Every year, as the clock strikes 12:00 a.m. on November 1, the world is blessed by the annual melody of Mariah Carey calling forth the Christmas season with her hit song, “All I Want for Christmas is You,” as men and women alike rejoice at the wonderful whistle notes that signal two months of non-stop holiday cheer.
Well, maybe not everyone is excited for the season of Christmas music to come so soon.
The harmonic and bewitching songs of the Christmas season sound different for everyone. While some people picture it as a wonderful time of celebratory tunes, in contrast, some people think of the sounds as comparable to nails on a chalkboard. This division is not a recent development; people have had opposing opinions on Christmas music since Bing Crosby produced the original holiday hit with his song “White Christmas” in 1942.
In past centuries, societies have cherished the hymns that arrive every December to celebrate the coming of the Christmas season. In the 15th century, a variety of those hymns evolved into the traditional carols that first rocked the world.
Many carols, such as “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,” were sung to commemorate the religious and spiritual origins of the holiday season. As these songs took off, people began to share and foster the growth of religious songs. The singing of the “Messiah,” specifically the “Hallelujah” chorus, soon became closely associated with the religious messages around the holiday season.
Similarly, as new Christmas traditions emerged, a variety of folk songs were composed to celebrate and encourage these traditions, such as the development of the early Christmas tree in Germany during the early 16th century, which inspired and spread the carol “O Christmas Tree.” This trend of straying from the religious roots for the holiday season was further explored in the 1850s as songs, “Jingle Bells” and “Deck the Halls” that hark on the traditional decorative and occupational traditions that surface every December.
As the United States continued to celebrate the holiday season, the biggest shift was seen in the 1950s following the Second World War, signaling a change of musical trends when Christmas became a symbol of hope and prosperity. The economic changes in the West propelled the final push of the transition from religious hymns to the folk-based carols that focus on the traditions of Christmas rather than the religious history of the holiday.
Contemporary stars such as Bing Crosby, Elvis Presley, and Frank Sinatra soon topped the charts with their recordings of the well-loved popular songs to celebrate the holiday season. Within these new renditions, the music did not just contain the sleigh bells that had previously accompanied carols, but it also introduced a wide variety of genres and styles for Christmas music.
Artists who made their own versions of these songs began to experiment with the backing tracks and style of the song, reinventing the traditional Christmas carol.
Jazz composers added a swing feel and complex chords to their pieces to create a new level of nuance. Pop stars slowly began to add new beats and interpretations of the melody as the century progressed.
This cycle continued to the start of the 21st century, as artists continued to share full albums of their voice covering a mix of traditional carols and new songs filled with the holiday spirit. A prime example of this would be Mariah Carey’s album, “Merry Christmas,” which debuted in 1994, setting a new trend for the upbeat and pop holiday songs.
Modern artists such as Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, and Laufey have all released short collections of Christmas music that explore the same lyrics that have been around for centuries, but with a modern feel.
The trends of Christmas music have been reflected in the interstate of music throughout the year, as popular artists and genres from that time tend to top the charts with their rendition of holiday cheer.