Indie-Pop: “Merry Christmas, Please Don’t Call” by The Bleachers
Snowflakes drift and chimes ring in a heart-aching holiday track. The Bleachers wrap bittersweet nostalgia in a melancholic yet shimmering ballad as echoey, somber vocals contract a cheerful, holiday beat clouded in synths. Poignant and painful, the song is about sad acceptance amidst holiday cheer — bittersweet feelings of a fractured relationship.
Indie-Folk: “White Winter Hymnal” by Fleet Foxes
Evoking a picture of driving through a snowy forest in early winter mornings, this song is an indie winter essential. Layered harmonies create a hypnotic, snow-globe soundscape bringing warmth, nostalgia, and an organic folk feel.
Folk/Musical: “All is Found” by Kacey Musgraves/from Frozen II
Musgrave’s rendition of Frozen II’s lullaby is a cloudy and ethereal winter storm. Equally eerie and comforting, Musgraves’s breathy voice and the song’s icy, simple yet dictated orchestration evoke a peaceful winter wonderland.
Pop: “New Year’s day” by Taylor Swift
A quiet piano ballad glowing with the soft, silver dawn of the ‘morning after the party’, becomes a metaphor for fragile beginnings and ode to promises that last beyond the chaos of celebration. Swift’s hushed delivery and stripped-down acoustic approach heightens a sense of intimacy and vulnerability. The song is sparse and acoustic, calm and reflective: a silent yet strong testament to loyalty and vulnerability that weathers past the storm.
R&B: “Christmas (Baby Please Come Homel” by Darlene Love
Love’s powerhouse vocals and abandoned delivery burst against rasping saxophone and striking church bells. Sonically, the track is deceptively joyous, while the lyrics belie a central theme of loneliness during the holidays–a plea and longing for the one she holds dearest to come home. It’s an emotional ballad that has become a classic holiday staple yet continues to stun.
Blues-Rock: “Please Come Home” The Eagles
This cover of Charles Brown’s original version, coats heartbreak in warm guitar tones and slow, steady percussion in this blues-soaked lament, wrapped in smooth 70s rock. The song moves with the weary resignation of someone spending Christmas with their regrets, as Glenn Frey’s vocals glide and glisten across the smooth beat.
Jazz-Pop: “Ain’t Christmas” by Alexander 23 and Laufey
An intimate duet that hangs in the air like a warm breath in the biting cold winter, Laufey’s classic velvety jazz phrasing melts into and accentuates Alexander 23’s heartfelt lyrics. Stripped down and simplistic instrumentation is refreshing, as both artists’ tones complement each other making for a relatable holiday-heartbreak ballad.
Indie: “This December” by Ricky Montgomery
Bright and cheerful back-beats support Montgomery’s soft, harmonic vocals that drift over gentle guitar. With winter and December as a metaphor for personal growth, rebirth, and closure, repetitive and thoughtful lyrics with strong harmonies sonically and metaphorically build hope, curating a dreamy, melancholic atmosphere, reflective of this time of year.
