When Christmas Comes Around... Explained

When Christmas Comes Around...
Type:studio
Artist:Kelly Clarkson
Cover:Kelly Clarkson - When Christmas Comes Around album cover.jpg
Recorded:2021
Genre:Pop
Length:47:51
Label:Atlantic
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When Christmas Comes Around... is the ninth studio album by American singer Kelly Clarkson, released on October 15, 2021, through Atlantic Records. Produced by Jesse Shatkin, Jason Halbert, Joseph Trapanese and Aben Eubanks, it was her second Christmas album after Wrapped in Red (2013) and a follow-up to her eighth studio album Meaning of Life (2017). Featuring cover versions of Christmas songs, as well as original co-penned tracks and duets with Chris Stapleton, Ariana Grande and Brett Eldredge, its release was preceded by the singles "Christmas Isn't Canceled (Just You)" and "Santa, Can't You Hear Me". It also includes previously released singles "Christmas Eve", "All I Want for Christmas Is You", and "Under the Mistletoe" as bonus tracks. The album was nominated for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards.[1]

Promotion for the album included a Christmas special of the same title, which premiered on NBC on December 1, 2021. The Christmas special premiered with a 0.6 rating and 4.3 million total viewers.[2] [3] A deluxe reissue of the album featuring two new tracks was released on November 1, 2024.[4] The release marked the singer's first project in nearly four years, marking the longest gap between two albums in her entire career.

Background and recording

Following the release of her first Christmas album Wrapped in Red in 2013 on RCA Records, Clarkson transferred to Atlantic Records and has issued the Christmas tracks "Christmas Eve" (2017), "Under the Mistletoe" (with Brett Eldredge), and a cover of Vince Vance & the Valiants' "All I Want for Christmas Is You" (2020). In an interview on the television program Entertainment Tonight, she revealed that she was not originally intending to record another Christmas studio album due to her fondness for her first, but later decided to following the emotional stress induced by the highly publicized divorce the previous year. In recording the album, Clarkson recorded cover versions of various Christmas classics and wrote new material featuring duets with American recording artists Chris Stapleton and Ariana Grande.

Themes and inspirations

Atlantic Records has promoted When Christmas Comes Around... as an exploration of "a wide range of holiday emotions and experiences anchored by Clarkson's incomparable vocal prowess". Clarkson has elaborated that the album will explore various themes of love, loss, hope, and optimism — emotions that people tend to experience during the holiday season.

Drawing inspiration from her experiences during the past two years, she remarked of the album's title, her first to not have a titular track since My December (2007), as "when Christmas comes around, we are all in different places." Further adding that its selection of tracks will both evoke a somber and posit a jolly atmosphere. Characterizing it as "a different Christmas album", she portrayed When Christmas Comes Around... as feeling more like a normal studio album, but "there's Christmas sprinkled on it."

Release

When Christmas Comes Around... was released by Atlantic Records on October 15, 2021. A special edition shipped exclusively to Target retail stores would also feature a Christmas card signed by Clarkson. Its lead single "Christmas Isn't Canceled (Just You)", was released on September 23, 2021. "Glow" with Stapleton and "Santa, Can't You Hear Me" with Grande were released as promotional singles alongside the album's release.[5] [6] The deluxe reissue of the album was released on November 1, 2024.

Critical reception

In a roundup of new holiday albums, The New York Times music critic Jon Caramanica praised Clarkson's "nimble" vocals and wrote that the original tracks, some of them strikingly "uncelebratory," make the album stand out. In the year-end episode of his Times podcast Popcast, Caramanica again praised the album, calling it "very, very good [...] solid [and] impressive," though "not quite Mariah-level." Mike DeWald of Riff Magazine praised how Clarkson's original songs are "something fresh and listenable." Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine, who gave the album three-and-a-half out of five stars, criticized some production choices but praised Clarkson's "impressive" vocals and "melodic variations" on the classics as the "chief selling point."

Marcy Donelson of AllMusic gave the album three out of five stars, called it "a vibrant, fully orchestral, high-volume set on average", and singled out "Merry Christmas (To the One I Used to Know)" and "Santa, Can't You Hear Me" as highlights among the newest tracks." Vultures Justin Curto called Clarkson "the queen of the holidays", calling the album a gift for Christmas. Curto especially appreciated the collaboration with Ariana Grande, as it sounds "as majestic as you would expect from the two singers."[7] Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine found that while the original songs on When Christmas Comes Around... "don't quite live up to the lofty bar she previously set" on Wrapped in Red, the album "juxtaposes the yuletide blues with jubilant holiday standards," futher noting that "Clarkson's vocals, then, are the album’s chief selling point."

Personnel

Credits adapted from the album's liner notes

Recorded and engineered at

Performance credits

Musicians

Production

Charts

Chart (2021–2023)! scope="col"
Peak
position
Lithuanian Albums (AGATA)[8] 58
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[9] 19
UK Physical Albums (OCC)79

Release history

Region!scope="col"
DateFormatLabelCatalog number
VariousOctober 15, 2021Atlantic864083-4[10]
Christmas card CD864006-3

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 2023 GRAMMY Nominations: See the Complete Winners & Nominees List .
  2. Web site: "Kelly Clarkson Presents: When Christmas Comes Around" ratings. Thaadeus. Shearmen. December 2, 2021. March 26, 2022.
  3. Web site: How to Watch "Kelly Clarkson Presents: When Christmas Comes Around". Dwortz. Mallory. December 1, 2021. MLive. December 2, 2021.
  4. Web site: Iahn . Buddy . Kelly Clarkson shares 'You For Christmas' . The Music Universe . September 27, 2024 . September 24, 2024.
  5. Web site: Spotify – Glow. Clarkson. Kelly. Kelly Clarkson. Stapleton. Chris. Chris Stapleton. October 14, 2021. open.spotify.com.
  6. Web site: Spotify – Santa, Can't You Hear Me. Clarkson. Kelly. Kelly Clarkson. Grande. Ariana. Ariana Grande. October 14, 2021. open.spotify.com.
  7. Web site: Curto. Justin. October 15, 2021. Kelly Clarkson Declares It's Christmastime With When Christmas Comes Around …. October 18, 2021. Vulture. en-us.
  8. Web site: 2023 52-os savaitės klausomiausi (Top 100). AGATA. lt. December 29, 2023. January 4, 2024.
  9. Web site: NZ Top 40 Albums Chart. Recorded Music NZ. January 1, 2024. December 29, 2023.
  10. Web site: When Christmas Comes Around... (CD Album). HMV. July 23, 2022.

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