Could all of Sia’s Christmases have come at once with David’s latest review? Or does her first festive set fail to jingle his bells?
I am a traditionalist when it comes to Christmas music.
It isn’t Christmas unless Mariah Carey’s ‘Merry Christmas’ album is on repeat for the month of December.
To attempt to create some new Christmas classics or reimagine some old ones can be quite the challenge, but our girl Sia has given it a go.
‘Everyday Is Christmas’ is the new festive album from her and while it’s short, it’s pleasant.
One of my biggest complaints when it comes to Christmas music is when it’s made to feel kitsch or the lyrics are really fluffy. Thankfully, we have managed to avoid that for a chunk of this album.
With the songs I love the most here, both have really great messages.
‘Puppies Are Forever’ talks about gaining a pet over the holiday season and how you need to love them forever. This is quite a relevant topic when puppies or kittens are gifted to kids at Christmas and forgotten about mere months later. As an animal activist, she’s using this platform for good and the song itself is quite the earworm.
The other song I love is ‘Snowflake’. As science will tell you that no snowflake is identical to the next, her song is about individuality and is again a really great message. It’s also a really beautifully arranged song and I think evokes the feel of a cold winter – a Christmas must!
Where this album falls over for me is the overly “jazzy” feel that floats through a large part of it. For some reason, everyone goes down this route for Christmas music and it pushes a lot of people out of their usual genres and sounds awkward.
For me, Sia’s voice isn’t suited to these slinky numbers, because the emotional stuff is where she really connects with listeners. How one can make power pop Christmas music is beyond me, but I would have liked to see her try.
Overall, this isn’t a terrible album. It’s a great addition to the Christmas music playlist to expand further each year.
It’s not the most innovative but it still manages to give you a light sprinkling of festive cheer.
VERDICT : 3/5.
MUST LISTEN : Puppies Are Forever, Snowflake, Santa’s Coming For Us.
Australia's first stop for pop!