Sophie Moser  0:02  
Hey, I'm Sophie.

​

Sophia Barber  0:04  
And I'm Sophia.

​

Sophie Moser  0:05  
And this is the That's Showbiz, Baby! podcast. 

​

Sophia Barber  0:12  
Hey, listeners, we just wanted to let you know that this episode concludes the first season of the That's Showbiz, Baby! podcast. Yay. But we will be back to kick it off again for season two on our normal weekly episode schedule. So every Tuesday on January 12th. So we hope you have a wonderful holiday break. And we will catch you in the new year with another season of fun and educational content. 

​

Sophia Barber  0:39  
So we're going to kick today's episode off with a little bit of breaking news, starting with Bob Dylan selling his entire song catalog to Universal Music Publishing Group last week, in a pretty landmark deal. While UMPG didn't release an official number, the deal is estimated at more than $300 million that Bob Dylan sold the songs for. And you know, obviously, he has a lot of hits. So good for universal, they're gonna make probably a lot of money off of this.

​

Sophie Moser  1:12  
Yeah, so true. And there was a second artist who did the same thing in the same week, which is kind of crazy. Stevie Nicks closed a deal this past week to sell an 80% share of her songwriting catalog to music publisher Primary Wave, and her catalog is valued around $100 million. So I mean, I'm guessing the math on that is that it was an $80 million deal, or somewhere kind of in that, in that range. But this deal followed her big reemergence of "Dreams" after it kind of got popular on Tik Tok again, and it actually had its best ever week of download sales and streams, which I thought was interesting because the CEO of Primary Wave made a comment about her music being a little under commercialized, under marketed and that it probably has a lot more potential to kind of get big again and make its way into new audiences, which I agree. So hopefully, they can kind of work on some stuff, and we'll see more of her great music, kind of in the public eye. But today, for the main part of our episode, we wanted to have a Christmas extravaganza, if you will. So we're going to bring in two of our best friends from the music industry program here at USC. So stay tuned for Sierra and Andrea, joining us for some Christmas fun.

​

Sophia Barber  2:45  
Okay, everyone, we have with us, Sierra and Andrea and Sierra and Andrea can you please introduce yourselves? We can start with Sierra.

​

Sierra Dudas  2:55  
Hey, I'm Sierra. I'm a fellow music industry major.

​

Sophia Barber  2:59  
Andrea?

​

Andrea Mercado  3:00  
Hi, I'm Andrea. And I'm also a music industry major.

​

Sophie Moser  3:05  
So- 

​

Sophia Barber  3:05  
And they're are two of our best friends and we're happy to have them. 

​

Sophie Moser  3:08  
Yes, we're so excited. And first, we wanted to get your opinion on Christmas music in general. Like are you guys fans? We would like to know.

​

Sierra Dudas  3:18  
I'm a fan. I listen to Christmas music as soon as I can. I feel like there's- so basically like, there's this section in November where you listen to Christmas music and then you get way too tired of it. That's the week of Thanksgiving. And then as soon as Black Friday happens, then you get really excited about Christmas music again. And that's just like the circle of Christmas music. So yes, I'm a fan. 

​

Andrea Mercado  3:44  
Well, I also really like Christmas music actually. I feel like the last week I've been like finally starting to listen to it. Like today, I actually convinced my sister to play it at work. There was a little kid dancing, which is a good sign that, because music is a joyful thing for everyone.

​

Sophie Moser  4:02  
That's so cute. Okay, so we have a few fun segments we want to do for our Christmas special episode. And the first one is we asked you both, and Sophia and I each brought in one too, to bring a weird or obscure just like some random Christmas song just to have a good laugh and give a take on it. So Sierra, we wanted to start with yours so we can play a little clip and then you can give us your take.

​

Audio  4:42  
*Clip of "Rangin' Cajun Redneck Christmas " by The Robertsons

​

Sophia Barber  5:04  
Okay, Sierra, can you tell us a little bit about this?

​

Sierra Dudas  5:09  
Yes. So this song is called "Ragin' Cajun Redneck Christmas" It's from the album Duck The Halls

​

Andrea Mercado  5:19  
This hits too close to home. 

