You Make It Feel Like Christmas


You Make It Feel Like Christmas is the fourth studio album by American singer-songwriter Gwen Stefani. The album, which is Stefani's first full-length Christmas-themed album, was released on October 6, 2017, by Interscope Records. The record was executively produced by Stefani and Busbee, with additional production coming from Eric Valentine. The standard version of You Make It Feel Like Christmas contains twelve songs, featuring six original songs penned by Stefani, Busbee and Justin Tranter, and six cover versions of Christmas standards. While going on a nature walk near the Oklahoma ranch house belonging to boyfriend Blake Shelton, Stefani felt inspired to record a Christmas album and began writing what would later become "Christmas Eve". Recording sessions took place in the summer months of 2017; several of the tracks' titles leaked in August, leaving Stefani to confirm the project in September. The album's original songs make references to Stefani's newfound love and relationship with Shelton.
The album was preceded by the release of lead single "You Make It Feel Like Christmas", a duet with Shelton. It became a modest success on international record charts, becoming Stefani's first entry as a solo artist in years in several territories. A music video for the song was released in 2018. In Italy, Stefani's cover of "Santa Baby" and the original song "Secret Santa" were selected as singles and distributed to mainstream radio stations. In other countries, "Santa Baby" was released as a promotional single for the album. To promote You Make It Feel Like Christmas, Stefani performed on numerous television programs, such as Today, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, and The Ellen DeGeneres Show. She also filmed an accompanying television special, Gwen Stefani's You Make It Feel Like Christmas, which premiered on NBC on December 12, 2017. A deluxe edition of the album was distributed in October 2018 and features two previously unreleased songs and three new covers, including a duet of "Feliz Navidad" with Chilean singer Mon Laferte.
You Make It Feel Like Christmas garnered a mostly positive reception from music critics. Stefani was praised for creating a classical Christmas record as opposed to a modern one. However, some critics disliked the original songs for not sounding festive. Commercially, the album did not replicate the success of Stefani's three previous albums. It reached number 16 on the Billboard 200 albums chart in the United States and had first week album-equivalent units of 10,000 copies. Elsewhere, the album charted in Canada, the Czech Republic, Greece, the Netherlands, Scotland, South Korea, and the United Kingdom. All seventeen songs on the standard and deluxe editions of the record entered Billboards Holiday Digital Song Sales component chart in the United States.

Background

Following the release of Gwen Stefani's third solo album, This Is What the Truth Feels Like, she announced in July 2017 that she had plans to release new music by the end of the year. During the summer months of 2017, Stefani vacationed at Blake Shelton's Oklahoma farm estate where she spent time doing exercise, meditation, and praying. Inspired by the exotic animals surrounding her while on a spiritual walk outside Shelton's property, she remarked, "If I wrote a Christmas song, what would it be?" After questioning herself, she began singing random lyrics out loud on the spot which she would later use in "Christmas Eve", one of the album's twelve songs. She cited this nature walk as the main source of inspiration for deciding to record a Christmas album and eventually inquiring with Interscope to begin production.
The titles of several tracks, including "Christmas Eve", "Under the Christmas Lights", and "You Make It Feel Like Christmas", first leaked on August 2, 2017 when they appeared as published works on BMI and GEMA, American and German music databases, respectively. Because of the registered song titles, several music critics suggested that Stefani may be recording her first holiday album. On September 18, 2017, the singer took to her social media accounts and claimed that she "had something big planned for the holidays" and would release more information later that week. As promised, following the announcement, she revealed that she had recorded a Christmas album. She also shared the project's title – You Make It Feel Like Christmas – and its track listing. Describing the album, Stefani referred to it as a split collection of classic Christmas songs and newly recorded tracks.

