FEATURE:
Mulled Wine and Coventry Carol
PHOTO CREDIT: Karolina Grabowska/Pexels
The Evolution and Diversity of Christmas Songs – and Why We Still Favour the Classics
__________
IT is interesting how…
Christmas songs have evolved and altered through the years. Not only in terms of their sound. The language and phrases used. Of course, for most of us, our earliest memories might have been Christmas carols. I sung them at school. Briefly part of the school choir, there would be an assembly every year where we’d sing carols. I was aware of more popular and conventional radio songs that relate to Christmas and the holiday period. Whilst I don’t think they are as broad as they could be in terms of covering various faiths and beliefs, there has differently been an expansion regarding tone and mood. Once was the time where pretty much every Christmas recording was positive and joyful. Maybe quite cliché in terms of the images and sentiments. The standard setting of chestnuts on open fires. Spending time at home, snow outside, presents under the tree etc. I am not sure when things changed regarding ‘alternative’ Christmas songs - yet I like how Christmas music has developed to multiple genres. This year is already offering a diverse range of Christmas/holiday takes. As I say, most of the Christmas songs reaching us are from Western religions and artists. If the song is more traditional and conventional, there are elements of the Christian faith. I am going to end by looking to music in general and how, after such a dreadful year, there need to be messages of hope and togetherness in music. Christmas music is very much about that time with family and enjoying the season. If one does not want that endless optimism and some of the more stereotyped and overused Christmas lines, there are songs that provide this alternate take. The song below, Coventry Carol, is from Collette Cooper’s wonderful E.P., Darkside of Christmas - Chapter 2. It was recorded alongside actress Maxine Peake. Cooper’s voice has this rawness, smokiness (with brandy notes) and depth that gives appropriate gravitas to a haunting, timely song. Darkside of Christmas - Chapter 2 deals with love, loss and empathy. So much wit, soulfulness, power, humour and nuance. There are so many emotions, visions, memorable scenes, stunning layers and sights that one is treated to throughout the E.P. From Maxine Peake wonderfully opening When the Snow Falls by reciting a poem (written by Collette Cooper), we get one of Cooper’s most arresting and evocative vocals. Lost Soul (Peace of Mind) has smokiness, swing and electricity. It is a musical and vocal shift that shows the versatility and talent of Cooper and her band. Finishing with Coventry Carol, Collette Cooper’s rendition is haunting and teasing at the same time. Quite epic and almost choral, there is this incredible take on a song that gives it new meaning and impact. The entire E.P. is so memorable that I found myself coming back to it time and time again. One of our most distinct and finest musical voices.
As the E.P. title suggests, it is a less traditional viewpoint of Christmas. Coventry Carol is Cooper’s unique take on an old carol. With its theme of war and strife, it is strangely and sadly relatable in terms of today’s headlines. It shows that, regardless of when a song was recorded, themes like war and division will always appear in the landscape. It makes me think that, at a time when many songs are positive and ignore darker and more harrowing sides of life, maybe there should be more Christmas songs that reflect besieged nations and worrying events. Offering hope to people affected. Discussing how other people are experiencing Christmas. In a more hostile land that any of us will. Of course, most people want cheer and that hope through Christmas music. I am going to discuss modern Christmas music, and how a broader and more genre-hopping scene means Christmas music is wider-reaching. Even if there have been few modern classics that rival the legendary Christmas songs – something I shall also discuss -, there is this blend of less optimist/alternative ones together with those that have a more traditional mindset. As this article explores, there was a definite need for cheerier and more hopeful Christmas song when the world was afflicted by war:
“The earliest record of Christmas music dates back to the Middle Ages with songs inspired by Christian Bible verses, such as the still-popular hymns “What Child Is This?” and “O Come, O Come Emmanuel”. In the 1700s, German composer George Frederic Handel published a collection of now-classic carols including “Joy To The World,” “O Come All Ye Faithful,” “Angels We Have Heard On High,” and more, sparking a renewed interest in Christmas music.
However, prior to 1840, when German Prince Albert married Queen Victoria of England, many Christmas celebrations were condemned as pagan and limited by certain groups or religious movements, such as the Puritanism and Protestant Reformation. It was only after Albert and Victoria’s marriage, when German traditions of Yuletide were mixed with English celebrations of Christmas, that the holiday was re-invented to include evergreen trees, Christmas cards, caroling and gift exchanges. Music, unsurprisingly, changed too.
