Gone are the days of Boney M and insufferable carols taking over the airwaves during December and with the wide range of streaming services available, millennials are spoiled for choice with Christmas albums that they can play during Christmas dinner. We take a look at our hand-picked selection of Christmas albums for you to choose from.
If, like me, you haven’t shifted away from the Frank Sinatra Christmas album that’s 40 million years old, you may want to change things up this Christmas with a more contemporary ensemble of artists, while building your Apple Music or Spotify playlists this December. We already brought you our review on Lil Nas X’s Christmas single, but here are a few more that you should be checking out.
The classics: Mariah Carey & Michael Bublé
Not exactly anything new… but Mariah Carey’s 1994 album, Merry Christmas and its hit single “All I Want for Christmas is you” just refuses to go away. It’s almost 30 years old now, but remains a favourite among millennials - probably because it’s a throwback to our childhoods. It’s catchy, seasonal pop tone can feel a bit superficial, but it’s physically impossible not to sing along.
Michael Bublé’s Christmas is almost as traditional as gammon and mince pies these days and there’s a better odds of winning the lottery than not hearing it at least once while you’re doing your Christmas shopping in December. And Bublé’s style is a real throwback to the classic Sinatra-esque, jazz/swing style. He reimagines genuine old classics like “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas”, “White Christmas” and even Mariah Carey’s aforementioned “All I Want for Christmas is you”.
Both albums should cover you for the Christmas season as a staple. And because they are relatively old albums, they can be enjoyed by the older members of our family as well. So make sure they’re consistently in the rotation on your Christmas playlist.
90s pop: Nsync
We all grew up with them… and nobody will be forgetting Justin Timberlake’s permed blond locks anytime soon. But can you even REMEMBER that Nsync released a Christmas album, titled “The meaning of Christmas” back in ’98? Probably not… but there’s a ton of nostalgic gold in this little album, with “Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays” actually super catchy and so quintessentially 90s boy band in it style that’ll wind back the years.
Something for the Beliebers
I’m not a Justin Bieber fan myself, but there’s no denying that he’s an icon for our generation. His 2010 album, Under The Mistletoe, features songs like “Santa Claus is coming to town” and “Silent Night”, but also brings together a pretty awesome set of featuring artists, including a duet with Mariah Carey, singinging “All I Want for Christmas is You”, “Drummer Boy”, which features Busta Rhymes and “Fa La La” featuring Boys II Men. It’s really not horrible. For those of you that don’t like Bieber’s music typically, like myself – a nice mix of traditional classics, with a modern twist and yes… sadly… Justin Bieber’s stupid voice.
Christmas & Chill
I kid you not… back in 2015, Ariana Grande did, in fact, release a six-track EP called Christmas & Chill. And, while I’m also not a fan of the former Disney star and her album doesn’t feature any of the classics that we’ve grown up with, I’m going to give her a ton of credit…
While it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, her Christmas album is a bit sexier in its composition, for lack a better word. Rather than sounds of sleigh bells and other clichés, she takes on a typically upbeat tune, embracing autotune and other techniques to embed more of a synth-pop style to her original Christmas hits, featuring tracks like “With It This Christmas”. The album’s feature single, “Winter things” shows off her versatility, with an acoustic sound that breaks away from the rest of the album.
Change things up this festive season with these fresh takes on Christmas albums for millennials and you may just find yourself completely forgetting about the old albums that seem to never go away.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS to all of our readers!
- the Essential Millennial team
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