Mariah Carey's 'All I Want For Christmas Is You' Cowriter Disses Her Understanding of Music, Claims She Couldn't Have Written Hit on Her Own

Mariah Carey‘s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” cowriter Walter Afanasieff is questioning the Queen of Christmas.

The 52-year-old music legend’s holiday anthem experiences a renaissance every year as the holiday season kicks off. In 2022, it returned to the pinnacle position on the Billboard Hot 100 for the fourth consecutive year.

It’s reign over the holidays is undeniable, and it made the musician all but synonymous with the time of year. However, Walter is questioning some claims Mariah made about the track, namely that the song was something she first worked on as a child.

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During an appearance on Hot Takes & Deep Dives podcast, Walter questioned his collaborator’s understanding of music and claimed that she couldn’t have written “All I Want For Christmas Is You” on her own.

“She doesn’t understand music,” he claimed, adding that her story about the song was a “tall tale.”

“She doesn’t know chord changes and music theory or anything like that. She doesn’t know a diminished chord from a minor seventh chord to a major seventh chord,” he continued, saying it was unlikely that she “wrote a very complicated chord-structured song with her finger on a Casio keyboard when she was a little girl.”

Walter alleged that the story “sort of developed in her mind” and hinted that it became part of the song’s lore as it became more famous.

Despite his claims, Mariah was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2020 and has written many of her songs.

The pair was sued for their inescapable Christmas hit earlier this year. Find out why.