Along with church classics like “O Holy Night” (1855) and “Silent Night” (1863), non-religious tunes like “Jingle Bells” (1857) were also popularized during this period. Ironically, “Jingle Bells” was actually written for Thanksgiving but grew to be associated with Christmas time instead.
The twentieth century brought a new wave of music in America, especially during the Great Depression when spirits needed significant lifting. It was through new technology like the radio that music spread during the 1930s, including such iconic songs like “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town” and “Winter Wonderland.” In 1938, Bob May wrote Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer for his daughter, and, by 1949, the book was adapted into the holiday song that generations of kids adore.
World War II increased the public longing for better times and comfort, which resulted in the rise in popularity of Bing Crosby, Majorie Reynolds and more in the movie Holiday Inn. The film featured nostalgic tunes like “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” and Crosby’s “White Christmas”. The film and songs were major hits, popular with both soldiers and their families at home. In 1944, Meet Me in St. Louis aired, starring Judy Garland singing “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas”–the movie and song remain popular with audiences today. The 40s also produced immensely popular songs like Nat King Cole and the King Cole Trio’s 1946 hit “The Christmas Song” (“Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire”) and “Baby It’s Cold Outside,” the latter debuting in the summer-release movie Neptune’s Daughter in 1949”.
One notable aspects of the Christmas song is how it has become more popular. Maybe played earlier each year, most shops starting playing Christmas tracks last month. They are more commercial now than ever. If, as we can see in this feature, there have been some true classics through the decades, one of the biggest changes has been with the prolificacy of the Christmas song. Once reserved to crooners and artists in Jazz and a narrow range of genres, it did broaden out to Pop and Rock artists. Since the 1980s even, it has reached so many other genres. Maybe there are more alternative takes on Christmas…though one can hear plenty of artists keeping things warm and traditional – with many tackling old standards and carols. What particularly interests me is how Christmas through song has become less confined and utterly predictable. I can understand the imperative to portray family and togetherness when war was upon us. And, as we hear with Collette Cooper’s new E.P., there is genocide and war happening now - and so an older song about war and strife fits into 2023. I will come to the alternative/’other’ side to Christmas music. I mentioned how fewer religions are mentioned in Christmas songs. In the sense that there is not this multi-faith assortment of songs each year. This article highlights how, through the years, religion is less common in Christmas music. Once a staple and foundation of carols and some of the earliest Christmas tracks, themes and aspects looked more to the home and, perhaps, the more commercial side of Christmas:
“Another way Christmas music has evolved is through the meaning of the songs. Originally Christmas music was played in church in order to celebrate the Christmas story. Therefore, the lyrics and meaning of older songs are based on Christianity; some songs are based on specific Bible verses. For example, lyrics from, Hark The Herald Angel’s Sing, read, “glory to the newborn King,” which is a direct reference to the birth of Jesus.
Christmas music written in recent years seems to be less about religion and more about the holiday season and spending it with significant others. The 1900s is when the themes of Christmas music started to change. A large part of this change is because experimentation began around the 1920s. People started to break away from the ways of the church and try new ideas. Therefore, as overall music evolved, so did Christmas music. Common themes of modern Christmas music include: being together in the cold, love, fictional characters, and many more.
In recent times, many modern artists remake older Christmas songs. Sometimes they keep the traditional sound and other times they incorporate a pop or modern twist. Thus, it can be very hard to differentiate older and newer Christmas songs; in order to identify the different types of songs one really has to pay attention to the lyrics and meanings of the songs. For example, Carrie Underwood released a Christmas album containing her remakes of older songs such as, O Holy Night written in 1855, and new songs she wrote”.
I guess Christmas will move around the sound of the mainstream. If a particular movement or style of genre is fading or less cool, the nature and overall flavour of Christmas music will have to move forward and work around what is popular. At a time when streaming allows us access to most Christmas songs ever recorded, playlists are quite eclectic. As a child, I definitely noticed the changes in Christmas music. I vaguely recall the late-1980s and 1990s. Modern classics like Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas Is You (1994) being played a lot more than carols and older Christmas songs like White Christmas and Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. One big evolution seems to be Christmas songs moving from a more hymnal and calmer/smoother pace to something more energetic. Whilst not true of all songs, a lot of Christmas music from the 1940s-1960s was more slower. Singers like Bing Crosby and Dean Martin crooning rather than jubilantly declaring. Songs from Mariah Carey, Slade (Merry Xmas Everybody), Wizard (I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday) and even Wham! (Last Christmas) and Band Aid (Do They Know It's Christmas?) definitely have more energy to them. This Elle article charts how Christmas songs evolved through the decades. I have chosen a few example periods:
“1957
The steady rise of rock & roll threatens the viability of dated Christmas music, which gets revived with the release of Elvis’ Christmas album. His rendition of “Blue Christmas” remains popular today.