Inspiration and writing

According to Stefani, her prior albums were inspired by her personal heartbreak, so You Make It Feel Like Christmas allowed for the singer to make a record that was "just so fun and easy". Following the release of This Is What the Truth Feels Like in 2016, the singer did not feel particularly inspired. She admitted to Entertainment Weeklys Madison Vain that she had no future plans to record another solo album; however, she remarked that the idea to create a Christmas album randomly "came into head" and, in reaction, she immediately texted her managers and claimed "I’m going to make a Christmas record, by the way!". Studio sessions for You Make It Feel Like Christmas began occurring one week after this communication with her team and songwriting followed soon after. Shelton suggested to Stefani that she should collaborate with American musician Busbee, who was primarily known for his work with country music artists.
While determining a sound for the album, Busbee told Stefani that "it needs to be raw and punk and sort of classical at the same time" to which she agreed. To gather additional inspiration for You Make It Feel Like Christmas, Stefani listened to her favorite holiday albums from her childhood, such as Vince Guaraldi's A Charlie Brown Christmas and Emmylou Harris's Light of the Stable. She also aimed for You Make It Feel Like Christmas to have a throwback vibe, taking influence from the American girl group the Ronettes and Phil Spector's Wall of Sound music formula. Other artists and musicians she listened to for inspiration included The Osmonds and Cher. Regarding her hopes for she wanted her album to be received Stefani said: "I love the idea of being a part of the joy of Christmas and I love the idea of having a record that will be an annual thing. I really hope we hit on something that people want to hear every year. That would be the fantasy: to be Mariah Carey."

Music and lyrics

Each of the album's twelve tracks were produced by Busbee and Eric Valentine. The six original compositions on You Make It Feel Like Christmas were co-written by Stefani, Justin Tranter, and Busbee. Rachel McRady from Entertainment Tonight claimed that Stefani's holiday album contains "old classics and new romantic odes, packed with plenty of Blake Shelton references" alluding to her romantic life. Jon Pareles from The New York Times noted that the singer gives a "luxury retro treatment" to the album's twelve songs with the addition of "horns, strings, backup singers".
The album opens with a cover of "Jingle Bells", written and composed by James Lord Pierpont. Stefani sings "with an upbeat tone against a horn section" which Allan Raible, from ABC News, considered reminiscent of her ska punk days with No Doubt. "Let It Snow" is the second track and like "Jingle Bells", features Stefani performing with a "merry demeanor". The third song – "My Gift Is You" – is the first original song on You Make It Feel Like Christmas penned by Stefani, Tranter, and Busbee. Lyrically, it "sends a powerful Christmas message" by rejecting the idea of materialism during the holiday season. Shelton serves as a source of inspiration for the track; Stefani sings: "Don't need no money, don't need a thing, I don't even need a wedding ring / All I need is love and the truth and I got it, my gift is you". Unlike most traditional renditions of "Silent Night", Stefani's cover of the song contains a minor key change. Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine described "When I Was a Little Girl" as a "treacly" tune and another one inspired by Stefani's relationship with Shelton. Lyrically, Cinquemani determined it had the opposite meaning of No Doubt's 1995 single, co-written by Stefani, "Just a Girl". Her version of Wham!'s 1984 song "Last Christmas" is the sixth song, and according to Stefani, was "the most fun to record". Stefani stated: " is a masterpiece as far as the music goes and how created it. To me, that’s the most, of all the covers, that was really flipped. But yet, it still has the spirit of the original. Lyrically, that song speaks to me and things I’ve been through."
"You Make It Feel Like Christmas", the album's title track, features guest vocals and a songwriting credit from Shelton. Musically, it is a blend of "Stefani's pop style" and "Shelton's country roots", but leans toward the former quality. "Under the Christmas Lights" is another original penned by Stefani, Tranter, and Busbee. The lyrics are light-hearted and relatable, with Stefani singing about wrapping presents and eventually "running out of tape". The album's first promotional single and ninth track is a cover of Eartha Kitt's 1953 single "Santa Baby". On Stefani's rendition of the holiday standard "White Christmas", she stays "affectionately loyal". On "Never Kissed Anyone with Blue Eyes Before You", Stefani sings about the most romantic moments regarding her relationship with Shelton. Cinquemani described the track as "less a Christmas song than an ode to the country crooner’s recessive genes". "Christmas Eve", the closing and standard edition's twelfth track, was also the first song recorded and completed for You Make It Feel Like Christmas. Shelton recorded his own version of "Christmas Eve" which appears as a bonus track on the 2017 reissued edition of his Christmas album Cheers, It's Christmas.

