RCA Records
Release Date: November 1st 2024
Reviewed by: Joshua Andre
Pentatonix– Meet Me Next Christmas (Single) (Amazon mp3/iTunes)
Track Listing:
- Meet Me Next Christmas
Acapella has probably been, most likely is, and definitely will be, one of the most skilful and equally impressive crafts to master- in the music industry. What I believe is that with determination and with effort and with time; anyone can play the piano, guitar, or drums. And anyone can sing, with the right tutelage and determination. I reckon these talents can be taught and learnt. But acapella- making instrumental noises with your mouth and have it sound good, sound professional, sound album worthy… well that’s another level of brilliance in and of itself. As a site, there haven’t been that many acapella artists that have captured our attention and impressed us greatly. Apart from Peter Hollens (whom we blogged about here), Home Free, and Pentatonix (who we blogged about here), I’d say that acapella genre of artists who are popular, respected and are either influential or becoming influential is rather bare. But for me, it only takes one artist or a couple of artists for me to fully enjoy and appreciate a genre. And for the specific genre of acapella, I have thoroughly enjoyed the discographies of Peter Hollens, Home Free, and Pentatonix. There’s something about music that is different that captures your attention and imagination; and can make you feel emotions beyond your capabilities and comprehension. And that is what these artists have invoked in me over the years. But while Peter hasn’t released a full-length album since Legendary Covers Vol. 2: Inspire in October 2020, and Home Free just released their brand new Christmas album; Pentatonix have been chugging along and have benefited the genre of acapella music through their latest studio all-original album The Lucky Ones. Released in February 2021 (as a standard edition and as a deluxe edition), we reviewed the album here and here, and greatly praised the ingenuity, creativity, heart and soul. I think we even gave it an almost perfect score.
Anyway, here we are in December 2024, around about 3 years later. The world is at long last opening up more, even though there are rumours of another Covid wave happening soon. It’s the holiday season, people should be happy, we all should be in the Christmas spirit, putting up our tree, listening to carols and celebrating Jesus’ birth. Yet people are nonetheless crying out for help, for hope, for inspiration, for comfort and for reassurance. Pentatonix and their latest album- the Greatest Christmas Hits, is a release that I’m positive will put a smile on your faces! Yes, indeed, these guys released a brand-new Christmas album in 2023 (can it really be anything else?). Pentatonix (comprising of Scott, Mitch, Kirstin, Matt and Kevin), at this stage, are the reigning champions of powerful, emotive, vulnerable and honest Christmas albums (with these guys having already recorded 6 full length Christmas albums prior to this one- Holidays Around The World, Evergreen, We Need A Little Christmas, Christmas Is Here!, A Pentatonix Christmas, and That’s Christmas To Me); and when you listen to these albums, and read our reviews of Pentatonix Christmas albums here, here, here and here, and read Jon’s blog about them as well; well then I guess you will all understand and grasp the power and inspiration we all can feel, just from listening to a Christmas song from the kings and queens of acapella!
Since their inception as a group, Pentatonix have created many, many Christmas albums (a total of 6 Christmas albums, 1 Christmas EP and 1 greatest hits Christmas album), and one more may sound quite overkill. Yet as I’ve mentioned in my review of the project last year, and contrary to what we all might think, or groan to ourselves, or complain out loud to our friends and family; The Greatest Christmas Hits, as a package and as a collection of holiday songs, is bound to bring a smile to your faces, and have cleverly and skilfully recorded original Christmas songs, traditional holiday songs, and other obscure melodies, to create a positive, optimistic, cheerful and joyous holiday themed album that should be one of the first Christmas albums that we all should dive deep into this year and next year and the year after. And of course… these guys also include some songs that aren’t Christmas songs anyway, but they Christmas-fy them anyway and guess what? They all turn out pretty awesome, I reckon!
But… you did not come here to read about Pentatonix’s greatest hits’ album which we reviewed already! These guys have now since unveiled a new Christmas song this year. “Meet Me Next Christmas” dropped in November and is inspired by the Netflix movie of the same name, where the main character meets a guy one Christmas, then plans to meet him next Christmas at a Pentatonix concert if she’s still single, and the film centres around her trying to buy last minute tickets to a concert in order to find the love of her life. As usual, as it is a Netflix Christmas movie, nothing goes to plan, and there is a love triangle; but despite the cheesiness, Pentatonix are still able to bring the fun and to being the holiday spirit in this original, inspirational and hopeful melody about trying to meet with your loved ones, significant other and friends during the Christmas and holiday period.
So there you have it. Yes, this year is the year that Pentatonix haven’t released a Christmas album of some sort at all. Never mind that Pentatonix have recorded 6 previous Christmas albums… this surprise Christmas single proves that there’s more for these guys to mine within the confines of the Christmas genre. This release is captivating and powerful as the quintet delve into the Christmas season with professionalism, heart, joyfulness and a sense of reflection that I have not heard for a while. The Christmas story is timeless, and though this song isn’t about Jesus at all, there’s still evidence throughout Pentatonix’s discography and their worshipful covers (namely “Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)” that God is working all the time- we just need to sometimes sit up and take more notice. Pentatonix in the past have not overtly screamed out the immutable truth of Jesus from the rooftops; but the truth is in fact still on display in some of their songs- of Jesus being born into the world as fully man and fully God, and born to save us all from ourselves. What greater truth do we need this Christmas? So let us sit back and marvel at the wonder of how great Pentatonix is as a group… but more than that let us pray that God continues to work in us and changes us from the inside out. What better way to do that than against the backdrop of one of the most powerful and exquisite Christmas singles of the year, regardless if it is about Jesus or not? Well done, Pentatonix; Kirstin, Matt, Mitch, Scott and Kevin should be proud of themselves, and I cannot wait for the next all new original studio album, whenever that may be!
Score: 4.5/5
RIYL: Little Mix, Tauren Wells, Peter Hollens, Hollyn, Carly Rae Jepsen