Dan + Shay – It’s Officially Christmas: The Double Album

Warner Music Nashville

Release Date: October 18th 2024

Reviewed by: Joshua Andre

Dan + Shay– It’s Officially Christmas: The Double Album (Amazon mp3/iTunes)

Track Listing:

It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year
Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree
Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town
Let It Snow
The Christmas Song
Winter Wonderland
Jingle Bell Rock
Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
Silent Night
Officially Christmas
Take Me Home For Christmas
Save The Snowman
Holiday Party
The Cozy Song
Pick Out A Christmas Tree
Parson Brown
Christmas Isn’t Christmas
Blame It On Santa
Break Up On Christmas
Happy New Year

In 2023, we reviewed the latest studio album from country duo Dan + Shay. For this site, we’ve reviewed plenty of country albums in the past. Though there’s something about Dan and Shay’s most recent project Bigger Houses that is so easy to listen to, in a good way. Not that it’s better than albums from Alana Springsteen, Ashley Cooke, King Calaway, Brett Young, Dennis Quaid, Ward Thomas, Lauren Alaina, Carrie Underwood, Anne Wilson, Caitlyn Shadbolt, or even Thomas Rhett’s greatest hits album (which we all reviewed around the same time as Dan and Shay!); but Bigger Houses is indeed something different, and that’s always something to champion. Yet some would say that both Dan and Shay are too pop and not ‘country enough’ to be considered a country artist. However even though they are walking the line between pop and country, their lyrics are still earnest, emotive, personal, and honest. Their music still tugs at our souls in different way to the rousing, declaratory and anthemic country albums… so does it matter what they sound like genre-wise in the grand scheme of things? And one listen from this breezy, bubbly, and laid-back project, will undoubtedly persuade you all to agree with me- that these guys are something special and their album is one that does bring a smile to our faces! And though you can all read my review of Bigger Houses here; let’s dive into some original Christmas tunes, shall we, as we approach Christmas 2023 within a couple of months? It’s Officially Christmas: The Double Album released in October this year; so how do these 21 melodies get us into the Christmas spirit, and how to they encourage us or reinvigorate us during the crazy holiday season? And, do the songs speak about Jesus?

Considering that these are country Christmas songs… no, the ‘religious’ aspect here is pretty non-existent, and I suppose we’re not expecting them to be super-preachy and centred on Jesus. But the tracks here are nonetheless full of heart and soul and joy and cheer; it’s hard not to smile and be joyful and cheerful and in the holiday spirit when we hear these songs. With the first ten songs being holiday songs, the usual suspects are here. “It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year”, “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree”, “Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town”, “Let It Snow”, “The Christmas Song”, “Winter Wonderland”, “Jingle Bell Rock”, “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” and “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” are all present. All have been and around Christmas folklore and tradition for a long time- especially probably the most overplayed carol in “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas”. But unlike Home Free who enhances their new Christmas album in every way; Dan and Shay’s offering is… just there. These first 9 songs, while pleasant and nice, aren’t anything special; and sad to say I’ve forgotten the arrangement of the songs and they’re not impacting or punchy enough. “Silent Night” isn’t much better, and is rather dreary and lullaby-ish. And as such, the 10 holiday melodies are such a hard slog… but what about the 11 original melodies?

“Officially Christmas”, a powerful and danceable country/pop melody about the sacredness and specialness of the holiday period spending it with friends and family with all of the quirky Christmas traditions, is a vibrant musical journey that hits you in the heart by the honesty and emotion and the general Christmas-y feel and atmosphere; while “Take Me Home For Christmas” is a sentimental and nostalgic piano led melody about being at home around Christmas time, while also being a romantic song where the persona asks his partner to take him to her childhood home for Christmas so that the relationship can be cemented and taken to another level. “Save The Snowman”, a nonsensical song about asking Santa to save the snowman outside your window as he’s your best friend, is surprisingly very catchy for a pop song; while the laid back ballad “Holiday Party” is thematically similar to the title track, with Dan and Shay longing to be in a ‘holiday party’ with their wives and their immediate family during the holidays. “The Cozy Song” is a song to listen to with your partner near the fire and with some hot chocolate and marshmallows (another ‘northern hemisphere’ Christmas song!); however “Pick Out A Christmas Tree” though is pretty basic and seems pretty uninspiring, especially when the song is just about picking out a tree for the holidays and… that’s about it.

“Parson Brown” is a ‘spinoff’ song from the holiday classic “Winter Wonderland”, as Dan and Shay outline that the persona wants to get married but needs the legendary and iconic ‘Parson Brown’ to officiate the service during Christmas time, as mentioned in “Winter Wonderland”, and is one of the few true highlights of this eccentric and jovial track list, while the melancholy “Christmas Isn’t Christmas” is a piano ballad that speaks about the persona not feeling like Christmas is Christmas if he’s not with his partner around the holidays, literally and figuratively. “Blame It On Santa” is a fun, tongue in cheek, story song about the persona blaming his disorganised house and the party he threw the night before on Santa and his reindeer; while “Break Up On Christmas” speaks about how some couples break up on Christmas Day, which ruins the holiday and the sentiment for both people and probably their immediate and extended families. However it is the emotional, honest and heartfelt ballad “Happy New Year” that to me is head and shoulders above the rest- as Dan and Shay deliver probably my favourite song of 2024, providing us hope and reassurance that 2025 will be a great year. And as they sing out ‘…here’s to the lessons we learn as we go, the beauty that comes from the broken, so raise up a glass and join me in a toast to living with hearts wide open…happy New Year everyone, may it be filled with peace and love, we’ll say goodbye to the old and hello to the new, I’m just so grateful for you, happy New Year, happy New Year, may it be filled up with good health and cheer, may it be blessed, all of the best, and may we all have a happy new year…’; I can’t help but be proud of these guys for delivering in spades a moment of encouragement and inspiration for not just me but for all who listen!

The other year I mentioned that lyric-wise Bigger Houses is a reinvention of Dan & Shay. They’re singing about the more important things in life and for that, I can’t be more pleased at this effort. There’s this sense of moving forward on this album and it seems that this project actually had them actively trying to switch things up. But I also mentioned a few things that frustrated me (inclusive of each song’s run-time and the melodies of a number of the tracks being too similar); and this thread extends to these Christmas songs. Most of the 21 songs on this double album (especially disc one which is the carols!) are just there and they’re not like “Behold” from Phil Wickham and his superb Christmas album. But here we are still. These Christmas songs aren’t perfect by any means. There’s still work to be done. But as these melodies get us into the Christmas spirit, and thus let it pass a bit. That’s all you can really ask for though- when thinking about ‘secular’ Christmas songs that need to reach and touch people with a myriad of beliefs and world views. And so, let us say well done Dan and Shay for these 21 Christmas songs (in particular “Happy New Year”!), so how about a live album or a remix album next?