Capitol Christian Music Group
Release Date: November 2nd 2018
Reviewed by: Joshua Andre
Riley Clemmons– Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas / Silent Night (Single) (Amazon mp3/iTunes)
Track Listing:
- Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
- Silent Night
Bursting on the scene when she was just 18 years old, Riley Clemmons wowed us all with her debut single “Broken Prayers” via Capitol Christian Music Group, and then her self-titled debut album in August. And from these impacting and compelling 12 melodies, there’s absolutely no doubt that Riley has an extremely bright future ahead of her, as she steps into the doors God has opened for her. Relatively new in the CCM industry, I think the first time I, or for that matter anyone, heard her voice on the radio, or internet, or wherever you can hear music these days; was her duet with Social Club Misfits on “Misfit Anthem” early in 2017. Since then, Riley’s music has been a revelation- and you can read my brother’s review of Riley Clemmons here; but now the time has come for brand new music. 2 Christmas singles in “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” and “Silent Night” are now online for our thorough enjoyment. And enjoyment for ourselves it will be, even though Christmas is still 7 weeks or so away!
With both renditions of these well-known carols brilliantly recorded by Riley, it’s worth noting that Riley has modernised and updated them just a bit. Both “Silent Night” and “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” are typically sombre, reflective, and piano only songs- that’s what we’ve been accustomed to hearing every time December rolls around. Not so with these impacting melodies- which don’t deserve any more time of me talking about them other that me pointing to the Youtube audio slides to have a listen to for yourselves- it’s that good, and no words will do these two songs justice! I even reckon that these two renditions are some of the best Christmas renditions I’ve ever heard. It’s new, fresh, revitalising- Riley has done us all proud and deserves to be congratulated.
With Riley Clemmons also having released powerful and impacting music videos for her singles “Broken Prayers”, “Hold On”, “Better For It” and “Broke”; I believe that the only way to go for Riley is up and up. Hopefully Riley Clemmons will be the next name on everyone’s lips in maybe both Christian and mainstream markets very soon…after Lauren Daigle of course! What more can I say? That Riley’s soothing and captivating voice makes me want to listen to Christmas music all year long? Because it does! So check out these tracks pronto! Well done Riley, can’t wait for more and more new music!
Score: 4/5
RIYL: Tori Kelly, Rachel Platten, Britt Nicole, Hollyn, TobyMac, Anthem Lights, Taylor Swift, Cimorelli