Release

You Make It Feel Like Christmas was first released internationally on October 6, 2017 through Interscope Records. A version of the CD exclusive to Target Corporation stores was released the same day and houses the disc inside a hardcover book containing 24 pages of artwork and song lyrics pertaining to the album. On Stefani's official website, holiday-themed merchandise was added to coincide with the release of You Make It Feel Like Christmas; the line of items featured apparel, Christmas stockings, greeting cards, and mugs. On October 20 of the same year, Interscope distributed the LP version of the album on white opaque vinyl.
Via her social media platforms on September 27, 2018, Stefani confirmed that Interscope Records planned to reissue You Make It Feel Like Christmas with five bonus tracks for the upcoming holiday season, bringing the track listing to a total of seventeen songs. The new version of the album was released on October 26, 2018 and included two original songs – "Cheer for the Elves" and "Secret Santa" – both written by Stefani, Tranter, and Busbee. "Cheer for Elves" features additional background vocals from all three of Stefani's children: Kingston, Zuma, and Apollo Rossdale. The deluxe edition also contains three additional covers of Christmas standards, including "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town", "Winter Wonderland", and "Feliz Navidad". Stefani's cover of José Feliciano's "Feliz Navidad" is a duet with Chilean singer-songwriter Mon Laferte; a vertical music video of Stefani and Laferte performing the song was released exclusively on Spotify in December 2018. A limited edition deluxe version of You Make It Feel Like Christmas was distributed Target stores, containing a foldout holiday-themed poster of Stefani within the album's liner notes. The deluxe edition was also pressed on vinyl and released on November 30, 2018 via Stefani's official website.
Billboards Lyndsey Havens suggested that You Make It Feel Like Christmas, in addition to John Legend's A Legendary Christmas and Pentatonix's Christmas Is Here!, was released during the last week of October due to the largely diverse audience that Christmas music is marketed towards. John Fleckenstein, head of RCA Records, claimed that artists, including Stefani, were more likely to endure higher success with a Christmas album if a physical edition of the record was distributed to nationwide stores such as Target and Walmart by this time period in October: "Christmas albums tend to be multigenerational, and thus, they skew very heavily on the physical side. So anybody who’s going for a broad-base national play with their album will need to get a physical version into stores by the end of October."

Promotion

Following the initial release of You Make It Feel Like Christmas, Stefani partnered with American culinary retailer Williams Sonoma to promote the album. Physical copies of the CD were distributed at locations nationwide and the album itself was played at stores. Stefani also recorded a Christmas-themed cooking demo with Italian-born American chef Giada De Laurentiis for Facebook Live that would later be displayed on Williams-Sonoma's official website. Stefani's cover of "Jingle Bells" was included on the official soundtrack to the 2017 film A Bad Moms Christmas. Additionally, a promotional audio still for "Christmas Eve" was uploaded to Stefani's Vevo account on October 5, 2017. After the distribution of the deluxe edition of You Make It Feel Like Christmas in November 2018, Stefani teamed up with American manufacturer Yankee Candle. The candle retailer sold copies of the new album at their stores nationwide and ran a sweepstakes that allowed fans the chance to win an autographed copy of You Make It Feel Like Christmas in addition to a limited edition scented candle.

Singles

On September 21, 2017, Stefani announced that the album's title track would be released as the lead single to coincide with the availability to pre-order You Make It Feel Like Christmas. She also shared a preview of the song via her social media accounts. The following day, "You Make It Feel Like Christmas" was distributed to digital outlets. On November 1 of the same year, a lyric video featuring images of the artwork used in the album's liner notes was uploaded to Stefani's official Vevo page. Due to digital download sales, the song peaked at number two on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart, which serves as an extension to the Billboard Hot 100. It also entered the charts in Belgium, Scotland, the United Kingdom, and the Adult Contemporary chart in the United States where it became Stefani's second top 10 entry as a solo artist, the other being 2007's "The Sweet Escape", peaking at number 9. On November 20, 2018, the Sophie Muller-directed music video for "You Make It Feel Like Christmas" was uploaded to Stefani's Vevo account.
A cover of Eartha Kitt's "Santa Baby" was issued as the album's first promotional single on September 29, 2017. In Italy, it was released for airplay on December 8, 2017 as the album's first single. Commercially, it entered the Holiday Digital Songs chart and the Holiday Digital Song Sales chart, both peaking at number seven. "Secret Santa" was distributed to Italian radio outlets on November 30, 2018, becoming the album's third single overall and second in Italy.

