. I always want it to be a special, festive winter wonderland.”

The hitmaker even makes annual trips to celebrity favorite Aspen Colorado to spend some time in the ‘winter wonderland’.