Well, the Christmas song battle is well and truly underway as Mariah Carey, Wham! and Slade have a new contender: Olivia Rodrigo.
I know next to nothing about Olivia Rodrigo apart from the fact that I may be about the only person on the planet this ignorant about her mega stardom and career to date.
I know she managed to get Robert Smith on stage with her at Glastonbury, but no idea what they sang or what she thinks of The Cure (although I assume it's all very positive).
I couldn't name, let alone hum, a single song of hers, so dipping my toe in with a Christmas single is a bit of a punt.
take me home (4 christmas) - yep, all lower case - won't necessarily set the world alight, but it's a perfect assimilation of previous Christmas pop hits, whilst (presumably) sounding enough like an Olivia Rodrigo song.
There's jingle bells, fiddles and a stomping beat that will get you dancing. You'll be reminded of Christmas Wrapping by Waitresses, even decidedly unChristamassy songs like Come On Eileen by Dexys Midnight Runners, and the lyrics deftly avoid the sickly sweet schmaltz of many of the half-baked offerings served up in the 2000s.
I also like that Olivia isn't a 'vocal gymastics' type of singer (yes, you, Mariah), almost the antithesis in fact. For a good singalong, the fun can be that the notes are impossible for the average person to reach (add Justin Hawkins of The Darkness to the list) or that you can genuinely - and happily - sing along in your best atonal drone (that'll be me). take me home (4 christmas) leans heavily into the latter.
I think Olivia Rodrigo will the one to beat for Christmas #1 this year.
Ironically, I was only intending to stick this song at the top as a brief intro and focus the post instead on other Christmas music that you might be interested in buying, if you're the kind of person that switches on a festive playlist at the start of December.
If so, here's a few, old and new(ish), to try before you buy:
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