Ariana Grande's second Christmas Kisses track has arrived. After releasing a total reworking of "Last Christmas" last week, Grande has officially released an original holiday song today (Nov. 26): "Love is Everything." Here, the Yours Truly starlet reveals all she wants for Christmas. And what's the answer? Well, it's love, of course.
Led by strong, military-esque drums and highlighted by light, breathy vocals from Grande, "Love is Everything" sounds more like a cut from her debut album Yours Truly than a holiday anthem for the ages. Yes, there are some jingle bells but the heavy R&B rhythms make it feel more like a standard pop track than anything straight out of Rudolph's songbook.
Of course, the lyrics help to reflect that love is all one needs to give for Christmas. "It's time for us to all get something / All around the world this time of year / As a matter of fact, it won't cost you nothing / It's in your heart you got it right there," Grande sings in the opening verse before singing that love is all we need this holiday season under the tree.
It's a sweet sentiment (and something that will surely save her boyfriend Nathan Sykes a ton of money), but it's not something that's particularly original. Other pop divas have released songs with very similar themes: there's Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas Is You," Britney Spears' "My Only Wish" and countless others.
However, as always, Grande's spot-on vocals help to propel this song past purely mediocre territory. Like her cover of Wham!'s "Last Christmas," it's hard to find this one snuggling up with "White Christmas" on the radio, but it's a nice modern song for 2013, and of course, her dedicated fans will love the crap out of this.
Listen to Ariana Grande's "Love is Everything" below.
"Love is Everything" is the second new holiday song from Grande's Christmas Kisses EP. Following in the footsteps of Justin Bieber, Grande will be releasing one Christmas track every week for four weeks. Next week, she'll drop another original song "Snow in California," and the whole series will end on Dec. 10 with a sexy take on "Santa Baby" with her Sam & Cat co-star Liz Gillies.
