Posted on December 23, 2020 by Heather Adams

Album Review: Holiday Stuff – EP (December 5, 2020) – Alessia Cara

By Evan Cardinal, Albright '21

Album Review: Holiday Stuff – EP (December 5, 2020) – Alessia Cara

The Context – Arriving onto the popular music scene in 2015 at age 19 with her viral hit “Here,” Alessia Cara is undergoing a natural musical maturation. However, the Canadian singer/songwriter has personally acknowledged such a timely process as captured in her 2018 sophomore LP The Pains of Growing. The Toronto-based Cara is more introspective and subdued on Pains than her more boisterous debut record Know-It-All, yet her silky and shimmering R&B-esque vocals remain consistent in her 2018 tracks such as “Comfortable” and “Girl Next Door.”

2019 saw Cara’s seasonal versatility. In September, Cara released a bubbly juxtaposition to the introspection on The Pains of Growing with This Summer – EP. November 2019 was the release date for her original holiday track “Make It to Christmas”—perhaps the perfect complement to either a coming-of-age or Hallmark Christmas film.

The Content – The unplugged version of “Make It to Christmas” opens Cara’s latest yuletide release, the Holiday Stuff – EP.  The re-released alteration, paired with wailing strings and sentimental piano, is paradoxically melancholy and hopeful, which summarizes the current complications of the holiday season during the pandemic.

Cara gives us her take on Nat King Cole’s staple “The Christmas Song” with a jazzy flair not too divergent from the classic. “The Only Thing Missing” is another Cara original that taps into the distant heartbreak indicative of the aforementioned health crisis.

Cara draws inspiration from Eddie Jefferson in her live cover of his 1952 song “Moody’s Mood for Love.” Lustrous and satiny, Cara’s vocals gleam on “Moody’s Mood” to bookend the EP.

The Skinny – Holiday Stuff – EP is a small, yet strong sampling of Alessia Cara’s exceptional songwriting and polished vocal abilities. The collection of original pieces and covers are not over-the-top renditions of holiday music akin to many popular artist’s Christmas releases. Instead, the Holiday Stuff – EP  is as contained and controlled as the rest of Cara’s impressive catalogue to date.

The Rating – 7.1/10

Holiday Stuff – EP

  1. Make It to Christmas (Stripped)
  2. The Christmas Song
  3. The Only Thing Missing
  4. Moody’s Mood for Love (Live)

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