1965
In the ‘60s, Christmas isn’t so cheery anymore with the introduction of new studies on the phenomenon that would be known as Winter Blues or Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). The classic A Charlie Brown Christmas by The Vince Guaraldi Trio evokes a melancholy tone with “Christmas Time is Here.”
1990s - 2000s
A cohort of pop superstars make lasting original holiday songs like the entirety of Mariah Carey’s Merry Christmas album (1994), Britney Spears’ “My Only Wish”(2000) and of course, N*Sync’s “Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays” (1998)”.
I am interested in themes and lyrics in Christmas songs and how that has moved through time. This feature breaks down word frequency, the keys songs Christmas songs were recorded in, in addition to the song length and speed. It makes for very interesting reading:
“The Evolution of Christmas Songs
Ever wondered how Christmas songs have evolved over the last 47 years? How has the lyrical content evolved? Have the songs got quicker or slower? Have the songs got longer or shorter? Do the songs actually reflect changes in society? Christmas Tree World take a look at all this and more...
Word frequency
1970-1989
Christmas - 79
Time - 57
Love - 47
Know - 34
World - 30
Just - 26
Day - 23
Lord - 22
Want - 22
Ernie - 21
Other frequent words: Merry (14), Born (14), Sing (11) 1990-2016
Love - 67
Know - 59
Baby - 33
Day - 32
World - 30
Hallelujah - 29
Never - 27
Time - 27
Told - 26
Gonna - 26
Other frequent words: F*ck (16 - thanks Rage Against The Machine), Born (15), Sing (14) 35% of Christmas number 1s between 1970-1989 were 'Christmas songs'. 7% of Christmas number 1s between 1990-2016 were 'Christmas songs' - including another version of 'Do They Know It's Christmas?'.
Song Keys
Number of Christmas songs per song key 1970-1989
A - 2
B - 0
C - 7
D - 1
E - 3
F - 1
G - 2
1990-2016
A - 2
B - 0
C - 3
D - 7
E - 7
F - 1
G - 7
No Christmas Number 1 in the last 47 years on the key of B. C Major was the most popular key from 1970-1989 - Schubert described the characteristics of that key as ‘innocence, simplicity, naïvety, children's talk’. G Major was the most popular key from 1990-2016 - Schubert described the characteristics of that key as ‘rustic, idyllic and lyrical’.
Average song speed/length
1970-1989 Average song speed - 96bpm Average song length - 03:45 1990-2016 Average song speed - 85bpm Average song length - 04:08 Facts Paul Joyce, who wrote ‘Can We Fix it’, won an Ivor Novello award for the song in 2001 Christmas Number 1s from 1970 - 1989 were shorter, quicker and lighter in lyrical content Christmas Number 1s from 1990 - 2016 are longer, slower and more frequently written in a minor key 48% of Christmas Number 1s in the last 26 years have been covers What's your favourite Christmas song? At Christmas Tree World, we specialise in realistic Christmas trees. Choose from our wide range of artificial Christmas trees, including snowy Christmas trees, pre-lit Christmas trees and slim Christmas trees”.
PHOTO CREDIT: Jill Wellington/Pexels
Modern Christmas songs are great – and I have included a playlist with some contemporary greats in them -, though there is something about those older hits that remain in our minds. This article explores evolutions and how artists today (it was written in 2014) rely on covers rather than originals. Even if there have been more original Christmas songs in the nine years since, many artists still rather add their take to established songs rather than attempt a new Christmas track – which is something I will ask about at the end:
“It made me wonder, what’s the reason that classic Christmas songs are so much more memorable than newer Christmas songs? I decided to group the songs by theme and see if any patterns emerged.
I found that certain themes such as describing “Christmas in the Air” and wishing people “Merry Christmas” via song are timeless, while others seemed to evolve. For example, songs about “Being Together in the Cold” and being “Home” for the holidays were written up until the mid-1950’s when they switched over to songs about having fun and “Partying” at Christmastime.
