[Christmas 2010] Christmas Staples Done Right

So here we are, a few days 'till Christmas, and what do I have up my sleeve? A whole host of Christmas songs for every possible taste. I mean it this year - I've chosen a much wider range than usual, some I like, some I don't. Christmas festivities on PRN this year come in 2 parts - this first part is all about the carols, the staples everyone knows. The second part will focus on modern Christmas songs, the non-carols. Yayyyy!


I say this every year because it's true - just because the lyrics have "snow" or "santa" or "Christmas" in them, doesn't mean you can call it a Christmas song.

A Christmas song should make you feel all fuzzy inside, it should bring back memories, whatever they are, of Christmas, whenever you listen to it. If it's a contemporary Christmas song, you should get the same feeling you get when you hear carols, but at the same time hear familiar melodies and structures.

That's why this year, I'm listing down a few Christmas classics, and giving you guys an idea of which versions I like and don't like. Plus more songs to take note of, and some non-carols, but good Christmas songs nonetheless. ;D

O Come All Ye Faithful
This is my favorite Christmas song. Ever. EVERRRRRRRRRRRRR. Mainly because even if the melody is simple, there are an infinite number of things you can do and it will still sound good, it will still sound like Christmas. I like it so much, I can literally hear the perfect arrangement in my head. I have it all planned out, from how it starts, how there are gradual additions to each verse then suddenly the key changes and everything explodes. Very few versions have come kinda close, and a heck of a lot have miserably failed, so I'm still searching for that one arrangement that will blow. me. away.

Stacie Orrico (2001): Of the versions of that I've heard, this is the one I've blacklisted. Call me a purist or a biggot or whatever for not liking the Stacie Orrico-ized O Come All Ye Faithful, but I'm sorry. The rearrangement sounds more like a CCM song than a Christmas package, and the epic-ness of the song was lost - I don't care if they wanted to make it sound more contemporary, there's a way to do that and still make it sound like Christmas. This clearly does not. And all the stuff they added just made the song a big mess.


Katharine McPhee (2008): This version's fine, but I wish she would've toned down all the gymnastics. It's a beautiful song on it's own with a simple enough arrangement, no need to overreact and make it all squiggly. That and the part just before the end was just anticlimactic. This is supposed to be big, and majestic and all that - she does it pretty OK during the verses when her voice has that urgency to it, but towards the end it gets lost. Even if it's a so-called "R&B"/piano arrangement (with an orchestra-like set up towards the end), there's a way to do that. They didn't do it.


Josh Groban (2007): My only problem with his version is that it doesn't explode exactly like I'd want it to, but this one of the best versions I've found so far. The organ isn't to my taste either, but it does make it sound like a Church and in turn, like Christmas. I love the strings throughout the song, and the rest of the arrangement is really beautiful. For me the build-up was a little too sudden but it's epic-ness at the last verse is really the way I'd want it to be - majestic, huge and epic in every way possible. Using an orchestra. Just the way I want it.


Aled Jones and Libera (2008): And this, my friends, is how it is done. Not only does this guy have a gorgeous voice, Libera sound fantastic - boys really do have much brighter voices than girls, perfect for the obligato part. OH MY GOD THE OBLIGATO, someone slap me. The arrangement isn't that slow either - it has a snappiness to it. Me liking this version just shows how much of a purist I am, and proud of it. I like my Christmas songs orchestral, with a soloist and a choir and with gorgeous harmonies that resound. If this is ever turned into a more pop arrangement though, I'd trade the church organ for a sharp, and simple yet gorgeous, piano line. Other than that, everything stays as it is - ESPECIALLY THE LAST VERSE. Beautiful.

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
I have a love-hate relationship with this song. If you do it right, I love it, but if you so much as screw one little detail up, I'll hate it. It can't be too fast, it can't be too sad, it can't be this and that. I have my favorite version already though, so I'm not in searching mode.

Carrie Underwood (2008): This was the version that made me adore the song - the arrangement has hints of country in it, but it feels like Christmas. Carrie sang it not only the right way with the right dynamics, but in the right key for her. That's what a lot of singers fail to get right when they sing carols in general - the key. You can't sing a song too high, nor too low - it not only has to match your voice, it has to sound comfortable to the listener's ears because they've heard a gazillion versions of songs like these. I like how the song was arranged so the last verse is somewhat like a middle 8. The instruments are very crisp to the ears - the drum line, piano line and other elements scattered around are defined, but not sharp or painful. The perfect pop arrangement, in my opinion.


Jump5 (2007): As a Jump5 song I like this - especially the start with all the pretty harmonies and all. The arrangement has kick, and the vocals are standard Jump 5 so I'm not surprised. However, as a Christmas song this is atrocious. It sounds nothing like Christmas, and it lacks life - the vocals lack dynamics. Yeah sure it has kick, but having kick doesn't mean a song has life. So it's a no.

