The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection
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''The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection'' is the first
extended play An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...
and Christmas record by the American singer-songwriter
Taylor Swift Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Known for her autobiographical songwriting, artistic versatility, and Cultural impact of Taylor Swift, cultural impact, Swift is one of the Best selling artists, w ...
. It was released as a
Target Target may refer to: Warfare and shooting * Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports ** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports ** Aiming point, in field artille ...
exclusive on October 14, 2007, and released to other retailers on December 2, 2008, then was re-released to Target on October 6, 2009, by
Big Machine Records Big Machine Records is an American record label, distributed by Universal Music Group. Big Machine is based on Music Row in Nashville, Tennessee. The label was founded in September 2005 by former DreamWorks Records executive Scott Borchetta and ...
. ''The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection'' consists of six tracks—four are
cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...
s of Christmas classics ("
Last Christmas "Last Christmas" is a song by British pop duo Wham!. Written and produced by George Michael, it was released on 3 December 1984 via CBS Records internationally and as a double A-side via Epic Records with " Everything She Wants" in several Eur ...
", "
Santa Baby "Santa Baby" is a song performed by American singer Eartha Kitt with Henri René and His Orchestra and originally released in 1953. The song was written by Joan Javits and Philip Springer, who also used the pseudonym Tony Springer in an attemp ...
", "
Silent Night "Silent Night" () is a popular Christmas carol, composed in 1818 by Franz Xaver Gruber to lyrics by Joseph Mohr in Oberndorf bei Salzburg, Austria. It was declared an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO The United Nations Educati ...
", and " White Christmas") and two are original tracks written by Swift ("Christmases When You Were Mine" and "Christmas Must Be Something More"). Produced by Nathan Chapman, the EP has a
country pop Country pop (also known as urban cowboy or even urban country) is a fusion genre of country music and pop music that was developed by members of the country genre out of a desire to reach a larger, mainstream audience. Country pop music blends g ...
sound using instruments such as
fiddles A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin or a bass. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially syn ...
and pedal steels. Songs from the EP received airplay on US
country radio Country radio refers to radio stations that play country music. Most country radio stations are commercial radio stations. Most country radio stations usually play only music which has been officially released to country radio by record labels. T ...
, with "Last Christmas" becoming the best-charting track, reaching number 28 on
Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data along with digital sales and streaming. ...
. Music critics thought the EP was fine but praise was reserved. Some critics praised Swift's self-written material and wished the EP had been longer, but others disliked the country-pop makeover of the Christmas classics. ''The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection'' peaked at number 20 on the US ''Billboard'' 200 and at number one on
Top Holiday Albums Billboard (magazine), ''Billboard'' magazine only Record chart, charted Christmas Single (music), singles and albums along with the other popular non-holiday Phonograph record, records until the 1958 Christmas and holiday season, holiday season w ...
. It was certified platinum by the
Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...
and has sold over one million copies in the United States.


Background and release

The EP was originally titled ''Sounds of the Season: The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection''. For the release, Swift and
Big Machine Records Big Machine Records is an American record label, distributed by Universal Music Group. Big Machine is based on Music Row in Nashville, Tennessee. The label was founded in September 2005 by former DreamWorks Records executive Scott Borchetta and ...
partnered with
Target Target may refer to: Warfare and shooting * Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports ** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports ** Aiming point, in field artille ...
, who exclusively distributed the EP in the United States. It was commercially released via Target on October 14, 2007. ''The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection'''s cover art is taken from Swift's
music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...
for "
Teardrops on My Guitar "Teardrops on My Guitar" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, originally released as part of her debut studio album, Taylor Swift (album), ''Taylor Swift'' (2006). Big Machine Records released the song to country radio on Fe ...
" (2007). The EP was released to other retailers, including the iTunes Store and
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, on December 2, 2008. On October 6, 2009, the EP was re-released by Target and made available as a digital download on the iTunes Store and
Amazon.com Amazon.com, Inc., doing business as Amazon, is an American multinational technology company engaged in e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. Founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos in Bellevu ...
, both making minor adjustments to its cover art and removing ''Sounds of the Season:'' from the title, leaving it as simply ''The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection''.


