Play or Pass: Brandy Drops First Holiday Album ‘Christmas With Brandy’

We’re on the cusp of the holiday season and Brandy has given her fans a nice treat; her first holiday album – Christmas With Brandy. The R&B artist has been doing her thing in the industry since 1994 so it’s hard to imagine now is the first time she’s done a Christmas album. Usually, when I write about an album’s first listen I do a track-for-track breakdown, but this “Play or Pass” is going to be a bit different and I’m going to write about the album as a whole.

Before Christmas With Brandy dropped on Friday, November 10, Brandy released “Christmas Party for Two,” the first single on November 3. It’s a sultry track about spending quality time with a loved one during the holidays and it’s a solid track, but I do have some qualms about the direction of the album.

“Christmas Party for Two” is one of six original tracks on the album and the other half are songs familiar to the holiday season, but with a Brandy twist. Along with the first single, “Christmas Gift” featuring Brandy’s daughter Sy’Rai are my favorite tracks. Brandy has such a unique voice and it made me smile to hear her daughter on a track sounding just like her.

My main issue, well not really an issue, but the off-putting aspect of Christmas With Brandy is that it doesn’t give Christmas. Throwing a few “fa la la’s” on a track doesn’t make a Christmas album. Christmas With Brandy is very much an R&B album with Christmas themes if that makes sense. Even Brandy’s take on the familiar holiday classics are so revamped they don’t sound like Christmas songs. They’re missing that holiday magic, the jingle and twinkle that are often heard in traditional holiday music.

These issues aren’t a bad thing but these are songs I don’t think I’m running to each holiday season. Maybe that’s what Brandy wanted. To create music that can be listened to all year round without feeling like you’re listening to holiday music. In that regard, she accomplished a goal. Her beautiful and raspy voice is the star of the album as it is in anything she does, but I would have rather heard Brandy slaying Christmas songs in the traditional format on this one.

Have you listened to Brandy’s Christmas With Brandy album yet? Which tracks were your favorite? Share your thoughts in the comments.

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Christmas With Brandy (Track List)
1. Feels Different
2. Somebody’s Waiting
3. Christmas Party for Two
4. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
5. Santa Baby
6. Christmas Gift (Featuring Sy’Rai)
7. Shine Out Your Light
8. The Christmas Song
9. Someday at Christmas
10. Jingle Bells
11. Deck The Halls
12. Christmas Everyday