5 Fandom Friday

I’m really excited for this week’s 5 Fandom Friday topic (hosted by The Nerdy Girlie and SuperSpaceChick):

My Favorite Holiday Songs To Spread Cheer!

Why am I so excited for this topic? It gives me a reason to fangirl about one of my absolute favorite musical groups – Pentatonix. I’ve never been one that’s too over-the-top about Christmas music. My mum had this one CD we listened to every single year while decorating the tree, and therefore it always give me nostalgic feels, but that’s about it. Until Pentatonix released their first Christmas CD, PTXMas. I absolutely love a capella music, and PTX just takes it to a whole new level, even just for Christmas music. This year they released a second album, That’s Christmas To Me (which is an original Christmas song they wrote!) and it’s fabulous. Below are my top five faves of theirs, which I’ve been obsessed with lately.

1. Mary Did You Know. I’d never even heard of this Christmas song prior to hearing their version and it’s just SO BEAUTIFUL. The harmonies!! My ears can’t take it. Despite being not at all religious, I often find very religious Christmas music to be the most beautiful, and this rings true here.

2. Silent Night (Live). GOOD LORD THE HARMONIES. I die. Just so achingly beautiful. Also, I couldn’t imagine just being able to create such beautiful music at the drop of a hat like this. Extraordinary.

3. Carol of the Bells. This song is actually my all time favorite Christmas song, and this version is amazing.

4. That’s Christmas To Me. Not only is the fact that it’s an original Christmas song cool, but I love the harmonies (are you sensing a theme here??) and it just fills me with the holiday feels.

5. Dance of The Sugar Plum Fairy. Another excellent Christmas song (I’ve always wanted to see this ballet!) and I love this version. Slightly dark and creepy, even without the video, and I like that take on it. Plus, I am astounded at how amazing people can sound when they are basically just singing versions of ‘da’ and ‘dum’ over and over.

When I’m listening to non-Pentatonix Christmas music, I tend to favor pretty traditional Christmas music, either instrumental or choir type. No pop stuff here (in fact, even some of PTX’s ‘poppier’ Christmas stuff I struggle with).

What’s your favorite Christmas song, or type of holiday music?