Mandy Moore Releases Two-Track Festive Single, ‘How Could This Be Christmas’
The two-track release features the title song and a cover of the festive classic ‘It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year’.
Mandy Moore today has released a brand-new two-track holiday single entitled “How Could This Be Christmas” today on Verve Forecast. Side A is the buoyant classic “It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year” and Side B is the title track, an original co-written by Moore. You can check both tracks out below.
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Reflecting the complex nature of the holiday season this year, Mandy Moore recorded two distinct holiday songs: the beloved classic “It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year” and a reflective original, “How Could This Be Christmas,” which Moore co-wrote with husband Taylor Goldsmith (Dawes) and music producer Mike Viola. The latter is a beautiful, wistful ballad about loss and the added struggle of dealing with it during the holidays.
Moore explains, “The holidays are certainly going to feel verifiably different this year and in this vein, I challenged myself (and Mike and Taylor) to write a song that hinted at the acknowledgment of something missing without being too specific. Because if we’ve learned anything in this season of change, it’s the recognition that those we love and cherish are what’s most important and worth celebrating. And that felt like a message to get behind during this special time of year.”
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“It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of They Year” was introduced by Andy Williams in 1963 and has had a resurgence in recent years having appeared on Billboard’s Hot 100 singles charts several times in the month of December. Written by Edward Pola and George Wyle in waltz time it is considered one of the Top Ten best holiday songs ever recorded.
This two-track holiday single follows Moore’s critically acclaimed first album in over 11 years, Silver Landings (Verve Forecast), which was released in March of this year. Like many artists, her tour was postponed and the singer/songwriter was sheltering at home with her husband (singer/songwriter/guitarist for L.A. based folk-rock band Dawes).
Mike Viola produced both singles (as well as Silver Landings) and plays bass and electric guitar on the tracks. Taylor Goldsmith provides background vocals, guitar and bass with Lee Pardini on keyboards and Griffin Goldsmith on drums. Eric Lea arranged and performed strings on “It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year.”
‘How Could This Be Christmas’ is out now and can be bought here.