Live performances

To promote You Make It Feel Like Christmas, the singer embarked on a promotional tour in November and December 2017 where she performed on various television series and at several televised events. On November 20, 2017, Stefani served as a guest on Today and was interviewed about the record in between her performances. Wearing a sleeveless white gown and feather boa, she sang "When I Was a Little Girl", "Santa Baby", and "Christmas Eve" from the album. On November 21, Stefani was invited as a guest on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and discussed with Fallon what went into recording You Make It Feel Like Christmas. Concluding the show, the singer performed "Under the Christmas Lights" to the audience.
During the 2017 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on November 23, Stefani served as a featured performer and selected to sing her cover of "White Christmas" to the crowd. At this event, she wore a "Swarovski-crystal beaded Yousef AlJasmi mini with a sparkling headpiece, matching Jimmy Choo pumps, and diamond earrings". On December 19, the singer returned to The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon to perform her cover of "Last Christmas". On December 4, Stefani and Shelton took to The Voice where they performed the title track. She wore a festive sheer and flower-inspired dress and ended the performance with a kiss from Shelton. Following the distribution of the deluxe edition in 2018, Stefani appeared at Disneyland to perform "Feliz Navidad" to the live crowd. The appearance was recorded for an eventual broadcast on The Wonderful World of Disney: Magical Holiday Celebration on ABC later in the holiday season.
During Stefani's appearance on Today, she confirmed that she had filmed a holiday special for NBC, titled Gwen Stefani's You Make It Feel Like Christmas. It premiered on NBC on December 12, 2017, and was described by the network as a "modern take on traditional Christmas specials". Produced by Done and Dusted, You Make It Feel Like Christmas was filmed in Los Angeles in front of a live studio audience. NBC's premiere broadcast of the special was seen by 7.151 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research. It also received a 1.2 share among adults between the ages of 18 to 49, and generated NBC's second biggest overall audience in its time slot. Gwen Stefani's You Make It Feel Like Christmas became the year's most-watched holiday special on NBC, beating the previous record set by DreamWorks Trolls Holiday, which was watched by 5.2 million viewers. She performed various songs from the album as part of the set list, including "My Gift Is You", "White Christmas", and "You Make It Feel Like Christmas".

Critical reception

You Make It Feel Like Christmas received generally favorable reviews from music critics. Times Raisa Bruner included the release on her list of the 12 best holiday-themed albums unveiled in 2017, writing that Stefani adds her "recognizable warm vocals and bouncy production the songs you know and love". Michael Bialas from The Huffington Post placed it at the top on his list of 2017's best five holiday albums. He praised the collection, labelled "When I Was a Little Girl" as the album's best original song, and wrote: "this 12-song album symbolizes the angel gracefully adorning the top of the Christmas tree this season." Providing You Make It Feel Like Christmas a three star rating, Raible from ABC News likened the "old-school light" that Stefani sheds on the record and lauded "Never Kissed Anyone with Blue Eyes Before You", "White Christmas", and "My Gift Is You" as the album's three "focus tracks". He added: "Mostly, You Make It Feel Like Christmas sounds like it was a fun record to make. Stefani sounds more animated than has in recent years. Hopefully, this burst of energy will still be present on her next proper solo album." On Randy Lewis's annual "Christmas album roundup" column for the Los Angeles Times, he gave You Make It Feel Like Christmas a three star rating out of four. He liked Stefani's collaboration with Shelton and enjoyed her "effervescent spirit" and "fresh spins" on her covers of "Jingle Bells", "Let It Snow", and "Silent Night". AllMusic's senior editor, Stephen Thomas Erlewine awarded the album three out of five stars. He enjoyed that the record featured a variety of new material, but claimed that the inclusion of "When I Was a Little Girl", "My Gift Is You", and "Never Kissed Anyone with Blue Eyes Before You" was unusual because the tracks "do feel strictly seasonal"; however, Erlewine insisted that "the moments that work have a coquettish charm that is appealing, which is reason enough to warrant a listen".
David Smyth, a writer for London's Evening Standard, likened Stefani's covers of "Last Christmas", "Let It Snow", and "Santa Baby". However, he considered her original tracks to be less memorable, minus the title track which he described as "a sweet duet". Slant Magazines Cinquemani found Stefani's holiday album to lean towards the "traditional Yuletide fare" rather than the "more contemporary sound" as heard by musicians in recent years. He also found the singer to be "affectionately loyal to the standards", but found that her covers of "Silent Night" and "Let It Snow" were unnecessary. Overall, he also rated the album three out of five stars. Ludovic Hunter-Tilney from Financial Times awarded You Make It Feel Like Christmas two out of five stars in his album review. He noted the absence of Stefani's signature style in the album's songs and disliked the overall "splashy big band style" which he considered to sound out-of-place with her vocals. Towards the end of his review, Hunter-Tilney highlighted "When I Was a Little Girl" as the best original composition. Varietys Chris Willman was more critical of Stefani's effort, disliking that she chose to contain "generic big band arrangements" rather than making them more stylistically diverse. In regards to the original material, he called it “more personal", described "Never Kissed Anyone with Blue Eyes Before You" as "slightly interesting", and used the title track as evidence that Shelton and Stefani should keep "their careers separate".

