With today marking the official start to the holiday shopping season (though more stores were open on Thanksgiving Day than ever before), it’s time to kick off the 2010 edition of O Christmas Free, in which I feature festive tunes (often new) available for free download on the Interweb.
There’s no predicting how many holiday offerings will merit a mention here, or how many you’ll personally want to add to your merry mixtape, but the series has become an annual Popservations tradition borne from my love of the season and Christmas music in particular. Plus, getting something for free really is the best kind of deal this time of year.
The first occupant to climb aboard the “O Chrismas Free” sleigh is Jessica Simpson, who released Happy Christmas through Ellen DeGeneres’ record label, eleveneleven, on Monday. It’s the recently engaged singer’s second holiday set, following 2004’s Rejoyce: The Christmas Album, which not only sported a bold misspelling, but also a duet with then-husband, Nick Lachey (also recently engaged). Happy Christmas, however, features neither. (That may be what makes it happy.)
Simpson has been promoting the heck out of Happy Christmas, appearing on The Early Show, Live with Regis and Kelly, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, and Access Hollywood in the past few days. Yesterday morning, Simpson floated down 7th Avenue during the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, lip-synching alongside the likes of Kanye West, Kylie Minogue, and Betty Buckley, and planned to bookend that live appearance with a taped PBS special in the evening. That was delayed for reasons unknown (you can watch it on her website), but Simpson returns to NBC on Tuesday, performing during the tree-lighting ceremony at Rockefeller Center.
“My Only Wish” is the first single from Happy Christmas, as well as the album’s lead track. The song is one of two originals found on the set, both of which Simpson co-wrote with Christopher “Tricky” Stewart. With a similar pining-for-a-loved-one theme plus some Phil Spector-lite instrumentation, “My Only Wish” would seem to want to be Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You,” a true modern holiday classic. But why take offense when Britney Spears’ 2000 holiday tune, “My Only Wish (This Year),” aimed for the very same? ‘Tis the season to share the wealth, people.
Plus, iTunes made “My Only Wish” its free Single of the Week, so Simpson isn’t exactly ripping us off with her pleasant-enough Christmas pop. Plus, I can totally imagine Simpson’s chipper voice powering me through a pile of unwrapped gifts. Those presents aren’t gonna make themselves pretty just sitting there, even if that’s my only wish (this and every year):
Free download of Jessica Simpson – “My Only Wish” via iTunes.
