Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” faintly plays in the background, as you visit your local store following Halloween. The store is a wonderful sight as it’s stocked with varieties of pie for Thanksgiving, candy canes and other Christmas goodies. 

When you’re shopping, which customer would you be: the one who drives their cart around in content and hums in approval, or be absolutely ridiculed by hearing Mariah Carey’s melodious voice too early into the year? 

Generally, Christmas music starts to play on radio stations following Thanksgiving. Likewise, over 150+ of the iHeartMedia radio stations play a variety of festive songs after Nov. 28. Even Spotify streams of “All I Want for Christmas Is You” and “White Christmas” reach the highest amount of plays of 40k after Dec. 1. 

Although all the statistics and facts point towards an obvious conclusion, I believe that Christmas music should be played before Thanksgiving. Before you pull your hair out, hear me out. 

Seasonal depression is horrible especially during autumn and winter, where the cold weather and short days make a terrible combination. During these seasons, there is less sunlight, which means everyone runs on low energy and it makes them feel more lethargic throughout the day. Summer and spring depression are also equally somber, where the long hot days or symptoms of allergies affect some people negatively. 

During quarantine, people were cooped up in their homes and felt lost. Even with family  around, many still felt lonely, anxious, mad, sad, and had several other emotions pent up. 

To lift peoples’ spirits during these difficult times, listening to Christmas music was and can be really helpful. This type of music is generally known to be really catchy and make you feel more at ease.

When asked about her opinion on Christmas music, Junior Charvi Veerla affirms “Christmas music really makes me feel a lot more happy. To be honest, it distracts me from my depression for a little while.”

Junior Vaishnavi Alluri states that, “It [music] gets them [people] in the mood, it shows that it’s almost Christmas and gives them something to look forward to.” Alluri continues saying, “It’s [Fall/Winter] a really stressful time, especially since seniors have college apps and school starting.” Junior Hiya Mokati adds on, “It’ll definitely help them cheer up.”