Commercial performance

In the United States, the album entered the Billboard 200 at number 51 and atop the Top Holiday Albums chart with 10,000 album-equivalent units for the week ending October 28, 2017. In addition, You Make It Feel Like Christmas was the fourteenth best-selling album of the week on Billboards Top Album Sales chart, with pure album sales of 9,000 copies, becoming the list's seventh highest entry. Despite this, the record was Stefani's lowest-charting entry as a solo artist, succeeding 2016's This Is What the Truth Feels Like which topped the Billboard 200 and had reported first-week sales of 76,000 copies. During its debut week, You Make It Feel Like Christmas also reached number 11 on the Digital Albums chart, number 14 on the Top Internet Albums component chart, and topped the Holiday Album Sales component chart. Approaching the holiday season, the album reentered several charts. On December 30, 2017, You Make It Feel Like Christmas peaked at number 16 on the Billboard 200, becoming the week's "biggest gainer" in terms of sales. It also improved its peak position on several component charts, reaching number nine on the Top Album Sales chart and number seven on the Digital Albums chart. Overall, the album spent a total of fifteen weeks on the Billboard 200 chart.
In Canada, the album peaked on the Billboard Canadian Albums chart at number 24 on the week ending December 30, 2017, making it her fourth top 40 album on the Nielsen-tracked chart. Outside of North America, You Make It Feel Like Christmas had a relatively limited commercial performance. On South Korea's International Albums chart, compiled by Gaon Music Chart, Stefani's album entered at number 15 before departing the following week. You Make It Feel Like Christmas also entered the charts in select European countries. During its release week, it debuted and peaked at number 95 in the Czech Republic. In the United Kingdom and Scotland, the album reached peaks at numbers 55 and 59, respectively, according to the official rankings published by the Official Charts Company. In the Netherlands, the album charted for three non-consecutive weeks and peaked at number 119.
All of the songs on the standard version of You Make It Feel Like Christmas reached the Holiday Digital Songs and Holiday Digital Song Sales charts in the United States, peaking at the same positions on both charts as well. Of the ten previously unreleased songs on the record, "My Gift Is You", "Last Christmas", and "Jingle Bells" all reached the top ten, charting at numbers six, eight, and nine, respectively. For the remaining original compositions, "Under the Christmas Lights" peaked at number 16, "Christmas Eve" peaked at number 20, "When I Was a Little Girl" peaked at number 25, and "Never Kissed Anyone with Blue Eyes Before You" peaked at number 46. Her covers of "Let It Snow", "White Christmas", and "Silent Night" charted at positions 22, 27, and 33, respectively. In December, the singer's covers of "Jingle Bells", "Santa Baby", and "White Christmas" were distributed to holiday radio playlists. allowing them to peak at numbers 5, 38, and 39 on Canada's Adult Contemporary chart in January 2018, respectively. "White Christmas" entered at number 62 on the UK Singles Chart in December 2018, becoming her first solo entry within the top 100 since 2007 with "Now That You Got It", and in Slovakia, "Under the Christmas Lights" entered the Rádio Top 100 airplay chart at number 83. Following the deluxe edition of You Make It Feel Like Christmas being released in October 2018, the five new tracks on the album also entered the United States' Holiday Digital Song Sales chart compiled by Billboard. The two original songs, "Secret Santa" and "Cheer for the Elves", hit the highest positions on the November 10th edition, peaking at numbers 17 and 28, respectively. Stefani's covers of "Winter Wonderland" and "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" debuted at positions 31 and 38, respectively, while her duet of "Feliz Navidad" with Laferte reached number 34 on the chart.

Track listing

All songs produced by Busbee and Eric Valentine.
Notes
Credits adapted from the liner notes of You Make It Feel Like Christmas.

Management

Release history