This Christmas: Winter Is Coming is the first winter extended play and the third overall by South Korean singer Taeyeon. The extended play is marketed as a special Christmas album release. It was released by SM Entertainment on December 12, 2017.
Release and promotion This Christmas: Winter Is Coming and the music video for "This Christmas" were released on December 12, 2017. To promote the album, Taeyeon held a three-night concert titled "The Magic of Christmas Time" on December 22, 23 and 24, 2017 at Kyunghee University, Seoul.
Composition The EP consists of eight tracks, of which a variety of genres and the Christmas atmosphere is expressed through Taeyeon's powerful voice. The opening track "The Magic of Christmas Time" is a sweet English pop ballad song reminiscent of a beautiful animation set in a pure white snowy winter. The title track "This Christmas" is an authentic ballad song featuring a magnificent orchestral sound and the delicate and explosive singing ability of 'Taeyeon' and an instrumental version is also included. While "Let It Snow" is a swing genre song that provides bright energy with colorful guitar performances and brass, string sounds, and you can feel the excitement of Christmas. In addition, "Candy Cane" is a retro pop R&B song that creates a year-end festival atmosphere with jingle bells and rich wind instruments creates an even more joyous mood. "Shhhh" takes inspiration from jazz and blues that was written by poet Won Tae-yeon, who draws attention with its sexy, cute and fun lyrics about a girl looking for a gift hidden by Santa Claus. It contains an emotional pop ballad song "Christmas without You", a sentimental pop ballad song that contains a sad feeling of longing for a lover while looking at the happy scenery of Christmas. The closing track of this winter album is "I'm all ears", which Tamar Herman from Billboard described the track as "swaying", "sentimental pop-rock tune" that her vocal offering herself up as a shoulder to lean on. "I'm all ears" was also released as the EP's second and final single a month after the EP was released.
Reception This Christmas: Winter Is Coming debuted at number 2 on the South Korean Gaon Album Chart, and at number 6 on the Billboard World Albums Chart. "This Christmas" debuted at number 2 on the South Korean Gaon Digital Chart.
Critical reception
This Christmas: Winter Is Coming received generally positive reviews from media outlets. Hong Dam-young from The Korea Herald considered the album's musical styles as "not like Mariah Carey's classic "All I Want for Christmas Is You". Instead of jingle bell sounds and flamboyant upbeat synths, the eight-track album is drenched in the singer’s calm and undeniable vocal prowess, an instrument on its own". While Idology's editor-in-chief Mimyo praised Taeyeon for creating new Christmas songs, "this album creates a 'new song' by taking the microscopic elements of the Western Christmas season song tradition (beyond 'salt shaker', jazz, etc.) in detail and combining them elegantly".
Awards and nominations + Awards and nominations for This Christmas: Winter Is Coming Year Award Category Result 2019 Golden Disc Awards Disc Bonsang
Track listing
Credits and personnel Credits adapted from the EP's liner notes.
Studio SM LVYIN Studio – recording SM Big Shot Studio – recording , digital editing MonoTree Studio – recording , Pro Tools operating , digital editing Seoul Studio – recording SM Yellow Tail Studio – recording , mixing Doobdoob Studio – digital editing SM Blue Ocean Studio – mixing SM Concert Hall Studio – mixing SM Blue Cup Studio – mixing 821 Sound – mastering
Personnel
SM Entertainment – executive producer Lee Soo-man – producer Taeyeon – vocals , background vocals Krysta Youngs – lyrics, composition Robin Ghosh – lyrics, composition Yan Perchuk – producer, composition, arrangement Ruslan Sirota – producer, composition, arrangement Myah Marie Langston – composition Score (13) Lee Kwan – producer, lyrics, composition, arrangement, piano , vocal directing Megatone (13) Kim Byung-seok – producer, lyrics, composition, arrangement , vocal directing , bass Shin Agnes (MonoTree) – lyrics, background vocals Simon Petrén – producer, composition, arrangement, piano, brass arrangement Choo Dae-kwan DK Choo (MonoTree) – producer, composition, arrangement, vocal directing, strings conducting, strings arrangement, brass arrangement, recording, Pro Tools operating, digital editing Hwang Hyun (MonoTree) – lyrics, vocal directing, Pro Tools operating Matthew Tishler – producer, composition, arrangement Philip Bentley – composition Aimee Proal – composition Jo Yoon-kyung – lyrics Daniel "Obi" Klein – producer, composition, arrangement Charli Taft – composition Andreas Öberg – composition Won Tae-yeon – lyrics Jung Jae-ha – lyrics Christopher Wortley – producer, composition, arrangement Mahan Moin – composition, background vocals Greig Watts (DWB Music) – producer, composition, arrangement Paul Drew (DWB Music) – producer, composition, arrangement Pete Barringer (DWB Music) – producer, composition, arrangement Lee Joo-hyung (MonoTree) – producer, lyrics, composition, arrangement, keyboards, recording , vocal directing, Pro Tools operating , digital editing Astrid Holiday – composition G-High (MonoTree) – vocal directing, Pro Tools operating Felicia Barton – background vocals Jukjae – guitar Kim Eun-seok – drums Yung – strings With Strings – strings Park Oh-dal – strings conducting, strings arrangement Lee Ji-hong – recording Lee Min-kyu – recording , digital editing Jeong Ki-hong – recording Choi Da-in – recording Ji Yong-joo – recording Koo Jong-pil – recording , mixing Jang Woo-young – digital editing Kim Cheol-sun – mixing Nam Koong-jin – mixing Jung Eui-seok – mixing Kwon Nam-woo – mastering
Charts
Weekly Chart (2017) Peakposition South Korean Albums (Gaon) 2 US World Albums (Billboard) 6
Monthly charts Chart (2017) Position South Korean Albums (Gaon) 4
Year-end charts Chart (2017) Position South Korean Albums (Gaon) 52
Release history Region Date Format Label South Korea December 12, 2017 SM Entertainment Various Digital download, streaming
References