Paris (AFP)

Not only did this 1994 hit by Mariah Carey return to the top of the charts, but "All I want for Christmas is you" is still covered as much, in bare piano by Chilly Gonzales or in Creole by Perle Lama.

This 26-year-old title was the most streamed in the world this weekend (more than 12 million downloads Saturday and Sunday) on the Spotify platform.

And this hit is at the top of the famous American Billboard barometer, a peak already reached last year at the same time.

The American diva is also delighted on her social networks of the "lasting success of this song".

What can explain such a return to the foreground?

An essential presence in playlists on platforms because of the word "Christmas"?

The inevitable rerun at this time of year of the movie "Love Actually", with Hugh Grant, one of the final scenes of which is based on this track?

No doubt, but Chilly Gonzales, an erudite artist who offers cutting-edge musical workshops ("Gonzervatory" in English, or "Gonzervatoire"), has his method of seeing what is hidden under the hood of choruses on everyone's lips.

- "Atomic version" -

"Playing (songs) on the piano reduces music to its atomic version (to an atom, editor's note), he explained recently to AFP. Some songs do not pass the test, because we realize that their success is linked to their production (effects added in the studio, editor's note) or to the personality or the voice of the singer.

Conversely, "All I want ..." passes the test with flying colors and is found - in bare piano version - on his last album, released in mid-November, "A very Chilly Christmas", which is the best this year in the Christmas album department revisited.

Martiniquaise Perle Lama - who played the first parts of Corneille - has just covered "All I want ..." in Creole ("Pou Noël") and also has her own idea of ​​the longevity of the neo-standard.

“There is a nostalgic side in this song, which recalls happy times, explains the singer to AFP. And then, over time, people have the impression that this song belongs to them. With my Creole version, it now belongs to all Caribbean people, some even call me + Mariah Careybéenne + (laughs) ".

"In this difficult period, with the Covid-19, releasing this song also means allowing yourself to celebrate Christmas and smile", continues the one who will be a sports coach / host on the TV Trace channel in 2021. (Tropics / Caribbean).

- Punk version -

The song's message, universal ("All I want for Christmas is you"), has already found many transpositions, such as when Joe Biden supporters released it at a rally in November, a sequence retweeted by Mariah Carey.

"All I want ..." has become material over and over again, put into the oven every time and even put on a punk grill by the group My Chemical Romance in the early 2000s. But beyond the messy re-interpretations, the title and its singer - here co-author alongside Walter Afanasieff, popular signature - have also been diluted in pop culture.

Thus, to launch the disco - and Christmas - remix of one of his new songs, "Nous", Julien Doré used the catchphrase "All I want for Christmas is Nous" on his networks.

And while they've just released a mini-album of Christmas carols, the squeaky Wriggles also quote her in their track "George Michael" (deceased December 25, 2016): "I'm George Michael's biggest fan / And 12/25 me hissing / Nothing to Mariah Carey from your boomer party / I commemorate the death of the greatest singer ".

© 2020 AFP