One of my favorite trends was the transition from songs about Santa (“Santa Claus is Coming to Town” & “Here Comes Santa Claus”) in the 1930’s and 1940’s to songs about Santa being in love (“I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” & “Santa Baby”) in the 1950’s to songs straight up about love in the 1970’s and beyond (“Last Christmas” & “All I Want For Christmas Is You”).
When you look at the use of the word “Christmas” in songs over the past few decades, you see that every one of the top songs since 1963 has the word “Christmas” in it. It’s almost as if the word “Christmas” is put in a song just for the sake of telling you that it’s a Christmas song.
Take “Last Christmas” for example:
Last Christmas, I gave you my heart
But the very next day, you gave it away
This year, to save me from tears
I’ll give it to someone special
If you remove the word “Christmas” from the lyrics, the song actually has nothing to do with Christmas at all. It is simply a love song.
This made me wonder if Christmas songs have had less substance over time as well. After doing some digging, I found that there is no significant correlation between the year a song is written and the complexity of the song. It’s still fun to look at the vocabulary size of songs though, regardless of year. Here I’ve listed the top and bottom 5 songs in terms of the number of unique words.
“All I Want For Christmas Is You” has the most words and uses the most Christmas references of them all, which I guess is why the song feels extra Christmas-y (along with the choir and bells in the background). I also found it pretty humorous that “Feliz Navidad” has the smallest vocabulary of any Christmas song. It uses only 24 words over the course of 3:02 minutes.
Overall, we see that Christmas songs have evolved over time, from songs about fictional characters and being home for the holidays to ones about celebrating with friends and hoping to get your love interest for Christmas. While some might be concerned with the changes, I actually think it’s pretty impressive that the classic songs have prevailed. It shows that they are beautifully written and capture the spirit of the season better than any songs can do today. When else can you get kids from 1 to 92 all singing along to the same tunes? That’s the magic of Christmas songs”.
One great thing about Christmas music now is how there are alternatives. Artists can discuss Christmas and keep it positive, although they mix genres and messages. Even if classics do remain the most sought-after this time of year, I do feel that there is a lot more variety. People don’t necessarily want only treacle, snow and the traditional messages. Alternative Christmas songs can be darker and less optimistic. Not everyone is in the Christmas spirit. Not everyone celebrates the holidays. There are plenty who are suffering and have not got the advantages most of us have, therefore the more traditional Christmas images are slightly jarring and unobtainable. I do wonder why fewer artists are trying to write their own Christmas songs. Do they feel like they cannot come up with anything original or standout?! Maybe tying themselves to a classic gives them more accessible and popularity. People less willing to embrace new Christmas songs when the classics are readily available and familiar. I do like the alternative Christmas tracks and darker takes. At a time when there is a lot of misery in the world, we do need the escape and glee of Christmas. However, it is important to recognise other people and the fact that not everyone in the world feels the same. I am going to end with a few articles that show how classic Christmas songs remain the most popular – and why there have not been a whole load of new Christmas songs. The charts too do not necessarily give us a Christmas song at the number one spot on the big day. One cannot guarantee what will be top of the charts on Christmas.
This NPR article explores some theories as to why there are relatively few new Christmas songs. Even if modern artists like Leona Lewis and Michael Bublé are modern-day greats whose Christmas music could be in the cannon and played decades from now, is there something about those tracks from the 1970s and 1980s that have a magic formula and timelessness impossible to equal? It is an interesting debate:
“Aloe Blacc, a singer-songwriter from southern California perhaps best known for his guest vocal on Avicii's 2013 smash "Wake Me Up," had eight new songs on his 2018 album, Christmas Funk.
"It is intimidating to think about trying to write something that will stand the test of time," Blacc says, especially as he also wanted to expand the emotional palette of holiday music. "My goal was to do songs that felt sentimental from a direction that it's not usually presented from. Yeah, we want to get together and give hugs and have Christmas cheer, but there's also some family members you don't want to see during the holidays."
Dr. Demento, a pop music historian who specializes in oddities and ephemera, likens the contraction of the Christmas playlist to an increased yearning for tradition.
"Most Americans eat pretty much the same big meal every year, turkey and all the trimmings," Dr. Demento says. "If they introduce a new recipe, people will comment about it. 'Hey, mother, what's this?' "
Speaking of new recipes, the Dallas' early '90s band Old 97's try one out in the holiday tune "Here It Is Christmas Time."