​

Sierra Dudas  5:26  
It's by the cast of Duck Dynasty, the Robertson family. And it's, they have apparently a whole Christmas album. And it's a promotional tool, I guess for their TV show back in 2013. Which I, that's why I chose the song, I thought it was a bit crazy that they would really go through all the effort to record an entire album. And a lot of these songs are written by them, apparently. 

​

Sophia Barber  5:55  
Huh. 

​

Sierra Dudas  5:56  
I'd say my take is that, honestly, I'm impressed. Like they wrote this song. You know, it wasn't bad. They're just like, they make duck calls for a living.

​

Sophia Barber  6:07  
Oh, excellent. Thank you for sharing. So I'm gonna go next. And I have kind of a two parter because you like need to experience both to understand why this is funny to me. So these songs I'm about to play are from the band Twisted Sister. And so here's the song you've probably heard non Christmas you've probably heard it before.

​

Audio  6:26  
*Clip of "We're Not Gonna Take It" by Twisted Sister*

​

Sophia Barber  6:36  
Okay, so there's a little snippet of that for you. Now I'm going to play their Christmas song "Oh, Come All Ye Faithful."

​

Audio  6:43  
*Clip of "Oh, Come All Ye Faithful" by Twisted Sister*

​

Sophia Barber  7:04  
So I brought this song because I thought it was just really funny that they directly ripped off their own song and took it pretty much exactly and turned it into a Christmas song. And honestly, it's a banger that I enjoy every Christmas. So, that's my song.

​

Sophie Moser  7:21  
Weird, but not obscure for Sophia.

​

Sophia Barber  7:24  
Not obscure here. Well, I don't know, the Christmas version. I don't know how many people are jamming to that. Um, now we're gonna go to Andrea and she brought us a real classic. Andrea, would you like to introduce it.

​

Andrea Mercado  7:41  
Oh, gosh, okay, so I first heard this song back in 2010 when I was watching a Christmas Big Time Rush special. You know, Big Time Rush? Iconic boy band of the 2000s and in this episode, they wrote a song with Snoop Dogg, but they sing it as chipmunks. I guess it's when Alvin and The Chipmunks were like, really, you know popular. So that's-

​

Sierra Dudas  8:09  
Okay. I have a confession. Sorry to interrupt. I was obsessed with Alvin and the Chipmunks at this age. I forced my parents to watch it with me. One Christmas we, our entire, all the grandkids went to go see the Chipmunks and literally our entire family had to sit there and watch it so I feel like Alvin and The Chipmunks is very Christmas themed in my heart.

​

Sophia Barber  8:32  
Andrea you're a crowd pleaser. Let's take a listen to this banger.

​

Audio  8:52  
*Clip of "Let's Stay In Our PJs All Christmas Long" by Big Time Rush and Snoop Dogg*

​

Sophia Barber  8:56  
Wow, incredible

​

Andrea Mercado  8:59  
Yeah. Also why is Snoop there? I have so many questions.

​

Sophia Barber  9:03  
Snoop Dogg you're better than this. Or maybe not.

​

Sophie Moser  9:07  
I don't know. I thought it was kind of a banger.

​

Sierra Dudas  9:11  
I mean, his best Christmas song is definitely the pitch perfect two one with Anna Kendrick. But I think this is a close second.

​

Sophia Barber  9:20  
Sophie do care to share yours?

​

Sophie Moser  9:22  
Yeah. Well, I also want to say that was "Let's Stay In Our PJs All Christmas Long" because no one actually said the title. So there it is. 

​

Sophia Barber  9:29  
Oh right. It's also only on YouTube. So good luck finding it. 

​

Sophie Moser  9:35  
Yeah. If you, you know if you need a fun Christmas YouTube adventure, there you go. But I brought in a song called "Santa Claus, The Original Hippie" by Homer and Jethro.

​

Audio  9:49  
*Clip of "Santa Clause, The Original Hippie"*

​

Sophie Moser  10:17  
Yeah, it just gets crazier after that point. And I don't know, I think the song-

​

Sophia Barber  10:23  
She told me not to keep playing it after this part because it gets, um, interesting. Not safe for the podcast listeners.

