Review: Jennifer Hudson delivers ‘The Gift’ of holiday music

HOLIDAY

Jennifer Hudson, “The Gift of Love”

On her first holiday album, the singer, actress and talk show host vamps her way through a collection of gospel, pop, R&B and funk with the requisite razzle-dazzle of a consummate professional. Hudson’s showstopping voice is at its finest on a stunning performance of “O Holy Night” and a towering rendition of “Go Tell It on the Mountain,” but she also knows when to lighten things up with a few fun originals, like the upbeat “Santa for Someone,” on which she winks with a well-placed comedic pause, “I gotta get this paper … so I can wrap these gifts.” Save for a few spoken-word groaners from Common, who makes a cameo on the romantic ballad “Almost Christmas” (“Let’s remain here, through the sun and the rain, dear”), the album’s only true misstep is its opening number, yet another ponderous cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” that misunderstands the wry, deadpan poetry of the source material and transforms it into an overly reverential holiday carol. At this point, “Hallelujah” covers should come with a gift receipt.

LINDSAY ZOLADZ, New York Times

Clay Aiken, “Christmas Bells Are Ringing”

This is Aiken’s second holiday album; the first arrived two decades ago, the year after he gawkily crooned his way to second place on the second season of “American Idol.” In the intervening time, he’s been on Broadway, run (unsuccessfully) for political office and been on “The Masked Singer.” But he never lost his voice — all these years later, Aiken still sings with a lovely flutter, and with real punch, too. His first holiday collection, “Merry Christmas With Love,” was overflowing with earned pomp — a singer who excelled at targeted bombast given free melodramatic rein. His new one, a covers collection, is a touch more polished, though he does convey true mischief on “Magic Moments” and, on “Do You Hear What I Hear,” accesses the kind of pyrotechnic fifth gear that’s the stuff of “Idol” finales, musical theater blockbusters and Christmas morning celebrations.

JON CARAMANICA, New York Times

Earlier this year the multitalented polymath recorded a continuous, 14-minute set of three Christmas classics live at London’s Abbey Road Studios. He uses his piano, guitar and voice all in a similarly searching manner, leaping along scales and octaves with a daredevil’s flair. That approach works best here on piano, particularly during a spellbinding deconstruction of “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” enlivened by its twinkling cascade of high notes. Collier’s voice is more of an acquired taste than his piano playing, and despite his impressive range, his showy runs can overly complicate the emotions meant to be translated through these songs. Regardless, though, this recording captures a skillfully executed performance and ends with one of its most enchanting moments, as Collier conducts a choir — its members just happened to be sitting in the audience — in a beautifully understated “Silent Night.”

LINDSAY ZOLADZ, New York Times

Chapel Hart, “Hartfelt Family Christmas”

This family country harmony trio, which had a memorable run on “America’s Got Talent” in 2022, is both pristine and playful on its first holiday album. There’s a cheeky and suave “Blue Christmas,” and “Mary Did You Know?” is soothing like a lullaby. The album features an impressive array of guests, as well: Gretchen Wilson, sounding more raw than she has in some time, on the title track; a robust Darius Rucker on “That Time of Year,” and Rissi Palmer on a “White Christmas” that turns hard to honky-tonk halfway through.

JON CARAMANICA, New York Times

Here’s a lovely three-song set from the excellent country miserablist Moroney, who has released beautifully morose albums each of the past two years. Unsurprisingly, she sees the holiday season through the lens of loss. On “Christmas Morning,” she sings about the farce of holding it together for the holidays — the family is visiting, the conversation is clipped, the temperature is dipping. “Take down the tree, unplug the lights / It’s colder in this bed than it is outside,” she sighs at the chorus. The other original here, “All I Want for Christmas Is a Cowboy,” is more playful and upbeat, but no less destitute, with a plea to Santa: “When you’re flying over Austin or Abilene, wrap a bow around a boy in some Wrangler jeans.”