Even though it’s not December, that doesn’t mean it’s too early to feel the “holiday glee,” as Sabrina Carpenter declares in her first Christmas EP, fruitcake.
In fruitcake, released on Friday, Carpenter sings to a love interest. By interloping bells jingling in the production of the music and lyrical holiday wordplay, she crafts vocally beautiful songs perfect for winter.
The first song on the EP, “A Nonsense Christmas,” was actually released last December as the holiday remix of her original song, “Nonsense,” from emails i can’t send.
Carpenter keeps the song’s original theme of how someone makes her feel while cleverly turning and keeping the dirty lyrics into Christmas lines.
“Think I only want one number in my phone / I might change your contact to ‘Don’t Leave Me Alone’” from the original track becomes “Think I only want you under my mistletoe / I might change your contact to ‘Has a Huge North Pole.’” on “A Nonsense Christmas,” pulling off a humorous switch with even catchier lyrics.
“buy me presents,” focuses on Carpenter’s desire for her partner to treat and spoil her. However, if they don’t want to, she has someone else who will. From the lyrics, that person sounds very familiar.
How many people are from a cold city, know when you’re sleeping and have a dad bod and workshop? It sounds a lot like Santa to me. The song’s jazz-pop combination of saxophone and bells really brings the holiday experience to listeners. It feels like a song that could be in the next holiday romantic comedy.
[Recreate these 3 Starbucks holiday drinks at home]
My favorite song on the EP is the fourth track, “cindy lou who,” named after the little girl from Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas.
Instead of singing to the love interest in the short but heartbreaking song, Carpenter sings to the girl loved by the one she loves: the girl with long hair and red lips, Cindy Lou Who. The simplicity of piano instrumentals and soft guitar loudly conveys her heart breaking lyrics.
Carpenter is one of my favorite singers, and in this song, I remember why. Her voice is extremely comforting, especially with softer tracks.
The EP takes a stark turn with “is it new years yet?” With a funky disco beat that invites the listener to dance, Carpenter’s ability to shine in fast-paced songs shows off her incredible musical duality.
Her frustration with the holiday shows in her songwriting, such as in the second verse when she sings, “Couples all around me, damn, it hurts / Wanna push ’em in the fireplace and watch ’em burn / Santa, Santa, why do you hate me? / I’m a gift; look how God made me.”
I love how she made a song about wanting Christmas to be over. It’s refreshing for an artist to write a piece dissing the holiday.
[Marvel’s superhero slump keeps declining with the ‘The Marvels’]
What better way to end the EP than with a cover of Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas”?
In Carpenter’s rendition, titled “white xmas,” she makes it her own by scatting in the background and altering some of the lyrics. She stays true to the Christmas classic, but adds a more feminine twist.
The sudden jingle bell reference at the song’s end was just the finale the EP needed.
Christmas doesn’t always have to be about trees and snow. Carpenter being original and conveying her own feelings about and during the holidays is even better than hearing the same old theme.
