Glee: The Music, The Christmas Album is the fourth soundtrack album by the cast of the American musical television series Glee, produced by Ryan Murphy and Adam Anders. The album was released digitally on November 9, 2010, with physical copies available from November 16, 2010. It accompanies the second season episode "A Very Glee Christmas", which aired on December 7, 2010. Dante Di Loreto and Brad Falchuk serve as the album's executive producers. The album debuted at the top position of the Billboard Soundtracks chart, and peaked at number three on the Billboard 200. Songs from the album also landed on various different record charts across the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.
Critical reception was mixed; the majority of critics praised the cover versions of "Baby, It's Cold Outside", performed by Chris Colfer and guest star Darren Criss, and "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen", performed by Lea Michele, Amber Riley, Jenna Ushkowitz, Dianna Agron and Naya Rivera. There was also appreciation for the vocals of various cast members, particularly Riley. The original arrangements produced by Adam Anders and Peer Åström received more negative comments, with reviews criticizing the stylistic choices of some of the cover songs, as did the delivery of some songs performed by Michele. The album also features a cover of "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" performed by Matthew Morrison and guest vocalist k.d. lang.
Background and production
The musical comedy-drama television show Glee debuted on Fox in 2009, and released accompanying singles and albums. Prior to Glee: The Music, The Christmas Album, the cast had released six albums or EPs in the United States, all of which were commercially successful. Three of these topped the Billboard 200 albums chart, and all five released in the United Kingdom reached the top five of the Official UK albums chart. The Glee Cast did not have a Christmas episode nor release a Christmas album during the first season of the show.
In its second season, Glee aired the Christmas episode, "A Very Glee Christmas", on December 7, 2010, on Fox. The album had reached the top of the iTunes download chart before the episode aired. The cast began recording the Christmas episode in November 2010, but had recorded the songs for the album several weeks prior, though they had not been told what the songs were for; Amber Riley, who played Mercedes Jones, told TV Guide: "Everything goes so fast that there's no time to explain anything to us ... We're recording Christmas songs, and then one day they mention there's going to be an album. We were like, 'Huh?'" The album was produced by Adam Anders and Glee creator Ryan Murphy and executive produced by Glee executives Dante Di Loreto and Brad Falchuk, with songs produced by Anders and Peer Åström.
"A Very Glee Christmas" features seven songs, six of which are included on Glee: The Music, The Christmas Album. The six included tracks are "We Need a Little Christmas", "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch", "Merry Christmas Darling", "Baby, It's Cold Outside", "Last Christmas", and "The Most Wonderful Day of the Year" (also known as "Island of Misfit Toys", from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer); "Welcome Christmas" (from How the Grinch Stole Christmas!) was performed in the episode but not included on the album, while six additional songs not featured in the episode are included on the album. Reviewing the episode for Time, James Poniewozik felt that while some of the songs were enjoyable set pieces, they were not integrated well into the story, suggesting that a variety special may have been a better format to present the Christmas songs – Glee third season Christmas episode, "Extraordinary Merry Christmas", was styled as a variety special.
In the "A Very Glee Christmas" episode, the six songs used on the album are sung in various situations, though not all are connected to the story. The episode incorporates some of the plot elements of Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, using songs from the 1966 television special adaptation of the story in similar scenes. In the episode, "The Most Wonderful Day of the Year" is sung at the start of the episode as the main characters, kids in a high school glee club, decorate a Christmas tree with stolen ornaments. In the episode itself the song is sung by the characters: Artie Abrams, Sam Evans, Quinn Fabray, Brittany S. Pierce, and Tina Cohen-Chang with the New Directions, but in the album recording Quinn Fabray's part is sung by the character of Kurt Hummel. "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" is performed as antagonist Sue Sylvester, dressed like the Grinch, destroys the glee club's Christmas decorations.
"We Need a Little Christmas" is performed by the glee club carolling at their school, but the song is abruptly cut-off in the episode when they are heckled. "Baby, It's Cold Outside" is performed at a different private school by characters Kurt Hummel and Blaine Anderson; the performance is followed by glee club director Will Schuester visiting the school to ask Kurt's advice. Like "Baby, It's Cold Outside", main character Rachel Berry's song, "Merry Christmas Darling", is also sung without much context, standing on a stage with a Christmas scene behind. "Last Christmas" is a duet between Rachel and her love interest Finn Hudson, and was more strongly integrated into their ongoing relationship plot.
Canadian singer-songwriter k.d. lang makes a featured appearance with Matthew Morrison (Will Schuester) on the track "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch". Guest stars Darren Criss (Blaine Anderson) and Chord Overstreet (Sam Evans) make vocal appearances on "Baby, It's Cold Outside" and "The Most Wonderful Day of the Year", respectively.
