By Allison Munder Contributor
Whenever I hear that a singer is releasing a Christmas album, I can’t help but roll my eyes. Sia’s “Everyday Is Christmas,” however, consisting of Christmas originals composed with the help of Greg Kurstin, is quite refreshing. The Aussie singer-songwriter’s vocal style does not fit the whole Christmas-box-with-a-giant-red-bow genre, but Sia’s raspy and emotional voice brings a new twist to the idea of what holiday music should sound like.
The debut single from the album, “Santa’s Coming for Us,” is the perfect mixture of Sia’s slurred high-pitched singing and holiday spirit. It will quickly become your new favorite Christmas song. The music isn’t drowned out by the sounds of jingle bells or anything stereotypical. It’s modern and jazzy and you are bound to sing along to it at a holiday party.
If you are not a fan of spending the holidays with your family, “Ho Ho Ho” is devoted to the holiday misfit and thoughts of “cream and whiskey bourbon.” This dark, humor-filled track has “Chandelier” written all over it with lyrics like, “We’re losin’ our legs, we got nothing but this.”
Ballads like “Snowman” and “Underneath the Mistletoe” only remind you that this is Sia singing a Christmas album, but “Underneath the Christmas Lights,” the last song, and the most traditional one in the album, is absolutely haunting in all of the right ways. Sia lets her voice simmer and crack in the chorus before she hits you with high-pitched howls.
On the other hand, “Puppies Are Forever”–a reminder to anyone thinking about gifting a puppy–is a song you won’t want to listen to for more than a minute because of how uncomfortable it is to hear Sia singing a peppy children’s song. Sia has previously criticized cheesy pop music and said that she only writes them for the pay, which made this song more unsettling to anyone accustomed to her eerie and emotional lyrics.
“Everyday Is Christmas” doesn’t compare to her last album, “This Is Acting,” but it takes a traditional idea and fills it with modern harmonies. This album isn’t your grandma’s Christmas record, but is recommended if you don’t want to listen to the usual, overplayed songs.