"I talk about peach pie instead of one of the more traditional Christmas desserts, so that's a little weird," Rhett Miller, the country-rock band's frontman, says. "I mention doing the dishes. I like the idea of subverting the normal Christmas clichés, but you sort of have to love them to subvert them."
He made quite a few attempts at dodging those clichés, writing nine new songs for the Old 97's album, Love the Holidays. He gets why some people roll their eyes when the Christmas songs start up, but he's willing to risk the audience's annoyance to write a song that sees its emotional currency renewed every year.
"I really love when songs have utility and can point to milestones in people's lives," Miller says. "When songs do that for us, that's a really special thing ... I don't think there are any songs that are useful or as fraught with emotional baggage — in a good way — as Christmas and holiday songs are."
Another new holiday project, Molly Burch's The Molly Burch Christmas Album, is only the Austin-based singer-songwriter's third full-length album, holiday-related or not. But its two originals aren't pitched to the rafters the way Mariah Carey's big hit was”.
Another feature looked back at the evolution of Christmas songs and how certain aspects crept in when it came to sound and time signature. How maybe, in a modern time when Pop has changed, perhaps it is unnatural stepping back. People gravitating towards a particular era because of the production and quality of the music back then? There are many angles to explore:
“Let The Bells Ring
From the tubular chimes of Band Aid, to the sleigh bells of Winter Wonderland, to the jingling of Jingle Bell Rock, we have conclusively proved that we are total suckers when it comes to bell-based percussion.
You can barely move in the Christmas discography without bumping into a clanger of some sort. Bells are absolutely everywhere, refusing to let a quaver go by unmarked. For the most part they’re supposed to be evocative of Santa’s sleigh (with the occasional bit of church campanology) and their hypnotising effect on us is so profound that the simple addition of bells into a regular pop song can trick us into mistaking it for a full-blown festive classic.
For example, there was a conscious decision taken by the record label to add bells into the mix of East 17’s “Stay Another Day”—a song that’s actually about the heartbreak of suicide—to make it fare better in the competitive Christmas charts.
It worked a treat. The song has very little in the way of seasonal flair otherwise yet it managed to beat Mariah Carey’s undisputed classic “All I Want For Christmas Is You” to number one, and became one of the final songs to make it into the official Christmas canon (since we apparently stopped taking applications in 1994).
The Most Wonderful Time
Most pop music we know and love is written in a basic 4/4 count. Naturally then, it follows that the vast majority of Christmas songs are written in 4/4 too—but there’s an interesting exception.
A handful of our well-loved Christmas classics are written in 12/8. “Happy Xmas (War Is Over),” “Lonely This Christmas,” “Christmas Time (Don’t Let The Bells End)” and everyone’s problematic fave “Fairytale Of New York” all work to that relatively rare time signature.
Not only that, but there are a couple of non-festive songs that were Christmas No.1s which are also in 12/8 too. “Too Much” by The Spice Girls. Alexandra Burke’s cover of “Hallelujah.” Last year’s Christmas No.1, “Perfect” by Ed Sheeran. All 12/8.
What is it about 12/8 that feels so seasonal? Western pop music might be in 4/4, but a lot of our most cherished Christmas traditions stretch back to 19th century Central Europe, an area famous for its 3/4 waltzes.
12/8 effectively acts as a compromise between these two time signatures, and therefore these two traditions. With four sets of three quavers in each bar of 12/8, you get your regular, radio-friendly 4/4 pop beat as well as the sort of triple-count found in both a classic Viennese waltz and in a lot of carols (“Away In A Manger,” “Silent Night,” “We Three Kings”).
It’s the perfect blend of old and new. A nod to tradition while keeping things modern.
Christmas Future
All of this raises an interesting question. If the hallmarks of a successful Christmas song are so obvious, why hasn’t there been one that’s really gripped the public imagination in the past 25 years?
It’s not as if Christmas albums aren’t still big business. Every major artist worth their salt has done a cover of “Santa Baby”, or released a non-specific holiday album in late November—and they continue to do so. Sia, one of the world’s most successful and well-respected songwriters, put out a whole album’s worth of original Christmas material last year, but you can safely bet that Chris Rea is going to see more season-specific airplay than she will.
We’ve never been so granular about the production of music than we are in 2018, so why doesn’t this sort of theoretical nuts-and-bolts approach produce any massive modern hits?