Other Modernized Christmas Staples to take note of:

Taylor Swift - Silent Night
I do not understand how you can murder such a beautiful song and turn it into a completely different one, that doesn't even sound like Christmas. I'm open to change, but only if it's actually done well. It's like for this song, and all the others on Taylor's Christmas EP, all the life out of these gorgeous songs, everything that makes them the way they are, was sucked out. That's not Christmas music.

Mandisa - Angels We Have Heard On High
Now, this is one of the better arrangements that lean more towards to the pop side. The harmonies and the background vocals, as well as the way they tweaked the melody to fit the arrangement, although modern, still retain the "majesty" of the song, even if the arrangement isn't really epic. See? They knew which parts of the melody to play around with, but they knew which parts of the original song really had to stay.

Glee - God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
It's a gorgeous arrangement, and I mean like epic in all ways possible, but I have one, rather big, problem that has kept this from going on my eternal favorites. It doesn't sound like Christmas, it sounds like an epic-ly arranged pop song. If you changed the lyrics into more "mainstream" lyrics, it would have no problem masquerading as a pop song.

*NSYNC - O Holy Night
Every self-respecting, acapella-based, talented boyband has sung this arrangement of O Holy Night, and yes, that includes DBSK. It's a timeless arrangement, really - each voice can very well stand alone with all the runs and the oohs, but together the arrangement soars. It's a boyband staple for all the right reasons, and it better continue to be one for a very long time.

DBSK - The First Noel
It's in Korean, so what? Would you rather they "bastardize" the song by singing in crooked English? Of course not. The arrangement is gorgeous - the string section sends chills down my spine, and all the other instruments are just floating along. The harmonies are beautiful, to say the least, and the execution has both grace and intensity - DBSK can obviously sing anything that's thrown at them. Changmin's solo is one of my favorites of his, ever, and Yoochun's part is perfect for him, simply put. What makes it even better is that during a time when all they did was lipsync, they performed this live. My ears are in heaven. It's one of the shorter cuts on their Christmas EP, but I personally think it's the best one - I listen to it once and all the Christmas memories start flooding in. THAT is what a Christmas song should bear - memories.

You know what I want to do in the future? Put together a post full of Filipino Christmas songs. This is not just because I'm Filipino - some of the most beautiful Christmas songs I have ever heard are Filipino. I spent a little over the first decade of my life singing these gorgeous songs during Christmas, and even if I absolutely hate performing, those songs were too beautiful to not enjoy singing. In time.

But anyway, catch part 2 within the next few days - I tackle some of my favorite modern Christmas songs.

This Year's Christmas Playlist

I've been as lazy has hell compared to my other blogger friends when it comes to Christmas-themed posts so I guess I'll just sum everything up into one convenient post with 10 songs. Sound good? Let's start.


Let's set the record straight on what Christmas songs are though before I start.

There are the carols - the songs everyone knows and everyone covers but few get right. Then there are the pop songs written for Christmas - the melodies are built around carols and sometimes even the arrangements are but most of the time they're given pop arrangements. Pop Christmas songs are not pop songs with Christmas-themed lyrics. I repeat, POP CHRISTMAS SONGS ARE NOT POP SONGS WITH CHRISTMAS-THEMED LYRICS. I hate it when that happens, the songs have to SOUND like Christmas whether it be the melody or the arrangement.

When it comes to my Christmas songs I'm very, VERY picky - I like my carols with classic arrangements and I like my festive pop festive, none of that experimental crap. However if the experimenting is done well, I don't have a problem - I just really hate it when people start murdering Christmas songs. And which is why I draw a line between pop and not pop if Christmas songs are the matter because I hate it when the two get improperly mixed together.

So here are 10 (commercial) Christmas songs that one, really sound like Christmas to me and two, are just brilliant songs/versions/arrangements.

1. Carrie Underwood - Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
I like the song itself as a carol but I like this arrangement in particular - it's got to be one of my personal favorite arrangements of Hark!. The gorgeous piano part and the REAL drums really make a difference. And one of the main reasons why I chose this arrangement is because Carrie doesn't murder the song (unlike a certain Mariah Carey who murdered Oh Holy Night) and her vocals are just gorgeous. Heck, it sounds like Christmas through and through! Hands-down one of the best arrangements of the classic.

2. Britt Nicole - Last Christmas
I know you guys will kill me for saying this but I have to - Last Christmas is one of the cheesiest, corniest festive songs EVER, I can't stand it. So why include it at all? Because Britt Nicole has managed to find/make an arrangement that actually makes it sound somewhere near good. I like her vocals (always have), I like how they changed up the arrangement and made it a little more tasteful and it's got all the elements of a standard pop Christmas song so it passes.

