Template:Infobox Album
Sounds of the Season: The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection is the first extended play released by American country recording artist Taylor Swift. The EP was first released on October 14, 2007 by Big Machine Records exclusively to Target stores in the United States and online; it was originally a limited release for the 2007 holiday season ,but re-released in October 2009. Sounds of the Season: The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection features cover versions of holiday songs and two original tracks written by Swift, "Christmases When You Were Mine" and "Christmas Must Be Something More", all of which have a country pop sound.
Music critics received the album with favorable responses, where some would have preferred a full album. The The EP was a commercial success, peaking at number twenty on the Billboard 200 and at number fourteen on Top Holiday Albums. Songs from Sounds of the Season: The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection have been performed at several venues.
Background and composition
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Swift in 2007, the year the Sounds of the Season: The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection was first released.
For the original release of Sounds of the Season: The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection, Swift partnered with the American retail company Target; it was made available as an exclusive limited release at Target stores in the United States and online, at Target.com.[1] Sounds of the Season: The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection's cover art is from Swift's music video for "Teardrops on My Guitar" (2007).[1] On October 6, 2009, the EP was re-released by Target[1] and made available as a digital download on the iTunes Store, both making minor adjustments to its cover art and removing "Sounds of the Seasons," leaving it as The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection.[2]
Sounds of the Season: The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection is holiday music with a country pop inclination.[3] The EP is mainly composed of cover versions of holiday hits and Christmas carols. The EP's opening track is a cover version of "Last Christmas" by Wham! from their 1986 album Music from the Edge of Heaven.[4] The original song "Christmases When You Were Mine" was written by Swift, Liz Rose, and Nathan Chapman. Lyrically, the track fixates of prior Christmases, in which the song's protagonist, was happier. The lyrics also express that the current Christmas is much harder to cheer for than previous ones.[5] Swift covered "Santa Baby", a 1953 song originally performed by Eartha Kitt. "Silent Night" is a Christmas carol cover that is musically performed differently, replacing the instrumentation from piano to acoustic guitar; Swift's vocals are also faster than traditionally recorded for the song.[5] "Christmases Must Be Something More" is the second original song from Sounds of the Season: The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection, self penned by Swift. The lyrics attempt for audiences to recognize the reason for the celebration of Christmas, the commemoration of Jesus Christ's birth.[5] The closing track is a rendition of Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" from his 1942 album of the same name.[4]
Reception
Critical reception
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| CMT | Favorable[6] |
| Country Standard Time | Favorable[5] |
| Deseret News | Favorable[7] |
The EP received generally positive critical reception. Craig Shelburne of CMT said, "Thanks to this teen star, a new generation of sensitive girls may discover the melancholy but oh-so-melodic 'Last Christmas'. She also includes two original holiday songs."[6] An uncredited review in Deseret News felt that the release was too short, yet fulfilled its task.[7] Dan Maclntosh of Country Standard Time concluded, "Swift is fine singer, who finds ways to inject sincere emotion into every line she sings. They say the best things come in small packages. And that saying holds true for Swift's new one."[5]
Chart performance
On the week ending December 8, 2007, Sounds of the Season: The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection debuted at number eighty-eight on the Billboard 200.[8][9] The following week, the EP rose to a new peak at number forty-six on the Billboard 200.[10] Following its 2009 re-release, Sounds of the Season: The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection re-entered the Billboard 200 at number twenty, its peak, and extended its run on the chart to twenty-four weeks.[8] For the 2007 holiday season, the EP peaked at number eighteen on Top Country Albums and at number twenty-two on Top Holiday Albums, and for the 2009 holiday season, it peaked at number fourteen on both Top Country Albums and Top Holiday Albums.[8]
Promotion
Swift first performed a song from Sounds of the Season: The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection, "Silent Night", on November 28, 2007 in New York City, at the Rockefeller Center, which was broadcast by The Today Show; Swift dressed in a long black dress and a white winter coat and performed while playing a rhinestoned acoustic guitar.[11] She then performed "Christmases When You Were Mine" on November 29, 2007 in St. Charles, Missouri, at the Family Arena, as part of her set for WIL's Jinglefest 2007, and "Santa Baby" in Bloomington, Minnesota, at the Mall of America on December 8, 2007.[12] Swift appeared on The Today Show again on Christmas Day of 2007, performing "Christmases When You Were Mine" and "Silent Night".[13]
All of the tracks except "Christmas Must Be Something More" received airplay on several country radio stations and therefore each charted on Billboard's Hot Country Songs: "Last Christmas" peaked at number twenty-eight,[14] "Christmases When You Were Mine" peaked at number forty-eight,[15] "Santa Baby" peaked at number forty-three,[16] "Silent Night" peaked at number fifty-four,[17] and "White Christmas" peaked at number fifty-nine.[18]
Track listing
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Last Christmas" | George Michael | 3:30 |
| 2. | "Christmases When You Were Mine" | Taylor Swift, Liz Rose, Nathan Chapman | 3:06 |
| 3. | "Santa Baby" | Joan Javits, Philip Springer, Tony Springer | 2:41 |
| 4. | "Silent Night" | Josef Mohr, Franz Xaver Gruber; arr. by Swift | 3:32 |
| 5. | "Christmas Must Be Something More" | Swift | 3:52 |
| 6. | "White Christmas" | Irving Berlin | 2:34 |
Total length: |
19:15 | ||
Charts
| Chart (2007—2009) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard 200[8] | 20 |
| U.S. Top Country Albums[8] | 14 |
| U.S. Top Holiday Albums[8] | 14 |
Personnel
As listed in liner notes.[4]
- Heidi Beall – background vocals
- Nick Buda – drums
- Scott Borchetta - executive producer
- Nathan Chapman - producer, bass guitar, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, background vocals
- Eric Darken – percussion
- Rob Hajacos – fiddle
- Andy Leftwich – mandolin
- Tim Marks – bass guitar
- Scotty Sanders – Dobro
- Taylor Swift – vocals
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Taylor Swift: Holiday Collection CD - Only at Target and iTunes". Target.com. Target Corporation. Archived from the original on January 22, 2010. http://www.webcitation.org/archive.php. Retrieved January 22, 2010.
