Merry Christmas!

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Halloween is coming soon, but first let’s celebrate Christmas.

Each year, around this time, recording artists assume the dreaded task of spreading joy and mirth through the financially lucrative gift of holiday music. These are the songs and albums they hope will one day join the canon of Christmas classics that mindlessly cascade from department store sound systems, bringing good cheer and holiday publishing royalties.

It’s fine. We’re fine. Christmas must not be stopped—it must be started.

The first premature strains of Christmas music come from the soundtrack for The Star, an animated film about the little known story of baby Jesus. On Friday, Mariah Carey released the twinkling title track “The Star” (listen below), which follows up Fifth Harmony’s “Can You See.” Previously, Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton’s song arrived wrapped in a blessing, in September, three months before Christmas Day.

None of these songs are “good,” per se, but they are “Christmas.” And it’s just the beginning. Nick Jonas has promised to release Christmas music, Sia is dropping a Christmas album titled Everyday Is Christmas, and Fantasia is releasing Christmas After Midnight. Soon there will be nothing in the air but talk of jingle bells, Santa Claus, Rudolph, elves, bows, hollies, mangers, caroling, Carol, chimneys, lights, sleighs, sleigh bells, candy canes, reindeer, Grinches, Scrooges, eggnog, tinsel, fruitcake, frankincense, angels, pine trees, ornaments, nutcrackers and krampus.

Take a break from deciding which costume you’re going to wear for a Halloween that falls on a Tuesday and get into the spirit of Christmas.

 
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