Fundamentally it seems to come down to tradition. In much the same way that we buy Quality Street in December in amounts we’d boggle at in August, we have the things we like in this season and nothing will swear us off them. Every year, people complain about turkey being dry. Every year, people eat it. Every year, people complain that the BBC schedules are dreadful. Every year, people watch it.
While pop music styles change rapidly around us, Christmas is the one point in the calendar where everyone appears to have agreed on a fixed playlist. Jingle-heavy, major key pop with a little swing in its step.
Why would we ever ask for more?”.
I am going to end with a feature from WIRED. Even if there are new Christmas songs each year, there is science why we go back to those we already know and love. Maybe a psychological stubbornness that means we are less bold and risk-taking. Even if we dislike a particular song or sound, we keep playing it because it is traditional and we grew up with it. The imperfect Christmas is somehow still more comforting to some than one where we embrace something new and unfamiliar:
“According to research on regional radio stations published earlier this month by the Performing Rights Society for Music, the most recent song to break into the top 20 most-played Christmas tracks is Cliff Richard’s "Millennium Prayer," from the year 2000. Even the more obscure festive tracks – like 1982’s "Christmas Wrapping" by The Waitresses, or 2003’s "Christmas Time (Don’t Let The Bells End) by The Darkness" – date back at least a decade.
But why has it been so long since a new Christmas hit has broken through? “Many of us, regardless of our generation, listen to Christmas music that tends to have come through from the early seventies,” says Paul Carr, professor in popular music analysis at the University of South Wales.
It would be easy, Carr says, to attribute it to the songs being better – but he doesn’t think that’s the case. Instead, he argues there’s a generational effect where we inherit the Christmas tunes beloved by our parents. “We pass these records on to our kids, we listen to them, and consequently these records seem to be having this cyclic impact on generations,” he says.
Nostalgia is a powerful force in popular culture, particularly around Christmas. “Christmas pop songs are all about nostalgia – think about 'White Christmas', which is the biggest selling song of all time,” says Alexandra Lamont, senior lecturer in music psychology at Keele University. “All the lyrics are about nostalgia and going back to Christmases in the past.”
In 2017, forensic musicologist Joe Bennett from Boston’s Berklee College of Music analysed the elements of the ultimate Christmas song in research commissioned by British shopping centre chain Intu.
He looked at the UK Spotify charts for the week of December 25. Of the top 200 songs, 78 were Christmas or holiday-related. Lyrically, they all contained something that was either about the home, being in love, lost love, parties, Santa or reindeers, snow or coldness, religion and peace on Earth. 49 per cent of the tracks featured sleigh bells, 95 per cent were recorded in a major key, and the median tempo of the tracks was 115 beats per minute.
Songwriters Steve Anderson and Harriet Green used this information as a recipe for what should have been the perfect Christmas song – "Love’s Not Just For Christmas". But it didn’t even enter the charts, let alone the festive Christmas canon. “Audiences are, like people, not rational. There isn’t a magic formula,” says Adam Behr, lecturer in contemporary and popular music at Newcastle University. “'Love’s Not Just For Christmas' is actually surprisingly effective for something that was written by committee, but we like a sense of authenticity and nostalgia.”
It’s also wise to recognise that a song doesn’t necessarily need to be explicitly Christmassy in order for it to do well. “For me, the Christmas pop song might be a pop song which has got content about Christmas in it, while the Christmas pop anthem is more about the themes which occur around Christmas,” says Darren Sproston, professor of music at the University of Chester. “I’m thinking about, for example, East 17’s "Stay Another Day", which is kind of a Christmas anthem, but isn't really a Christmas pop song”.
I have been listening to some new Christmas music and mixing that with the more traditional ones. Looking back at the 1950s and bringing it up to date. How the Christmas song has evolved when it comes to the messages, wording, time signature and aesthetic. How there are great traditional songs and ones that are alternative. Options for everyone. Whilst not as varied as they could be when it comes to other nations/faiths, modern artists are still capable of adding their own take to a familiar Christmas track, in addition to coming up with their own Christmas song. It is hard to compete with those iconic songs that we hear in shops this time of year. As much as I love the well-known Christmas songs, my wish is that people embrace more newer songs. Mix them more into their playlists. It is understandable we go for comfort and the familiar but, with so many great and different options out there, I think we can all afford to be…
MORE adventurous.