What is it about Christmas music that makes things so merry and bright?
Christmas Day was yesterday, but the Christmas season is far from over. The twelve days of Christmas have only just begun: a time to focus on the feelings of merriment, cheer, and love, spreading it to all. We have spent our time leading up to the special holiday listening to every Christmas song that we could, and we are sure to keep rocking out to them for as long as we can.
There is a specific and undeniable delight that Christmas music brings us. Each song and each rendition evoke a different feeling of warmth and holiday spirit. Year in and year out, we listen to the same classics. Throughout the history of time, they have never gotten old. Why?
Of course, sentimentality is a major factor in the staying power of these spirited songs. In an article written by the Washington Post back in 2019, a professor of musicology at Berklee College of Music, Joe Bennett, wisely shared that, in this way, Christmas music finds its power in the reverse way of most contemporary music. He remarked:
"Generally, popular music is about putting yourself out there, new relationships, new beginnings, being young and single and dancing...Christmas music is almost the reverse of that, conceptually and lyrically. It is about homecoming, nostalgia, looking back to a more innocent time in one's life or cultural history."
The lion share of songs that we delight ourselves with at Christmas time are those that our parents and our grandparents and our great grandparents have been listening to for years. The nostalgic power of Christmas songs stretches well beyond our individual life times. It is a nostalgia that exists not only in our individual homes but in our collective, communal memory, making it all the more powerful.
The emotions connected to these songs are powerful. According to an article on Lovin, a study that took place in the 1990s proved just how powerful emotional memory is. It was found that people seldom remembered the first time that they heard a specific song. However, what they did find that they remembered was the emotion that they felt while listening to the song for the first time. This emotion carries from holiday season to holiday season, filling us with the same, warm cheer every time we listen to the Holiday numbers.
The exposure effect is another major component in our collective love of Christmas music. Yes, it has been shown that people love Christmas music, in many cases, largely because it is playing. Based on scientific studies recorded in an article on Mic.com, having Christmas songs playing on repeat give them the power that lasts year after year. When every year, time and time again, we find ourselves listening to the same songs, eventually you will find yourselves humming along to the songs, even craving them more.
Then how do newer songs find their way to center stage? Well, the reality of the situation is that they don't really. Sure, Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas is You" has been so popular that the singer has been deemed the Queen of Christmas, but that song is now twenty seven years old. Since the release of that outlier, there really have not been any new Christmas songs released. It is impossible to manufacture nostalgia. It can only be born by something that stands the test of time.
Therefore, it is impossible to know whether something will become a Christmas standard until years down the line, and that time has not yet come. That is why contemporary artists find great luck and success in creating their own adaptations of songs rather than writing their own. Through their remakes of songs, we hear different tunes and contemporary takes on the standards without compromising the warmth, feeling, and history of the original numbers.
On top of all of these, Christmas songs are simply delightful. The specific chords and wintry rhythms are orchestrated specifically to evoke the spirit of Christmas and the feeling of warmth and winter. There is a reliance on sounds that leave people thinking of winter and reminiscing about old times.
The science has spoken! Christmas carols are here to stay for the long hall. As the Christmas season is still far from over, we are going to listen to them over and over again for as long as we can. Merry Christmas to all! Happy listening!