​

Sierra Dudas  10:33  
You can't keep me in suspense like this.

​

Andrea Mercado  10:36  
I will go listen after this. 

​

Sophie Moser  10:36  
Not family friendly after that point. Um, but I don't know, kind of fun. It's from 1968. And then I was thinking about it. And I was like, maybe hippy Santa was like the OG who brought in the 70s. I don't know. But kind of fun.

​

Sophia Barber  10:55  
So now we are going to do some Christmas trivia. Sophie and I brought in some questions, and we're going to see if Andrea and Sierra know the answers. I also, like I don't know all the answers to Sophie's questions, and she doesn't know the answers to mine. So. Sophie do want to kick us off with some trivia.

​

Sophie Moser  11:14  
Yeah, for sure. So these are all like Christmas music pretty much at least trying to keep it trying to keep it music centered. My first one is how long did it take Mel Torme and Bob Wells to write "The Christmas Song" and add on bonus question, what season did they write it in? Let me know if you have any thoughts.

​

Sierra Dudas  11:38  
Okay, I first of all, have no idea. But if I had to guess I would say like in one day, like or like, in a few hours. And it happened in the spring. That's my guess. 

​

Andrea Mercado  11:52  
Do I just guess cause I don't know?

​

Sophia Barber  11:53  
Yeah, give us your guess.

​

Andrea Mercado  11:56  
Okay, I'll say they wrote it in like the summer. And it took them like a week.

​

Sophia Barber  12:02  
Okay, I also have no idea and I don't know the answer this question. But I'm gonna go with three days. Nice and in the middle of Sierra and Andrea's, and I'm gonna go summer as well.

​

Sophie Moser  12:15  
Okay, so they did write it in the summer, but it took them 45 minutes to write the whole thing so-

​

Sierra Dudas  12:21  
That's fast.

​

Sophia Barber  12:23  
Yeah. Wow. Okay, I should be like, should I keep score? This is like, really off the cuff. But should I? I'm gonna start keeping score. 

​

Sophie Moser  12:32  
Do it, who gets the closest.

​

Sierra Dudas  12:35  
Whoever wins gets a special shoutout.

​

Andrea Mercado  12:36  
Oh I already know, I'm gonna lose. I'm Mexican. I don't know any of these things.

​

Sophia Barber  12:42  
Okay, who do you think got a point for that one?

​

Sierra Dudas  12:44  
I think Andrea, or maybe you Sophia? 

​

Andrea Mercado  12:47  
Yeah.

​

Sophia Barber  12:48  
I think we'll give Sierra the point for being the closest with the time. And then we'll give Andrea and me also a point. So everyone except Sophia has a point as of right now.

​

Sophie Moser  13:00  
All right I don't know about this whole scoring thing anymore.

​

Sophia Barber  13:05  
All right. I'll go with my question. So according to the Guinness World Records, what is the best selling single of all time?

​

Sierra Dudas  13:14  
I think, the first thing that popped in my head is Mariah Carey's iconic song. I mean, what else can we say? It hits the charts number one every single year. Andrea? Do you know? 

​

Andrea Mercado  13:29  
That was also my answer. Miss Mariah.

​

Sophia Barber  13:32  
Okay, well, you guys are both wrong. It's "White Christmas" sung by Bing Crosby. And Guinness World Records estimate it has sold over 50 million copies.

​

Sierra Dudas  13:45  
I feel like that makes sense. I mean, it has been around a lot longer.

​

Sophia Barber  13:49  
Yeah. It has time on its side. 

​

Sierra Dudas  13:51  
Us youth. We can't, we always forget that like we have history. Like, we have been around longer than 20 years.

​

Sophia Barber  14:00  
Yeah. No points for this round.

​

Sophie Moser  14:03  
Okay, so my next question is, I feel like Andrea, I'm like already expecting you to know this one. So don't let me down.

​

Andrea Mercado  14:13  
That's a lot of pressure.

​

Sophie Moser  14:14  
What color convertible does the singer in "Santa Baby" asked for?

