In her first holiday album, Kelly Clarkson leaves no stone unturned, delivering a very happy and hearty variety of Christmas classics as well as originals. With Clarkson’s ever powerful voice, Wrapped In Red is destined to be instant hit and in heavy rotation in anyone’s Christmas playlist.
Seriously, how is Kelly Clarkson going to sound bad, especially on a record? Let’s just get that out of the way right now, there is no possibility of her vocal chops being anything but extraordinary, and doing a record of mostly covers definitely gives an artist of her caliber room to play around. The album starts off with two originals, the title song “Wrapped in Red”, a song that could fit any Christmas movie made from now until the end of time, and the first single “Underneath The Tree”, an upbeat tune that will have you dancing at any party during the holiday season. We taper down in speed for “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”, bringing it back up for a albeit heavily produced, fun version of Chuck Berry’s “Run Run Rudolph”, then, as Randy Jackson might say “bringing it to church” with “Please Come Home For Christmas”. Other album highlights are a country-tinged “Blue Christmas”, standard “White Christmas” and ending with the classic “Silent Night” which features friends Reba McEntire and Trisha Yearwood.
All in all, although heavily and borderline over-produced at times, a very solid album destined to become a classic. If this doesn’t give you your fill of a-very-Clarkson-Christmas, the original Idol has a Christmas special, Kelly Clarkson’s (Cautionary) Christmas Tale, set to air December 11 on NBC.