3. DBSK - The First Noel
You must be saying "WHAT? DBSK has a CHRISTMAS album?" because I was too when I first found out. But before we get to their version, let's talk about the song first. The First Noel is personally one of my favorite carols EVER, beside a few other staples, so I won't just settle for a run-of-the-mill version with a super pop-y arrangement (I'm talking to you, *NSYNC.) - I want a damn good one. Then there's the fact that I like boybands doing Christmas songs. I do, a lot. I like the a capella lines and I like everything about them doing Christmas songs.

This arrangement of The First Noel has a gorgeous instrumental - the violins, the bells, everything is just beautiful. Although the Carrie Underwood arrangement is a close second, I'd have to go with the DBSK one. Then the vocals are spot-on, there's little screaming and the harmonies sound great if you listen to them as a whole but even better individually (although, I like the *NSYNC harmonies better, it's just that the arrangement is bleh). Gorgeous.

4. Varsity Fanclub - It's Christmas Again
I'd rather all these bands do what Varsity Fanclub has done than bastardize all these beautiful carols with crap-ly-executed pop arrangements and excessive vocals. There's a certain kind of song you can do that to but NOT and I repeat NOT to carols. Not only have they done that, they've managed to make it sound like Christmas - the bells and the melody are the main reasons. But I actually like the bells on this song in particular - they're especially Christmas-y. And the way they made it like a pop song without losing that festive thing is just brilliant. You can't listen to this any other time.

5. BoA - 12월 27일
Although on songs like this BoA's vocals tend to be annoying and she's not particularly my favorite singer, this song has sort of become my anthem this year. It's a gorgeous, gorgeous waltz (3/4 time signature - waltz.) with a string section and all but I love how it sounds like a Christmas song but doesn't sound like a Christmas song. There are times when the string section sounds like every other pop Christmas song but then suddenly out of nowhere it turns into something straight off The Corrs' repertoire - that's when I go like WHOA. The melody is a giveaway that it's Christmas and the lyrics (at least the ones I can understand) are even more obvious but I like how it's not in-your-face Christmas.

6. *NSYNC - O Holy Night
You can't have a Christmas post and leave out this song, you simply can't. This a capella arrangement has been used by a ton of other boybands after *NSYNC (including my beloved DBSK when they debuted) and so I think this version deserves a mention. A lot of their other Christmas arrangements are too pop-ized for my taste - this is probably the one that sounds the most festive of them all. The harmonies are beautiful and I mean STUNNING, if there's one thing these guys know how to do it's make the best harmonies. Throughout the song the harmonies are not only gorgeous but really well-executed - they're very tight and it sounds brilliant.

7. SM Town 2006 - Snow Dream
There was a time earlier this month when I couldn't get enough of this song - it's catchy, it's pop and heck, it sounds like Christmas. It may be in Korean and it may sound like an American pop Christmas song but isn't that the point? The bells, the arrangement and the vocals - they threw all the best SM vocalists into one gigantic pot, mixed it together and gave the crap singers like 5 seconds singing time. My ears are in heaven.

And this kinda also reflects what kpop is - you can't not have a rap part, it's criminal. LOL. But really, this is what the genre is and has been for quite a while now so to put it in a Christmas song is pretty ingenious.

8. Libera - O Come All Ye Faithful
Choral music is MY turf, my grandmother formed one of the most influential children's choirs in the country, so when it comes to choirs I know my stuff - sometimes even better than I know pop. But that also means that my standards are much, MUCH higher. O Come All Ye Faithful also happens to be probably by favorite carol - I love how epic the song can get but only if you want it to be.

Libera are to a certain extent commercial but they're to a certain extent not commercial - they're pretty good either way. I've heard better choirs than them but they're a little more well-known so why not.

In choral music less instruments is more - vocals have to take center stage. To a certain extent that's good because then you don't have to worry about the instrumentals not sounding like Christmas, just use a simple piano arrangement and it'll sound great. That is if the choirs is good. I like their harmonies at the end and I like how the vocals are very light - usually if a choir's to sing this song they'll just explode and keep pushing at the end. Solid effort.

9. Aly & AJ - Greatest Time of the Year
There are your usual pop festive songs and then there are Disney festive songs - about 60% of the Disney festive songs scream CHRISTMAS and this is one of them. How this can sound like both a festive song and an advertisement is beyond me. But then again a lot of festive ad campaigns have unmistakably Christmas-y songs so they work.

The instrumental complements the melody and the bells very well, surprisingly. And it's not like other supposedly pop/rock Christmas songs that sound more pop/rock - it is what it is and it's a Christmas song. It ends great though - the middle 8, the break-down and the explosion at the last chorus is brilliant.

10. Girls Aloud - I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday
Girls Aloud do Christmas. Yay. The now classic Christmas EP boasts of some really great pop masterpieces and some of them really do sound apt for the season but this one on particular gets me every time. It's truly Girls Aloud do Christmas - it sounds like Girls Aloud and it sounds like Christmas. I think the vocals are a little iff-y and lack emotion (don't clobber me!), could be better, but the instrumental is brilliant - it's exactly how I imagined a GA song mixed with a carol to be like.