Bop Shop Holiday Edition: Songs From Big Freedia, Girl In Red, Black Pumas, And More

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  Girl in Red: “Two Queens in a King Sized Bed”
  
  
  https://www.Youtube.Com/watch?V=Su9ABA6RcV8&feature=youtu.Be
  
  
  
  Yes, I listen to Girl in Red, and also you have to, also. The Norwegian indie-rock ingenue is keeping the sapphics fed with “Two Queens in a King Sized Bed,” her Christmas-themed new cut. It’s a tender profession of love with earnest lyrics that conjure up the coziest of winter imagery (“Two queens in a king sized bed / like angels in the snow”). And that surrealist music video? Making the yuletide gay, indeed. —Sam Manzella
  
  
  
  
  



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  The Beths: “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”
  
  
  https://www.Youtube.Com/watch?V=Moz6XOAKK5U
  
  
  
  the ideal holiday song is also the most melancholy, and Kiwi outfit The Beths capture both the seasonal cheer and the wistfulness in their 2018 cover. Singer Elizabeth Stokes’s voice is as wam and mournful as a snow-capped morning once you realize the vehicle actually won’t begin. “Someday soon, we all will be with each other / If the fates allow” really hits different this year; in the event you can’t physically be with the people you love this month, know that you will be — someday soon. —Patrick Hosken
  
  
  
  
  



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  Big Freedia ft: Flo Milli: “Better Be”
  
  
  https://youtu.Be/QkJN-D8BuRM
  
  
  
  The bounce queen of New Orleans came to sleigh once she dropped her sizzling 2016 EP A Very Big Freedia Christmas and declared that "Santa Is a Gay Man." Right now, like the ghost of dance halls past, Big Freedia’s back with her signature brand of bass-heavy, high-speed rap to prepare bells and vehicle keys jingle with the booty-shaking holiday single, "Better Be." Joined by Flo Milli, she’s got a bad case of the "gimme gimmes" as she breaks down her Christmas list over an icy steel drum. "Better be big, better be new / Better be red bottom shoes," Freedia clarifies on the refrain. —Coco Romack
  
  
  
  
  



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  Taylor Swift: “‘Tis the Damn Season”
  
  
  https://www.Youtube.Com/watch?V=WuvhOD-mP8M
  
  
  
  in the event you ever needed a song to describe the very niche experience of hooking up with your high school boyfriend soon after seeing each other at your hometown bar around the holidays, Taylor Swift’s “‘Tis the Damn Season” is that song. “We could call it even / you can call me babe for the weekend / ’Tis the damn season” is nothing short of a read. Yet, in signature Swift style, she is able to find the humanity in moments that several would aspire to forget and reflects on them in a sonically gorgeous, exceptionally raw, plus a little bit melancholy way. The most specific songs are oftentimes the ones most universally felt. “‘Tis the Damn Season” is certainly one of those. —Sarina Bhutani
  
  
  
  
  



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  Tori Amos: “Christmastide”
  
  
  https://youtu.Be/Y_QVnBv4ufc
  
  
  
  Taylor Swift, you think you were the opening witch to traverse through a snowy forest bathed in moonlight? Tori Amos’s music was made to be played on the winter solstice, a fact she cemented with her 2009 holiday album, Midwinter Graces. Right now the piano siren has gifted us another present, Christmastide, a new four-track EP that says “’tis the season” with Tori’s signature emotional piano playing. The title track is the best Tori song: powerful and dramatic, nevertheless relaxing, reassuring us with lyrics like, “We all need to shine, and wake this Christmastide, side by side.” Soon after per year like this, I would gladly sail away on a calm Christmastide. Tori, take the wheel! —Chris Rudolph
  
  
  
  
  



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  Sufjan Stevens: “Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella”
  
  
  https://www.Youtube.Com/watch?V=-T4iOy7vlps
  
  
  
  At the end of a hard year, let Sufjan Stevens’s take on this established French carol peacefully lull you into the long winter’s nap “Twas The Night Before Christmas” promised us. Stevens’s soft rasp and gentle guitar strumming invite you to get cozy, and it’s best enjoyed wrapped in a blanket, in a room lit only by twinkle lights, while sipping a warm beverage in an oversized mug. —Christina Beale
  
  
  
  
  



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  Paige Gold: “What Christmas Means”
  
  
  https://www.Youtube.Com/watch?V=gHNW1hBcjhQ
  
  
  
  Whether or not you’ve got a holiday hookup this Christmas, 17-year-old Paige Gold has a bop to put a little bit romance back in your season with “What Christmas Means.” Right after posting a short snippet of the optimistic tune to TikTok, she speedily garnered over 2 million views and knew she had to deliver with a full-length song. Normally, this sort of track would have you dancing around the mall while shopping, slipping a little bit something into your hot cocoa, or cozying up to someone new under the mistletoe. While we can’t do all that now, thanks to a festive chorus of piano plunks, handclaps, jingle bells, and Gold’s soulful voice, there’s still some tidings of comfort and joy to go around. —Carson Mlnarik
  
  
  
  
  



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  Adam Sandler: “The Chanukah Song”
  
  
  https://www.Youtube.Com/watch?V=KX5Z-HpHH9g
  
  
  
  Honestly, every Hanukkah song is my main go to Hanukkah song: from the short Haim tweeted a couple of years prior, to Daveed Diggs’s especially catchy “Puppy for Hanukkah,” to Sharon Jones & the Dap-King’s brassy and joyful “8 Days (Of Hanukkah),” and especially Also $hort’s Hanukkah song. Although Adam Sandler’s original ode to the Festival of Lights holds a special, sentimental place in my heart, as it really was the opening non-traditional song about the holiday: the shamash candle that helped light the way for so several more tunes, in the event you will. —Rya Backer
  
  
  
  
  



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  Black Pumas: “Christmas Will Really Be Christmas” (Lou Rawls cover)
  
  
  
  
  
  Soon after a hellacious year, Black Pumas understand that the holidays may not feel the same in 2020. “Christmas will really be Christmas,” Eric Burton sings, “when people are happy everywhere.” That may not be up until 2021 (or 2022, or maybe later), however in the meantime, we’ve got this song, a cover of the Lou Rawls soul classic, to share. —Patrick Hosken
  
  
  
  
  



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  Cher ft. Rosie O’Donnell: “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” (Darlene Love cover)
  
  
  https://www.Youtube.Com/watch?V=tHv3QqhvpzM
  
  
  
  This is a campy Christmas classic for every playlist to prepare the yuletides gay. Yes, you're reading that correctly: Cher and Rosie O’Donnell recorded a Christmas song with each other, and we're still singing "Joy to the World" about it. Segment of Rosie’s 1999 album A Rosie Christmas, "Christmas (Baby Please Come House wants you to snuggle up by the fire — and under a disco ball. —Zach O’Connor
  
  
  
  
  



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  Charly Bliss ft. Pup: “It’s Christmas and I Fucking Miss You”
  
  
  https://youtu.Be/hp0od728eg0
  
  
  
  What more needs to be mentioned? —Patrick Hosken