If I hear, “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas,” one more time, I am going to absolutely lose it. I’m sure most of the Christmas music that is overplayed in every store, restaurant and neighborhood was very good when it came out, my entire life it has felt like the most repetitive nails on a chalkboard ever. Every “new” Christmas song was just a cover of one that has already been sung ten million times.
However, in 2019, the world healed. Taylor Swift wrote quite possibly the first good, original Christmas song in several years. Christmas Tree Farm was a cultural reset. It hasn’t been overplayed yet, it is still a good, fun, Christmas song that hasn’t been on repeat in Hobby Lobby since May.
After that, ‘Tis the Damn Season came out in 2020. Capturing the bittersweet emotions of coming back in the holidays, this is more than just a Christmas song. ‘Tis the Damn Season is one of my all time favorite Taylor Swift songs, but especially in this holiday time around Thanksgiving and Christmas. It is nostalgic in a way that I didn’t think a song that is still relatively new could be. The bridge is an out-of-body experience every time.
Taylor Swift started it, but Sabrina followed and upped her a whole EP with all but one of the songs being original. A Nonsense Christmas is a fun take on Carpenter’s hit song Nonsense, full of punchlines and double entendres, a perfect Sabrina Christmas song. Buy Me Presents is so nostalgic Christmas sounding, if I wasn’t paying attention to the lyrics, I could easily mistake it for a Hobby Lobby song, but the words are such a fun fresh take that I still enjoy it while keeping that old Christmas sound. Santa Doesn’t Know You Like I Do and Cindy Lou Who are both slower, sadder Christmas songs. Santa Doesn’t Know You Like I Do sounds more old Christmas, and Cindy Lou Who is a much more typical sadder Sabrina song, sounding just like something off of her album Emails I Can’t Send. Is it New Years Yet? is easily one of my favorite Christmas songs ever. It perfectly describes my typical feelings of the holiday season, even if that makes me sound a bit Grinchy.
Jack Antanoff, the genius he is, couldn’t be left out. His band, The Bleachers put out a song just a few weeks ago called Merry Christmas, Please Don’t Call. Antanoff’s voice sounds positively haunting, and the lyrics mirror the effect. Many fans have speculated that they sound like a rejection to Swift’s ‘Tis the Damn Season. Whether it is or not, the song is absolutely amazing. Every single line packs a punch to the gut. You should know, listen at your own risk, since my first listen I have died slowly.
Is this the comeback of good, original, Christmas music? We can only hope so, or this year I will be asking Santa for earplugs.
