Dreamcatcher Artists
Release Date: November 5th 2021
Reviewed by: Jonathan Andre
Tenille Arts– A Winter Wonderland (Single) (Amazon mp3/iTunes)
Track Listing:
- A Winter Wonderland
Tenille Arts has been in and around the music industry for quite some time. Now being an artist that I’ve become excited to listen to and enjoy (since Jon reviewed both of Tenille’s albums Love, Heartbreak & Everything In Between, and her 3rd album Girl to Girl), Tenille’s music, in my opinion, is quite similar thematically and musically, to her country music contemporaries- artists like Lauren Alaina, Kelsea Ballerini, Maddie & Tae, Tenille Townes, Lindsay Ell, Mickey Guyton, Carly Pearce, Runaway June & Hailey Whitters, to name a few. While her 2nd album was a concept album about love, heartbreak, and everything else; her 3rd album Girl to Girl saw Tenille change focus. Instead of singing songs about love, life, and heartbreak, she started to sing about other themes- body acceptance and connecting to different places wherever you go in life, to the unpredictability of life itself, and the longing for the simplicities of yesteryear to come invade the complexities of now.
In a nutshell, Girl to Girl is an ‘advice’ album, and I find myself relating to a few songs myself, even though the title of the album is called Girl to Girl. The album reminds us, that influence, impact, advice, and encouragement can come from all facets of music, genres, and people, and while I won’t necessarily be the initial target audience by Tenille and her music, doesn’t mean that I don’t enjoy her music. Fastforward to 2023, and upon the heels of her 3 successful albums, and a few singles (“Tears”, “TERRITORY”, “Jealous Of Myself”, “Summer Don’t Go”, “Mama’s Eyes”, “Last Time Last” and “Motel On The Moon”- the final 4 singles I’ve mentioned will be reviewed soon!), Tenillle is back at it again- with her 1 year old original Christmas song “A Winter Wonderland” (or 2 year old, depending on how you see the ‘correct’ release date!).
The melody is incredibly stirring and engaging, and though it’s a melancholy ballad where the persona longs to be with her ex around the holidays because she’s lonely; Tenille dives in deeper and relays that she doesn’t love the guy anymore, but is rather still connected to the process and feeling of being in a relationship. It’s the security of the relationship that is missed and not that actual person; and this reminds us that break ups take times, and it’s ok to grieve during the holidays as long as you have friends and family around you to keep you grounded. With Tenille fast becoming one of the most underrated musicians within not just country music, but music, full stop; this is a must-listen song, if you enjoy country music or Christmas music or ballads or any combination of the three. Well done Tenille Arts, for such a powerful and emotive song. The fact that it’s a holiday song is a bonus. Maybe album #4 is in the works in the near future? I hope so. Looking forward to however this song is used to challenge people in their own relationships and how they view Christmas, and the weeks and months progress.
Score: 5/5
RIYL: Carly Pearce, Lainey Wilson, Gabby Barrett, Lindsay Ell, Lady A