Charlie Puth reveals why Christmas music feels timeless and breaks down the elements that define a holiday hit — on Billboard's On the Record podcast.
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.Weezer Bassist’s Former Wife, Jillian Lauren-Shriner, Speaks Out About LAPD Shooting: ‘Doing the Best I Knew to Protect My Family’, demonstrating on a keyboard how holiday songs tend to have similar chord progressions. Puth also notes that “ 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, early rock and doo-wop styles. He plays Kelly Clarkson’s “Underneath the Tree,” adding “that 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.. “A subgenre of Christmas music that is severely under appreciated is the R&B 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.‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Spends Another Month at No. 1 on Top Movie Songs Chart for NovemberTaylor Swift’s ‘The Life of a Showgirl’ Hits Double-Digit Weeks at No. 1 on Billboard 200. We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. // This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google
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