Generally speaking, if people hate Christmas music, they really hate it, and the idea of asking them, especially if they’re a musical artist of the standing of Scottish singer-songwriter KT Tunstall, to record any sort of Christmas music is anathema.
Burn down the Christmas tree, throw the eggnog down the sink, firebomb the North Pole anathema.
So, how is it that KT Tunstall, who admits she loathes the music of the most wonderful time of the year, ended up recording not just a six-song Christmas EP, Have Yourself a Very KT Christmas back in 2007 but subsequent Christmas single such as “Hey, Mr. Santa!” with Christopher Lennertz (2018) and “Run Rudolph Run” with Chris Leonard in 2021?
Quite simply, as the singer told Bustle in 2018, because she decided that recording some festive tunes might give a chance to a tad subversive to the genre.
“‘I love [“Hey, Mr. Santa!”] It’s so weird, because I’ve always hated Christmas music. I’m truly changing my mind,’ the singer says over the phone. ‘I think there has to be a sense of humor or a flip side. If something’s two-dimensionally awesome from start to finish, and the world is happy and there’s nothing wrong, I’m like, ‘nah.” Most Christmas music, she continues while cracking up, is “so unrealistic.'”
While might argue that’s precisely the point with reality not exactly covering itself in glory much of the time, Tunstall’s approach is a refreshing one in a genre happily stuck somewhere around the 1950s with images of sleigh rides and waiting for Santa under the Christmas tree as complicated or thoughtful as the songs get.
With that in mind, as Bustle notes, Tunstall decided it was high time someone “[changed] up its usual narrative”.
And while she began that with 2007’s EP, she really goes to town with “Hey, Mr. Santa” where she, as Bustle observes, looks to have “something significant to say”.
“‘Hey, Mr. Santa!’ flips the mainstream idea of Christmas on its head. Instead of advocating asking Santa for cars and jewelry, the song acts as a plea for giving to a homeless shelter, creating equality, making bullied victims feel loved, and more (all proceeds from the song go to the charity War Child). It includes lyrics like, ‘What are all these presents for/when we could all do so much more’ and, ‘Imagine you’re a kid and you’re trying to understand/why some guys with all the power just won’t lend a helping hand.'” (Bustle)
Co-written with Christopher Lennertz, “Hey, Mr. Santa” is a clever piece of writing because it sounds like a typical piece of Christmas music with some deep, meaningful lyrics that fulfill the mission Tunstall has to make “the genre different and more impactful”.
It’s a compellingly listenable mix that asks for the “bullied to be adored” and it goes right to the heart with infinite but deeply impactful ease; if you’re going to go deeply meaningful, then do it with music as good as Tunstall and Lennertz do and there’s a good chance people will listen and gain a refreshingly new perspective on the festive season.
The artist also knows how to have some carefree festive fun too.
Her rendition of “Run Rudolph Run” is a driving bluegrass guitar fiesta that manages to add to the fun and urgency of the original, first released by Chuck Berry in 1958, while adding a whole ton of musical originality into the mix.
Much the same could be said of the songs on Have Yourself a Very KT Christmas which, by covering a slew of festively-inclined or holiday-centric songs by artists as diverse as Chrissie Hynde (“2000 Miles”) and The Pogues (“Fairytale of New York”, written by Shane MacGowan, Jem Finer) and two Christmas classics – “Mele Kalikimaka (Christmas in Hawaii)” by Robert Alexander Anderson (1950) and Leroy Anderson “Sleigh Ride” (1948) – honours the canon of the genre while adding some brilliance all of Tunstall’s very own.
It’s frankly a thrill to listen to because you get your traditional nods while enjoying, and enjoy you most definitely will, Tunstall’s ability to make the old new and display inspiring creativity doing so.
It’s a Christmas album that embraces the standards but without being slavishly stuck in the usual groove and it means that Have Yourself a Very KT Christmas is one of those Christmas albums that sits happily in both the old and new camps and makes the genre of Christmas music even more expansive and rich.
Tunstall may not be a fan of Christmas music per se but lordy does she have a gift for bringing something wonderfully original to the genre and we all the festively richer for having her make her mark on it.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sounds_of_the_Season:_The_KT_Tunstall_Holiday_Collection