Today’s Song: Tom Odell’s Cliché-Free “Spending All My Christmas with You”

Spending All My Christmas with You - Tom Odell
Spending All My Christmas with You - Tom Odell

Searching for the perfect track to make your Christmas playlist that small bit more alternative? Brain dead from listening to Slade and Mariah Carey wailing through the speakers, year in, year out until your ears are bleeding with festivity? Not to fear, as this year English singer-songwriter Tom Odell has come to your rescue with a five-track Christmas EP that is both festive and good.

In seemingly one of the most under-hyped Christmas releases, Odell combines all the great sounds of Christmas: a gospel choir, lively piano, clapping and even a snippet of the classic Jingle Bells tossed into the mix, to create a solid seasonal ballad. Spending All My Christmas With You captures the iconic Odell crooning and flips it entirely upside down into a joyous, uplifting song with the help of a guitar riff that would make even Paul McCartney envious. The track isn’t the crowned king of Christmas music by any means, but it’s interesting, to say the least. And with traditions bogging everyone down, there’s always a market for change.

Listen: “Spending All My Christmas with You” – Tom Odell

[youtube=https://youtu.be/OS2dYuBaeaQ?t=0s]


Listen as Odell takes every single Christmas music cliché to create one very rare cliché-free Christmas song. It’s a risky, untested formula not too dissimilar from the logic behind vaccinations. You must take a part of the disease to kill it. Fight fire with fire. It’s safe to say that Tom Odell has taken the bold move to fight clichés with even more clichés and it kind of worked. Unfortunately, “Spending All My Christmas with You” has yet to triumph over the mind-numbing classics for radio airplay, mostly due to its late release. But hey, there’s always hope for Christmas 2017.

So this year, when you’re raising a glass around the dinner table, be sure to toast to a worthy cause. While peace and prosperity for 2017 will be top of everyone’s list, be sure to add a side note for an alternative Christmas music revolution next season. If Tom Odell’s unorthodox festive release is anything to go by, then we have a lot to look forward to come December 2017. Here’s hoping Odell will pave the way for many other great artists to take a stab at the dreaded Christmas song industry.

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cover: Tom Odell © 2016

Spending All My Christmas with You - Tom Odell
Spending All My Christmas with You – Tom Odell
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