It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas
Michael Bublé
Michael Bublé's version of this Irving Berlin standard is essentially a delivery system for pleasure, and it makes no apologies for that. The big band arrangement is polished to a mirror finish — brass that punches with precision, a rhythm section that swings without strain, production that feels expensive and intentional and entirely in service of the song's simple promise: that Christmas is coming and this is what that looks and sounds like. Bublé's voice sits in a warm, middle register, bright enough to carry the ebullience of the lyric without spilling into sentimentality. He has studied Sinatra and Martin carefully enough to know how to move through a phrase with ease, but he brings his own quality, something a little more earnest, less ironic, genuinely invested in the idea of holiday abundance. The song itself is a catalog of images — toy shops, candy canes, carols being sung — and Bublé treats each one with equal enthusiasm, which is harder than it sounds. This is the song that belongs in a department store that has done its decorating well, in an airport terminal at the start of holiday travel, in a kitchen while someone is making something that takes all morning. It wants to be ambient joy and it succeeds.
fast
2000s
bright, polished, dense
Contemporary American revival of mid-century big band holiday tradition
Jazz, Pop. Big Band Holiday. playful, euphoric. Maintains uniform, high-valence ebullience throughout — a catalog of holiday images delivered with equal enthusiasm, no arc needed.. energy 8. fast. danceability 7. valence 10. vocals: warm earnest baritone, bright delivery, studied phrasing with genuine investment. production: polished big band, precision brass punches, swinging rhythm section, expensive production. texture: bright, polished, dense. acousticness 2. era: 2000s. Contemporary American revival of mid-century big band holiday tradition. A well-decorated kitchen while something that takes all morning is being made, or an airport terminal at the start of holiday travel.