Music's in the Air

By Gabriella Cifu, Jabberwock Staff Reporter

This weekend while browsing through Macy’s in Washington, D.C., I heard my first holiday song of the season, Winter Wonderland. While I love holiday music, it is much too early for it to be played in stores, or anywhere else for that matter.

The winter holidays are over a month away, over four weeks for people to hear the same songs over and over again.

With Thanksgiving still approaching, people are not yet ready to get into the holiday season. They will enjoy the holiday season less if it extends over several months.

While I think it is fine for stores to slowly start selling seasonal items as Christmas shoppers begin to filter in, they do not to need to center every aspect of the store around the distant holidays. For those who express concerns with how fast time passes, we certainly rush the holiday season.

Even if all stores have not yet started playing holiday music, singers have had holiday albums out for months. Some artists use the opportunity to gain fame, some to rekindle fame, and others to continue their recent fame.

Mandisa, a season five contestant on American Idol, used the season to debut her new album, It’s Christmas. Revisiting both traditional holiday songs, as well as creating some of her own, Mandisa has a beautiful, powerful voice, that makes her songs enjoyable to listen to, but does not ruin the traditional sounds of the songs. I particularly enjoyed her rendition of O Holy Night, and her more original duet, Christmas Makes Me Cry. Both had phenomenal vocals and had memorable arrangements. The latter was well written and was unique since it was less carol-like than many new holiday songs are.

Another American Idol contestant, Elliot Yamin, has also already come out with an album entitled My Kind of Holiday.

His attempts at traditional holiday songs, such as Jingle Bells come off as sounding too much like pop and aren’t easy melodies to enjoy.

However, his songs such as Christmas Without Carol are much more pleasant. They are mix jazz and R&B and with their catchy lyrics, make for good new releases.

Faith Hill’s album, Joy to the World, was released back in September. While certainly less original than Mandisa, her renditions of more traditional and well-known holiday songs are beautiful and relaxing to listen to.

They are excellent versions of many of the most popular classics and are easy to sing along to, as they follow the traditional melodies of the songs and have few added ornaments. While this would seem to make the songs boring, I look forward to familiarity with new holiday songs. Hill provides just that.

Finally, a holiday tune from Katy Perry has reached my ears (much to my displeasure). A White Christmas has never sounded less appealing to me. It’s one thing to sing badly.

To completely butcher the melody of the song is even worse. Once a beautiful carol, this song now sounds grim and mirthless as Perry attempts (and fails) to create a pop sounding classic.

With all this new music out, its no wonder stores are beginning to play holiday music. Still, they should wait a little longer before they truly break into holiday spirit.

As for the artists who have already begun to release major holiday albums, the songs may not pick up until closer to the season, but it looks like we will have to opportunity to hear many more holiday songs from contemporary musicians as the holiday gets closer. For now, we should all take a breath and look forward to Thanksgiving, so as not to overdo the holiday spirit too early.

The cover of Faith Hill’s new album, Joy to the World. Photo courtesy of www.countrymusicislove.com