August, September, October — begone! I'm already counting down the days until I no longer have to hide my summer Christmas playlist, and, most importantly, for John Legend's first ever Christmas album to grace the top of the Billboard charts, my heart, and your ears.
Buried deep in Chrissy Teigen's hilarious Instagram stories of the Teigen-Legend family vacation in Bali, were snaps of Legend jamming out to his own Christmas album, with a brief baby Miles dance break to the tune of his upcoming cover of CeeLo Green's "That's What Christmas Means To Me." Move aside Mariah Carey, there's a new legend in the house! Err, actually, I take that back. I will wager that either Legend covers the Queen Of Christmas' music (adding to her $60 million in royalties off of "All I Want For Christmas Is You") or duets with the diva á la their 2011 holiday song, "When Christmas Comes."
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Holiday music is the only genre left with real standards in the Great American Songbook as most artists play it safe with covers of classic tunes with an original one or two sprinkled in the track list. All this while holding their breaths for the goldmine Carey tapped into with her ubiquitous 1994 holiday album, Merry Christmas. Sia's 2017 album, Everyday Is Christmas, is the first album in recent memory to take the bold risk of releasing all original songs. Surprisingly, the gamble paid off for the Australian singer as the album peaked at number 27 on Billboard's top 200.
As for Legend's sure-to-be legendary album: I wouldn't mind if he re-recorded "Nutmeg," his velvety ode to the holiday spice from Stephen Colbert's 2008 Christmas special. Bet you didn't know this even existed. Crank up the AC, pop on your ugliest holiday sweater, and enjoy.
Nutmeg from Jacob Wild on Vimeo.
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