Christmas crooning already?

On Nov. 2 new releases cropped up all over… Weezer, Good Charlotte, Pitbull and Matt & Kim all released brand new albums with music which stayed true to their respective genres. But there was yet another release: Mariah Carey, with her album entitled “Merry Christmas II You.”

While sagging carved pumpkins have only recently been rolled to the street, awaiting the arrival of the Greenwaste truck, Carey has busily been readying for the release of her Christmas album.

With Halloween over, thoughts are just now turning to Thanksgiving and Black Friday; Christmas is an overload. While Carey may have felt she was getting a jump on the competition by releasing her album months early, she also may have cost herself business…

So far, iTunes reports lower popularity ratings for Carey’s Christmas croons than for her previously released albums. People simply aren’t in the ‘Christmas mood’ yet.

While most of the singer’s songs are slow faithful renditions of Christmas classics, Carey does venture on to more modern terrain, remaking “All I Want for Christmas is You” (made popular by the hit movie “Love Actually”) and naming it “All I Want for Christmas is You (Extra Festive).”

There is, actually, nothing ‘extra festive’ about this remake… It’s just a rip off.

While Carey has a fantastic voice, and does make the most of it, she lacks originality.

Yet, some of Carey’s classic renditions are comforting; after all, who wants to hear a pop or techno remix of their favorite Christmas song while relaxing with a cup of hot cocoa? But by sticking to the faithful safe choices, Carey leaves listeners uninspired and, well, a little bored.

Carey could only have justified the Nov. release of her album had she truly wowed listeners. As it is, Carey leaves would be fans uninterested in the album and confused by the timing.