Composition

''The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection'' is
holiday music A holiday is a day or other period of time set aside for festivals or recreation. '' Public holidays'' are set by public authorities and vary by state or region. Religious holidays are set by religious organisations for their members and are of ...
with a
country pop Country pop (also known as urban cowboy or even urban country) is a fusion genre of country music and pop music that was developed by members of the country genre out of a desire to reach a larger, mainstream audience. Country pop music blends g ...
inclination. The EP is mainly composed of
cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...
s of holiday hits and
Christmas carols Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A liturgical feast central to Christianity, Chri ...
. The EP's opening track is a cover version of "
Last Christmas "Last Christmas" is a song by British pop duo Wham!. Written and produced by George Michael, it was released on 3 December 1984 via CBS Records internationally and as a double A-side via Epic Records with " Everything She Wants" in several Eur ...
" (1986) by the English pop duo
Wham! Wham! were an English pop duo formed in Bushey in 1981 consisting of George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley. They were one of the most successful pop acts during the 1980s, selling more than 30 million certified records worldwide from 1982 to ...
The original song "Christmases When You Were Mine" was written by Swift,
Liz Rose Elisabeth Wagner (born September 6, 1957), known professionally as Liz Rose, is an American country music songwriter, best known for her work with Taylor Swift. She has co-written 17 of Swift's officially released songs, including " You Belong wi ...
, and Nathan Chapman. Lyrically, the track fixates on prior Christmases, in which the song's protagonist was happier. The lyrics also express that the current Christmas is much harder to cheer for than previous ones. It is the only song to date that Swift has ever recorded in which Chapman is credited as a co-writer. In all of their other collaborations, Chapman is only credited as a producer, while Swift and sometimes other songwriters are credited. Swift covered "
Santa Baby "Santa Baby" is a song performed by American singer Eartha Kitt with Henri René and His Orchestra and originally released in 1953. The song was written by Joan Javits and Philip Springer, who also used the pseudonym Tony Springer in an attemp ...
", a 1953 song originally performed by
Eartha Kitt Eartha Mae Kitt (née Keith; January 17, 1927 – December 25, 2008) was an American singer and actress. She was known for her highly distinctive singing style and her 1953 recordings of "C'est si bon" and the Christmas novelty song "Santa Baby" ...
. "
Silent Night "Silent Night" () is a popular Christmas carol, composed in 1818 by Franz Xaver Gruber to lyrics by Joseph Mohr in Oberndorf bei Salzburg, Austria. It was declared an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO The United Nations Educati ...
" is a Christmas carol cover that is musically performed differently, replacing the
instrumentation Instrumentation is a collective term for measuring instruments, used for indicating, measuring, and recording physical quantities. It is also a field of study about the art and science about making measurement instruments, involving the related ...
from
piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...
to
acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked, its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...
; Swift's vocals are also faster than traditionally recorded for the song. "Christmas Must Be Something More" is the second original song from ''The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection'', self-penned by Swift. The lyrics attempt for audiences to recognize the reason for the celebration of Christmas, the commemoration of
Jesus Christ Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...
's birth. The closing track is a rendition of
Irving Berlin Irving Berlin (born Israel Isidore Beilin; May 11, 1888 – September 22, 1989) was a Russian-born American composer and songwriter. His music forms a large part of the Great American Songbook. Berlin received numerous honors including an Acade ...
's " White Christmas", which was popularized by
Bing Crosby Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, comedian, entertainer and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwi ...
on his 1942 album of the same name.


