31st of October – everyone is in an autumnal mood, focussing on their Halloween makeup and costume. 24 hours later, November 1st, Christmas trees are up, warm jumpers out, and Christmas songs played on repeat. Indeed, it’s finally the time to get excited, go home to our parents full of joy that the semester is over and prepare to break our diets.

This is the perfect time for forgotten artists to resuscitate their one-month Christmas fame, for the likes of Mariah Carey to emerge from their igloos, shine like stars, and make the greatest amount money as possible. As Western countries control the biggest musical industries, Christmas is the time of the year to capitalise on the festivities and make the most sales, bringing their favoured ‘Christmas Artists’ out of their special stockings where they have been hibernating for the past 12 months.

I would, however, argue that it is difficult to find Christmassy songs that aren’t covers anymore. Famous artists, such as Justin Bieber with his Christmas-themed album Under The Mistletoe, use Christmas as an extra career boost. By covering these famous and well known tunes, Bieber can appropriate these beloved songs, and younger generations will start to believe that ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ is a Bieber original. These Christmas songs also open up new audiences to the star; people may not generally follow the popstar will listen to  the album, just to hear the latest covers of recognisable songs.

This is like Ariana Grande, who has added her own style to the songs with her angelic face appearing in the accompanying music video; soon all the little girls will forget the original versions and just focus on the pretty Ariana. This year I look foward to seeing just how far stars will go to capitalise on the Christmas season. Maybe Miley will cover herself in Brussels sprouts or get out of a Christmas pudding half naked. But do these Christmas covers undermine the original songs?

Firstly, these covers can help smaller artists too, such as Cimorelli or Megan Nicole, enabling them to reach a wider audience. At Christmas time, people are keen to listen to festive music regardless of who is singing it. Sinatra of course will always be an old favourite, exciting a sense of nostaligia in the older generations, but perhaps is seen as a bit old-fashioned in the current age and does get forgotten.  Do we even remember who originally sang ‘Santa Claus Is Coming To Town’? No, it’s not The Jackson 5, and it’s not Pentatonix either.

We can all agree that Frozen isn’t the best of all the Disney movies. But anyone can see that the company released the song on 27th November 2013, the perfect date to capitalise on a film full of Christmassy songs, just before the cold Winter months when the warm cinema starts to look ever more appealing. With lots of merchandise, a box office turnout of $1.276 billion, many awards, and the songs are stuck in our heads forever, Frozen was the perfect Christmas coup. And if you haven’t already, I can guarantee you will have watched the movie once before the Christmas break is over.

So, it’s Christmas. Let’s just embrace the festive spirit, get our Christmas cheer out in full force and put Michael Bublé on max.

Sarah Ashford-Brown

(Image: NME)