Silent Nights No More: Holiday Tunes to Spruce Up Festive Playlists

Lifestyle, Culture

Silent Nights No More: Holiday Tunes to Spruce Up Festive Playlists

By Vanessa Grace Ng
December 18, 2023

It’s the holiday remix… Men’s Folio presents new festive jingles for the most wonderful time of the year.

What is the festive season without a little jingle? In specific, the songs that make a mood can rightly usher in the season of celebration — be it pensive and reflective or jubilant and cheery. Music can set a scene. Put on some Nat King Cole and perhaps one gets transported to a snowy cabin lodge, surrounded by snowy environs and warmed with a toasty fireplace. Or put on Santa Tell Me and maybe one is suddenly placed in a crowded mall, in the situation of some last minute holiday shopping. The list goes on: Mariah Carey, Michael Bublé and Bing Crosby are stalwarts of the season. But that does not mean one’s playlist should only be limited there. Instead, for the season of plenitude, Men’s Folio invites the expansion of one’s horizons — musically, that is. So while the above’s usual suspects can still remain in their forever homes of one’s wintery playlist, consider the contemporary in the realm of merry music to be unearthed.

This season, a torrent of new releases are standout amongst other hallmark alternatives. Jazz darling Laufey is an example of acing the brief: her sultry vocals and intricate composition styles make judicious for the season, especially when considered in the lens of her Christmassy collaboration with folk favourite Norah Jones. Meanwhile, emerging pop princess Sabrina Carpenter spoils for the season — gifting a full holiday-inspired album with tracks that can hit any desired evocation of feelings. In the K-department, JEON SOMI and BIG Naughty, XG, NCT 127 and more return with winter specials, while Aespa and LE SSERAFIM go the remix route. In the indie section, Summer Salt makes a felicitous return, with another festive tune to complement their 2019 holiday album release, Favorite Holiday Vol. 1; while Australian counterpart Valley released their take on Coldplay’s Christmas Lights — reimagined in an 80s ballad style.