Promotion

On November 27, 2007, Swift promoted ''The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection'' through an autograph-signing event held at
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...
's Experience Store in New York. The following day, she performed "Silent Night" on a rhinestoned acoustic guitar for ''Today'' at the
Rockefeller Center Rockefeller Center is a complex of 19 commerce, commercial buildings covering between 48th Street (Manhattan), 48th Street and 51st Street (Manhattan), 51st Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. The 14 original Art De ...
; she dressed in a long black dress and a white winter coat. She then performed "Christmases When You Were Mine" on November 29, 2007, in
St. Charles, Missouri Saint Charles (commonly abbreviated St. Charles) is a city in, and the county seat of, St. Charles County, Missouri, United States. The population was 70,493 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making St. Charles the List of cities in ...
, at the
Family Arena The Family Arena is a multi-purpose arena in St. Charles, Missouri, built in 1999. Currently it is home to the St. Louis Ambush of the Major Arena Soccer League. Background The arena seats 9,643 for hockey, 9,755 for football, 10,467 for ...
, as part of her set for WIL's Jinglefest 2007, and "Santa Baby" in
Bloomington, Minnesota Bloomington is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States. It is located on the north bank of the Minnesota River above its confluence with the Mississippi River, south of downtown Minneapolis and just south of the Interstate 494/Inter ...
, at the
Mall of America Mall of America (MoA) is a large shopping mall located in Bloomington, Minnesota. Located within the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area, the mall lies southeast of the junction of Interstate 494 and Minnesota State Highway 77, north ...
on December 8, 2007. Swift appeared on ''Today'' again on Christmas Day of 2007, performing "Christmases When You Were Mine" and "Silent Night". Songs from the EP received airplay on US
country radio Country radio refers to radio stations that play country music. Most country radio stations are commercial radio stations. Most country radio stations usually play only music which has been officially released to country radio by record labels. T ...
starting from the week of December 10, 2007, with "Last Christmas" being the week's most-added Christmas song. Two songs, "Santa Baby" and "Christmases When You Were Mine", were among the top 100 most-played country-music holiday songs of 2007 in the United States. For the holiday season of 2008, all EP songs again aired on US country radio stations beginning from the week of November 24, 2008, with "Last Christmas" being among the 10 most-played holiday songs on country radio of the season. All EP tracks except "Christmas Must Be Something More" charted on ''Billboard'''s airplay chart
Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data along with digital sales and streaming. ...
: "Last Christmas" peaked at number 28, Christmases When You Were Mine" at number 48, "Santa Baby" at number 43, "Silent Night" at number 54, and "White Christmas" at number 59. "Last Christmas" and "Santa Baby" also charted on
Holiday 100 ''Billboard'' magazine only charted Christmas singles and albums along with the other popular non-holiday records until the 1958 holiday season when they published their first section that surveys only Christmas music. An increase of Christm ...
, peaking at numbers 18 and 89, respectively. On the all-time Holiday 100 chart published by ''Billboard'' in 2016, Swift's "Last Christmas" ranked at number 56.


Critical reception

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and former senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of multiple artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance ...
of
AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
rated the album three stars and said its songs were "all crisp, cheerful arrangements that are suitably seasonal but also faithful to her bright country-pop." Craig Shelburne of CMT said, "Thanks to this teen star, a new generation of sensitive girls may discover the melancholy but oh-so-melodic 'Last Christmas'. She also includes two original holiday songs." Dan Maclntosh of ''
Country Standard Time ''Country Standard Time'' is a website dedicated to country music and related genres including Americana, bluegrass and rockabilly. It provides news and musical reviews pertaining to the genre. It was established in 1993 by Jeffrey B. Remz as ...
'' concluded, "Swift is a fine singer, who finds ways to inject sincere emotion into every line she sings. They say the best things come in small packages. And that saying holds true for Swift's new one." In the ''
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review The ''Pittsburgh Tribune-Review'', also known as "the Trib", is the second-largest daily newspaper serving the Greater Pittsburgh metropolitan area of Western Pennsylvania. It transitioned to an all-digital format on December 1, 2016, but rema ...
'', Kellie B. Gormly commented that the EP was "sweet" and highlighted the "deeply spiritual" track "Christmas Must Be Something More" as a standout. David Yonke in ''The Blade'' said that he wished the EP had been longer, and selected two tracks as highlights: "Christmases When You Were Mine" ("a mature, wistful ballad") and "Santa Baby" ("a sassy wink-and-a-nod"). A review in the ''
Deseret News The ''Deseret News'' () is a multi-platform newspaper based in Salt Lake City, published by Deseret News Publishing Company, a subsidiary of Deseret Management Corporation, which is owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS ...
'' by Scott Iwasaki complimented Swift's self-penned songs and said the EP overall was fine, with the exception of "Silent Night", which he found heavy on the arrangement. Jonathan Takiff from the ''
Philadelphia Daily News ''Philadelphia Daily News'' is a tabloid newspaper that serves Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper is owned by The Philadelphia Inquirer, LLC, which also owns ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'', a daily newspaper in Philadelphia. The ''Dail ...
'' disapproved of the "fiddle and pedal steel-flavoring" makeover of the Christmas classics, but praised Swift's original tracks with "the high gloss". ''
The Florida Times-Union ''The Florida Times-Union'' is a daily newspaper in Jacksonville, Florida, United States. Widely known as the oldest newspaper in the state, it began publication as the ''Florida Union'' in 1864. Its current incarnation started in 1883, when t ...
'''s Roger Bull was less complimentary, saying that the EP is not bad but questioning whether anyone other than teenage girls would buy it. ''Billboard'' ranked the album as the 18th-best Christmas album of the twenty-first century.


