'It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year' achieves a new peak of #23 on the TV airplay chart!

I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday deserves more but maybe im biased as i really like her version, wow the difference in streams from santa baby and all the others is absolutely huge.

Kylie has finally done a KC post on socials today - just a shame she’s not directing people to the album!

 

View this post on Instagram

Something is better than nothing.

I Largely believe Kylie has moved on from Kylie Christmas.

The album and Kiss Me One feel very contract albums.

Yesterday I had a listen to Kylie Christmas Snow Queen Edition (at the same time as BuzzJack members Joseph, Maurice and Harry :cool: ) and I felt the same way about the album as I usually do. There's definitely some great moments on there, but overall it is a bit too long and some of the covers are misfires (which was probably inevitable considering the number of songs she tackled).

 

 

Firstly, here's my ranking of the originals:

 

1. Every Day's Like Christmas

:wub: If there was any justice this would be a chart hit that returns every year. It's very touching and romantic. I don't know if it's just me, but I feel like the production has quite a melancholic vibe to do it, which is an interesting contrast to the lyrics. I love the Stock Aitken and Waterman remix because that provides a different mood, more uplifting.

 

2. At Christmas

While there is a slightly juvenile quality to this song, in terms of her production and vocally delivery, this isn't a bad thing - it's a very fun and cute bop. Funnily enough, like with Every Day's Like Christmas, this song also has a contrast - upbeat production, but the lyrics are actually incredibly depressing! :o

 

3. White December

Another great original. I'm not surprised to see that critics singled this out as a highlight of the album! It has all the ingredients for a great Christmas song - the drumming in the verses, the jingling bells... it feels nostalgic, but also contemporary at the same time. For some reason I love how she sound in the pre-chorus when she sings "Oh, just got me praying for snow".

 

4. Christmas Isn't Christmas 'Til You Get Here

This is such a strong and catchy uptempo! :music: It's so jolly and puts me in a good mood. Although it's not my ultimate favourite original, I do think this would have served as a great lead single in 2015, with 'Every Day's...' as a great follow up to it. As much as I actually love Only You, with hindsight I think it's pretty puzzling that the label chose it to launch the era with it, when they had a song like this at their disposal. I feel like it gave the impression that Kylie didn't have much confidence in her own original Christmas songs, which is a shame. I think if you're going to do a Christmas album you really should start off with an original. Imagine if Leona Lewis had released a cover version as a 1st single instead of One More Sleep? She now has an original song do incredibly well every year... and Kylie doesn't. Such a mistake!

 

5. 100 Degrees [with Dannii Minogue]

I have to confess that I didn't really get the appeal of this song a few years ago. I thought it seemed very out of place, sonically. And I still think that, but now I don't consider this to be a negative point. It's just so much fun, and I think it was quite clever to include a song referencing what an Australian Christmas is like. This song feels authentic and thoroughly Kylie-esque. It's delightfully camp and the Minogue sisters sound fabulous together.

 

6. Cried Out Christmas

Quite forlorn sounding, but also sweet. Not the most essential original here, but it sits comfortably on the album and I wouldn't skip it.

 

7. Oh Santa

I'm a bit ambivalent about this one. It kind of puts me in mind of her attempt at doing an original Santa Baby - it's not a direct copy, but it has that slightly sensual tone to it. This song does stick in the mind though, it's catchy. Although it's my least favourite original, I still think it has its place on the album!

 

Overall I think Kylie did some great work with these new tracks. Whoever designed the track list for both the 2015 release and 2016's Snow Queen didn't do a very good job imo. I suppose the idea behind it was to have the familiar classics at the top to draw people into buying it, but I really think there should have been a smattering of originals much higher up the track list. They were worthy of that. I think it's a bit crazy that you don't reach a new song until track 7 on either the 2015 or 2016 versions of the album. Christmas Isn't Christmas 'Til You Get Here being towards the end of the album? Madness!