The songs, as is typical for Glee, were chosen by Murphy with assistance from music supervisor PJ Bloom. On December 7, 2010, Bloom was interviewed about the process of producing the music. Bloom said that the Glee writers knew they wanted to incorporate the story of the Grinch in the episode, and so including "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" was an obvious song choice. He noted that "sometimes the songs drive the plot concepts", saying that Murphy is a big fan of George Michael, and so chose to have the characters perform "Last Christmas". Similarly, they felt that "Jingle Bells" was the most Christmas-y song, prompting its inclusion. Bloom acknowledged that the album "pukes Christmas", proudly saying that Glee had never tried to be subtle.
The song "O Holy Night", which is included on the album but was not featured in the episode, was later performed in the Glee fourth season episode "Swan Song", again by Lea Michele (Rachel Berry). Michele re-recorded the song in 2019 for her own Christmas album, Christmas in the City. She worked with Glee musical producer Adam Anders on the album, who encouraged her to include the song; Michele was initially hesitant to record it, thinking she was not as good vocally anymore at that point and that it would be hard to replicate a Glee track. However, upon her album's release, she said that she was "even more proud of [her 2019] version than [her Glee version]." Morrison also revisited his song, "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch", in later years, when he played the Grinch in NBC's 2020 Dr. Seuss' The Grinch Musical Live! Christmas special.
Music Anders, Åström, and, on some songs, Nikki Hassman, arranged many of the songs of the album. The traditional song "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" was performed mostly a cappella, and "Angels We Have Heard on High" was given gospel elements, while popular Christmas track "Baby, It's Cold Outside" retained its soft jazz style. The mashup "Deck the Rooftop" was an energetic rearrangement of traditional songs "Deck the Halls" and "Up on the Housetop", with choral ad-libs, while "Last Christmas" is removed from its 1980s stylings and less upbeat. Bill Lamb of About.com felt the hymns "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" and "O Holy Night" were respectful and reverent versions.
On the album release, the song "You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch" is performed with its original lyrics; in the episode, the opening lyric was changed from "Mr. Grinch" to "Sue the Grinch" (referring to character Sue Sylvester). The singers of the song "The Most Wonderful Day of the Year" are also different between episode and album; in the episode, Dianna Agron (Quinn Fabray) has featured vocals, and Chris Colfer (Kurt Hummel) does not,Rejon-Gomez, Alfonso (director). "A Very Glee Christmas". Glee. December 7, 2010. Fox. Brennan, Ian (writer). while on the album, Agron's vocals are absent and Colfer has vocals included. Mark Salling (Puck) also sings on the track in the episode, and while he was named on the song in the album's track listing announcement, he is not credited in the liner notes.
Release The album's track listing was revealed in an exclusive feature by Michael Ausiello for Entertainment Weekly on October 25, 2010; Assignment X noted that "for once, the [Glee album] features more songs than are actually featured on the show." Glee: The Music, The Christmas Album was released digitally in the US and UK on November 9, 2010,US: UK: almost a month ahead of the Christmas episode airing. A Glee Christmas card featuring the cast in ugly Christmas sweaters was released to accompany and promote the album. The album songs were also made available to listen to on the Glee Myspace page before physical copies could be purchased. In the US, the physical album was released on November 16, 2010; in the UK, it was released on November 29, 2010, though the second season of Glee did not begin airing in the UK until 2011. The cast of Glee performed during the semi-final of The X Factor in the UK on December 5, 2010, and promoted the album release there.
Lang's involvement on the album was not publicized, nor was lang referenced in the episode; critics and viewers were uncertain who was singing, both on the album and in the episode, with many believing it to be Jane Lynch (Sue Sylvester), who is in the relevant scene, while others proposed Dot-Marie Jones (Coach Beiste) or Heather Morris (Brittany Pierce), whose characters are also involved in the storyline. Kevin Fallon of The Atlantic said that to use a guest vocalist when there were these three singers in the cast available that would make sense, and then to not advertise the guest, was "downright puzzling". When the episode premiered, lang used the song to announce her forthcoming album Sing It Loud; when Sing It Loud was released in July 2011, lang praised Glee for its gay representation.
The Glee cover of Wham!'s "Last Christmas" featured in the second-season episode and on the album had been previously released on November 24, 2009, as a charity single exclusive to the iTunes Store; part of the proceeds went to the Grammy Foundation to fund school education programs. This single marked the first appearance of the song on the Billboard Hot 100, reaching number sixty-three.
The song "Welcome Christmas", featured in the episode but not on the album, was instead released as a digital download single on December 14, 2010.
Critical reception