Commercial performance

On the week ending December 8, 2007, ''The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection'' debuted at number 88 on the ''Billboard'' 200. It debuted at number 18 on the
Top Country Albums Top Country Albums is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The 50-position chart lists the most popular country music albums in the country, calculated weekly by Broadcast Data Systems based on physical sales ...
chart, selling 15,000 copies first-week. The following week, the EP rose to a new peak at number 46 on the ''Billboard'' 200. Following its 2009 re-release, ''The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection'' re-entered the ''Billboard'' 200 at number 20, its peak, and extended its run on the chart to 24 weeks. For the 2007 holiday season, the EP peaked at number 18 on Top Country Albums and at number 22 on
Top Holiday Albums Billboard (magazine), ''Billboard'' magazine only Record chart, charted Christmas Single (music), singles and albums along with the other popular non-holiday Phonograph record, records until the 1958 Christmas and holiday season, holiday season w ...
, and for the 2009 holiday season, it peaked at number 14 on both Top Country Albums and Top Holiday Albums. For the 2010 holiday season, ''The Taylor Holiday Collection'' re-entered the Top Holiday Albums Chart at number one. As of July 2019, the EP had sold 1.08 million copies in the United States.


Track listing

All tracks are produced by Nathan Chapman.


Personnel

Credits are adapted from the EP's
liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or cassette j-cards. Origin Liner notes are descended from the prog ...
. *
Taylor Swift Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Known for her autobiographical songwriting, artistic versatility, and Cultural impact of Taylor Swift, cultural impact, Swift is one of the Best selling artists, w ...
– lead vocals; arrangements for "Silent Night" *Heidi Beall –
background vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are u ...
* Nick Buda
drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...
* Nathan Chapmanproducer,
bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...
,
acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked, its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...
,
electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...
, background vocals, mixing *
Eric Darken Eric A. Darken is an American percussionist, composer, and programmer. Biography Drawing inspiration from his grandfather, a band leader. Darken began playing drums at age 12, and played timpani and mallets in high school. Darken attended ...
percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...
*Rob Hajacos –
fiddle A fiddle is a Bow (music), bowed String instrument, string musical instrument, most often a violin or a bass. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including European classical music, classical music. Althou ...
*Andy Leftwich –
mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...
*Tim Marks –
bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...
*Scotty Sanders –
Dobro Dobro () is an American brand of resonator guitars owned by Gibson and manufactured by its subsidiary Epiphone. The term "dobro" is also used as a generic term for any wood-bodied, single-cone resonator guitar. The Dobro was originally a gui ...
*Shelli Hill –
executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the production of media. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights or royalties). In film ...
*Sue Peterson – executive producer *Melinda Norris Photography – photographer *Kyle Ford – assistant engineer *Sandi Spika Borchetta – dress design, hair *Chad Carlson –
recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, re ...
*Mathieu Bitton – art direction, design *Phil Schullo – additional engineering *Whitney Sutton – production copy *Lorri Turk –
make-up Cosmetics are substances that are intended for application to the body for cleansing, beautifying, promoting attractiveness, or altering appearance. They are mixtures of chemical compounds derived from either natural sources or created syn ...
*Stacey Ward – project manager *Hank Williams – mastering


Charts


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


All-time chart


Certifications


Note


See also

* List of ''Billboard'' number-one holiday albums of the 2010s


References


Source

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor Swift Holiday Collection, The 2007 Christmas albums 2007 debut EPs Taylor Swift EPs Albums produced by Nathan Chapman (record producer) Big Machine Records EPs Christmas albums by American artists Pop Christmas albums Country Christmas albums Christmas EPs Country pop albums Country albums by American artists