By: Lindsay Martin | Staff-Writer
After her American Idol win in 2005, country artist Carrie Underwood has become a household name. Often referred to as the Queen of Country Music, she has not only released seven full-length albums and won countless awards, but she is also the voice of NBC’s Sunday Night Football, a New York Times bestselling author, a creator of a fitness app, and the lead designer of a fitness clothing brand, among many other accomplishments. Surprisingly, however, she has never entered the realm of holiday music—until now.
Underwood’s first Christmas album, titled My Gift, was released on September 25 of this year. It features a collection of eleven holiday songs, including classic and religious hymns, as well as some originals. The songs on this album joyfully celebrate her Christian faith, of which she has been quite open throughout her career. Underwood takes a traditional approach in her selection and arrangement of these songs, and it immediately transports you back to church on Christmas Eve.
As displayed on the album, Underwood’s voice was clearly created to sing Christmas music. She opens with the popular traditional carol, “O Come All Ye Faithful,” which she has stripped down to a beautiful hymn. This song has been featured on nearly every artist’s Christmas album, all of which have had strikingly different arrangements. Underwood’s version is greatly reminiscent of fellow county artist Martina McBride’s rendition: a quiet, slow hymn that you might sing while in prayer.
Also featured on the album is a song promoting peace, hope, and happiness throughout the world (“Let There Be Peace”), a song wondering about Jesus’ humble birth into grace (“Sweet Baby Jesus”), and a gorgeous original duet with John Legend (“Hallelujah”), whose voices are, quite honestly, a match made in heaven. The album rounds off with the classics “Away in a Manger” and “Silent Night.”
Underwood’s voice truly soars, however, on arguably the most beautiful holiday hymn, “O Holy Night.” Underwood has such control over her voice, and this song’s composition allows her to showcase all of its wonderful facets. It is impossible to choose one part of the song to highlight because Underwood’s execution is simply flawless. It gives you chills and prompts you to immediately hit rewind upon its end. Her voice undulates so magnificently that it is as if the song was written just for her.
Perhaps the most memorable track on the album is Underwood’s duet with her five-year-old son, Isaiah, on “Little Drummer Boy,” where he makes his musical debut as the title character. It is bound to make you smile as it is seriously the cutest thing ever. Isaiah sings a verse on his own, and then he harmonizes with Underwood at the end, their voices perfectly complementing each other. Isaiah may indeed follow in his mom’s footsteps one day.
Despite Underwood’s absolutely gorgeous tone and arrangement of her first Christmas album, its release begs the age-old question: why does Christmas seem to happen earlier and earlier every year?
The answer lies in commercialism. According to a 2018 Billboard article, large retail stores, like Target and Walmart, begin their holiday marketing and design at the beginning of November; if an artist wants their album to be prominently placed, therefore promoting sales, its release date must be around the last week of October. Of course, most people do not even own a CD player anymore and opt for streaming platforms instead; however, people also tend to value Christmastime tradition, which includes purchasing a physical album and listening to its less-than-perfect transmission through that dusty, antiquated CD player.
While Underwood has not explicitly stated why she chose to release her album a month earlier than typical artists, she told Music Choice that, when people listen to the album, she wants them to “remember the good things about Christmas”—family, joy, hope, and love, everything that we need just a little bit more of in this particular year. And with the holiday season—the season of giving—upon us, exercising these values are just all-the-more important.
In other words, by releasing this album so early, Underwood is reminding her fans that “the good things about Christmas” do not have to be reserved for the holiday season. In such a scary, unprecedented, and depressing year, she encourages us to uphold these traditional values now, too.
Carrie Underwood’s voice is one of the greatest to ever grace the planet. We have witnessed this throughout her studio albums, but it has now been confirmed tenfold by her recent Christmas album release, My Gift, as well. Through her arrangement of classic holiday hymns, she fills us with hope and love. This album will undoubtedly be the soundtrack for both today’s and tomorrow’s Christmas traditions.
Cover Image: “Carrie Underwood” by MrHairyKnuckles on Flickr is licensed under Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)