 

~~~~~

 

Here's my ranking of the covers:

 

1. Only You [with James Corden]

I feel like having this at the top would be a very unpopular choice for many of you. Perhaps it being a single benefits it in my affections, because I'm very familiar with it - I played it so often in 2015. I genuinely do find it to be an incredibly lovely version of the song though, and Kylie's vocals sound beautiful. It's weird to me how James Corden's singing voice comes across as sounding so much like his speaking voice. :lol: There's certainly no mistaking that it's him, and I can't help but think she could have chosen someone with a more pleasant voice for this duet. I mean he sounds fine, he can sing. Actually, I don't think that this song needed to be a duet - Kylie would have sounded incredible on this all by herself. I suppose it's quite funny to have a song that isn't about Christmas at the very top, but I think it's the delicate and pretty production that gives it a Christmassy feeling. Despite my positive comments, I will say that I don't think this needed to be a single, far less the album launch single.

 

2. Christmas Lights

I've only played Coldplay's version of this once according to my Last.fm (last year). I feel like I've probably heard it a few times on radio/TV over the years, but it hasn't proven itself to me as a Christmas staple. To all intents and purposes this may as well be a Kylie original, for me! I think that helps its placing here. For some reason the word "warm" comes to mind as a description for this song... it just makes for a pleasant listen. Maybe I should hear Coldplay's version more often!

 

3. 2000 Miles

It appears that I gravitate towards Kylie's takes on slower/ballad covers! This is a gorgeous song, and vocally she sounds like she really connected with the wistful quality of the lyrics.

 

4. I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday

It's one of the most fun and festive Christmas songs ever, and Kylie really does it justice! The best uptempo cover here.

 

5. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

I was kind of surprised how high I ended up placing this, and I also have a feeling people here will be a bit nonplussed to see it this high up. I feel like this might be the most covered Christmas song of all? Very overdone, however Kylie's is very easy listening and I enjoyed it - I think in the future I would gravitate towards her version over many others. I think Kylie pushed herself vocally on this, and the outcome is great.

 

6. Stay Another Day

I appreciate that the production & Kylie's vocal delivery tapped into the very sad nature of this song's lyrics (particularly in the verses). The original is such a classic but I might just prefer Kylie's version!

 

7. Let It Snow

Short and sweet! Delightful :cool:

 

8. I'm Gonna Be Warm This Winter

It's enjoyable. I associate this song the most with Gabriella Cilmi, but I'm liking Kylie's version.

 

9. Santa Baby

I'm not particularly keen on this song whoever sings it *gasp*. I mostly appreciate it in terms of it giving Kylie a regular presence every Christmas time, and out of all the versions of this I've heard, I would say I like Kylie's the best. I just don't love the song, but I wouldn't turn it off if it started playing though.

 

10. Wonderful Christmastime [with Mika]

I can never put my finger on exactly why, but for some reason I don't like Paul McCartney's original. It irritates me a bit. Kylie and Mika don't convince me into liking their take on it either, oops.

 

11. It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I think I would have preferred a more modern sounding approach to this song. There's an attempt to make it sound like this is like a standard from decades ago, but I don't think it works. Not her finest vocal performance either.

 

12. Winter Wonderland

It's a really average version and she sounds a bit annoying on it. It really pales in comparison to Leona Lewis' version! Leona really put her all into her version and made it sound exciting, and so festive with that Phil Spector vibe. She's my go-to version of Winter Wonderland. Gwen Stefani's version is good too.

 

13. Everybody's Free (To Feel Good)

Hmm, this is completely unseasonal sounding and makes it seem unnecessary. Maybe if I listened to it in isolation I'd feel more favourably about it? I'll come back to it. I'm still amused that she promoted a Christmas album on The X Factor with a performance of this song!

 

14. Christmas Wrapping [with Iggy Pop]

I go on a journey with this song. For the first quarter of it I think that it's enjoyable enough, but boy does this begin to drag as it goes along - this really didn't need to be 5 minutes long, and Iggy Pop in particularly becomes increasingly annoying. By the time the song ends I conclude that it's very irritating. It's also very Americanised - I don't think Kylie really sounds at home singing this one.

 

15. Santa Claus Is Coming to Town [with Frank Sinatra]

Ugh, this is a complete misfire. A posthumous duet leads to a very fake listening experience, and understandably zero chemistry between them vocally. Kylie doesn't sound good here anyway and obviously Frank's vocals sound detached from the point of view that they were recorded so long ago. Clearly everyone involved in this really thought they were doing something special here, but it's really not. 'Kylie Christmas' gets off to such a bad start having this and a couple of other blah covers so high up the track list - they do the rest of the album a disservice because there's much better stuff on the album the deeper into it you go. Anyway, there's really no need to ever listen to this version of 'Santa Claus...', particularly when Mariah Carey's version exists!

 

^ I would definitely scrap every song after Santa Baby in my above rank.

 

~~~~~

 

I've created my own track list for 'Kylie Christmas'! Green are originals, red are covers. I had a listen through to this earlier this afternoon and I feel that it flows nicely. In fact it's probably the most enjoyment I've ever had listening to Kylie Christmas tracks :cheer:

 

01. Christmas Isn't Christmas 'Til You Get Here

02. I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day

03. At Christmas

04. White December

05. Santa Baby

06. I'm Gonna Be Warm This Winter

07. 100 Degrees [with Dannii Minogue]

08. Every Day's Like Christmas

09. Oh Santa

10. Let It Snow

11. Cried Out Christmas

12. 2000 Miles

13. Only You [with James Corden]

14. Christmas Lights

15. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

16. Stay Another Day

Some of the best songs are so low :drama: I love her version of ‘Christmas Lights’ :heart:

Which are your favourites? Bear in mind that the red/green list is self-created track list, not a rank! Christmas Lights is my second favourite of the covers. :heart:

Which are your favourites? Bear in mind that the red/green list is self-created track list, not a rank! Christmas Lights is my second favourite of the covers. :heart:

 

Ah sorry I saw it as a rank rather than ideal listing :kink:

At Christmas definitely should have been track one on SQ.

Kylie Christmas re-entered the UK Top 200 at #195 on 25th December!

Good it was back in the top 200 picking up a few extra sales.

Oh good, was hoping it would squeeze in with the extra streams.....might retain its place this week too given all the SQ tracks massively improved Christmas Day and still had decent numbers Boxing Day and Sunday.

 

Shame SB is downweighted haha....though At Christmas, EDLC and SCICCTT all did big numbers to help the album.

Edited December 31, 20204 yr by aeroco

Kylie Christmas re-entered the UK Top 200 at #195 on 25th December!

 

Didn’t it make it to a similar position last year too? Pretty sure it managed to just sneak in for a week.

Didn’t it make it to a similar position last year too? Pretty sure it managed to just sneak in for a week.

Yes, it reached #199 the w/e 2nd January 2020.

When does everyone venture into giving KC a spin (assuming you all do :kink: ).

 

Kylie needs a Mariah ‘It’s Time’ campaign to remind everyone of its existence.

 

 

When does everyone venture into giving KC a spin (assuming you all do :kink: ).

 

Kylie needs a Mariah ‘It’s Time’ campaign to remind everyone of its existence.

1st December and no earlier! :D

Usually around mid-November, and I always go straight for my absolute favourite - Christmas Isn't Christmas Till You Get Here :wub:

Its not my go to Christmas material but i do give it a few spins.

I’ve given it it’s first stream of the year but it’s too early for me at the moment too - I’ll be playing it heavily in December like always though.