- ↑ "The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection - EP by Taylor Swift". iTunes Store. Apple, Inc. http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/last-christmas/id296552366?i=296552450&ign-mpt=uo%3D4. Retrieved January 22, 2010.
- ↑ "allmusic {{{ Sounds of the Season: The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection > Overview }}}". Allmusic. Macrovision Corporation. http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:jvfuxzuhldke. Retrieved January 22, 2010.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 (2007) Album notes for Sounds of the Season: The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection by Taylor Swift [EP booklet]. Big Machine Records (70012).
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Maclntosh, Dan. "Taylor Swift - The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection". Country Standard Time. http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=3800. Retrieved July 23, 2010.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Shelburne, Craig (November 28, 2007). "Taylor Swift, Toby Keith Offer New Holiday Music". CMT News. Viacom. http://www.cmt.com/news/country-music/1575265/taylor-swift-toby-keith-offer-new-holiday-music.jhtml. Retrieved January 22, 2010.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 "New CDs spark holiday spirit". Deseret News. Jim M. Wall. 14 December 2007. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-12042409.html. Retrieved March 31, 2010.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 "Sounds of the Season: The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. http://www.billboard.com/album/taylor-swift/sounds-of-the-season-the-taylor-swift-holiday/1094991#/album/taylor-swift/sounds-of-the-season-the-taylor-swift-holiday/1094991. Retrieved January 22, 2010.
- ↑ "Taylor Swift - Sounds of the Season: The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection - Music Charts". aCharts.us. http://acharts.us/album/30004. Retrieved January 22, 2010.
- ↑ "US Albums Top 100 - December 15th, 2007". aCharts.us. http://acharts.us/us_albums_top_100/2007/50. Retrieved January 22, 2010.
- ↑ "Christmas in Rockefeller Center, Wednesday, November 28, 2007 8-9 pm ET". NBC. NBC Universal. November 21, 2007. http://boards.nbc.com/nbc/index.php?showtopic=776670. Retrieved January 23, 2010.
- ↑ "WIL's Jinglefest 2007". Familyarena.com. Family Arena. http://familyarena.com/calendar/index.html?event_uid=492&year=2007&month=11&day=29&submit=detail. Retrieved April 7, 2010.
- ↑ "Taylor Swift Live - Today Show (2007) - Interview & Christmases When You Were Mine". AOL. Time Warner, Inc. http://video.aol.co.uk/video-detail/taylor-swift-live-today-show-2007-interview-and-christmases-when-you-were-mine-partial/505284780. Retrieved January 23, 2010.
- ↑ "Last Christmas by Taylor Swift". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. http://www.billboard.com/#/song/taylor-swift/last-christmas/10724104. Retrieved January 23, 2010.
- ↑ "Christmases When You Were Mine by Taylor Swift". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. http://www.billboard.com/#/song/taylor-swift/christmases-when-you-were-mine/10724105. Retrieved January 23, 2010.
- ↑ "Santa Baby by Taylor Swift". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. http://www.billboard.com/#/song/taylor-swift/santa-baby/10724106. Retrieved January 23, 2010.
- ↑ "Silent Night by Taylor Swift". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. http://www.billboard.com/#/song/taylor-swift/silent-night/10724107. Retrieved January 23, 2010.
- ↑ "White Christmas by Taylor Swift". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. http://www.billboard.com/#/song/taylor-swift/white-christmas/10724109. Retrieved January 23, 2010.
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