Ahead of the Christmas holiday, Charlie Puth guested on Billboard’s new video podcast On the Record w/ Kristin Robinson to answer one burning question: Why does Christmas music sound so Christmas-y?
Over the last few years, Puth has become the industry’s de facto music teacher. Often calling himself “Professor Puth,” he makes videos on social media to explain various trends and attributes of popular music today. In keeping with his short-form explainers, Puth joined the podcast to talk through the music theory behind hit holiday tunes, including the current Hot 100 number 1 track “All I Want for Christmas Is You” by Mariah Carey.
“There’s a lot of chromaticism in Christmas music,” Puth tells Billboard, demonstrating on a keyboard how holiday songs tend to have similar chord progressions.
Puth also notes that “[Christmas music] is the only ‘genre’ of music where people reach for the really old stuff,” explaining that the 1960s are a common era to reference in contemporary holiday songs, particularly pop, early rock and doo-wop styles. He plays Kelly Clarkson’s “Underneath the Tree,” adding “that [song] came out in 2011, but if you took out the modern production that sounds like ‘Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree’ — that might’ve even been a reference.” He also notes that Carey’s mega-hit “All I Want For Christmas Is You” is another modern hit with ’60s touch points.
Beyond his breakdown of the holiday music sound, Puth shares some of his personal favorites, including Justin Bieber’s Mistletoe, which he remembers listening to when he was in college, and the How the Grinch Stole Christmas Soundtrack (2000). “A subgenre of Christmas music that is severely under appreciated is the R&B [side] of Christmas music,” Puth adds, pointing out that holiday songs by Luther Vandross and Boyz II Men as also architecting some of his favorite seasonal songs.
To watch the full episode of On the Record on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube, click here or watch it below.
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