​

Sophia Barber  14:19  
Well, let's all say it at the same time. So it's not like cheating. You know?

​

Sophie Moser  14:22  
Yeah, if you know it.

​

Sophia Barber  14:25  
So everyone get their answer together. And we'll-

​

Sierra Dudas  14:28  
Wait wait wait wait. Are we, are we? There's an adjective before it right. Are we saying that?

​

Sophie Moser  14:32  
Ideally? Yes,

​

Sophia Barber  14:32  
Yes, if you can. Okay, ready? 3,2,1. Light blue.

​

Andrea Mercado  14:39  
Light blue.

​

Sierra Dudas  14:39  
Blue.

​

Sophie Moser  14:40  
Okay, everyone gets another point except for me.

​

Sophia Barber  14:47  
Excellent.

​

Sierra Dudas  14:48  
Hey, I was about to say bright blue.

​

Sophia Barber  14:51  
Wow. Okay. The next question is what holiday was the song "Jingle Bells" originally written for?

​

Sierra Dudas  14:58  
Easter.

​

Andrea Mercado  15:00  
I don't know, Halloween? 

​

Sophia Barber  15:02  
Okay. 

​

Sierra Dudas  15:02  
Oh, Halloween's a good one.

​

Sophia Barber  15:03  
Both wrong again. It was actually originally a Thanksgiving song. And it was originally titled one horse open sleigh, and was written for Thanksgiving Sunday school class.

​

Sierra Dudas  15:15  
They should've have kept it as a Thanksgiving song. I mean, there's so many Christmas songs, too much competition, you know?

​

Sophia Barber  15:21  
Truly.

​

Sophie Moser  15:21  
Yeah, I don't think I know any other Thanksgiving song.

​

Sierra Dudas  15:25  
Ben Rector just came out with one "The Thanksgiving Song" creatively titled. 

​

Sophia Barber  15:31  
Okay everyone go check that out.

​

Sophie Moser  15:34  
Okay, my next question for you guys is what is thought to be the oldest Christmas song?

​

Sierra Dudas  15:42  
"Amazing Grace."

​

Sophia Barber  15:43  
Is that a Christmas song? I don't think that's a Christmas song? 

​

Andrea Mercado  15:46  
Silent Night?

​

Sierra Dudas  15:47  
Okay I didn't think so either. But it came up on my holiday playlist, a Pentatonix cover, last night when I was driving, so I'm counting it for my guess.

​

Sophia Barber  15:56  
Okay, "Amazing Grace." Andrea said "Silent Night." I'm gonna go with um, "Oh Come All Ye Faithful."

​

Sophie Moser  16:02  
Okay, you got me excited there, it is "Oh Come Oh Come Emmanuel." And apparently, from like the 1500s. So they think that's the oldest song.

​

Sierra Dudas  16:14  
Pop off. 

​

Sophia Barber  16:16  
I was close. 

​

Sophie Moser  16:17  
First two words were right.

​

Sierra Dudas  16:19  
You get half a point Sophia.

​

Sophia Barber  16:19  
Half a point okay. Um, I feel like I can't win on on my own podcast, so I'm gonna erase that. Okay, my next question is, this is a math question. So good luck, ladies. If you received every single gift from "The 12 Days of Christmas," how many Christmas gifts would you end up with?

​

Sophie Moser  16:41  
I'm gonna pull out a calculator.

​

Sierra Dudas  16:43  
I'm already stuck on 12 plus 11. 

​

Andrea Mercado  16:47  
I'm not a math major for a reason.

​

Sophia Barber  16:50  
Also, please do remember if you're trying this at home or to our guests that you get like repeated gifts. So like all 12 days, you get a partridge in a pear tree. And like for 11 of the days you get the-

​

Sierra Dudas  17:01  
Oh, okay, that's not gonna happen

​

Andrea Mercado  17:07  
That's not gonna happen so I'm just gonna guess.

​

Sophia Barber  17:07  
Throw out some guesses, and I'll give a point to whoever's closest

​

Sierra Dudas  17:10  
144 

​

Sophia Barber  17:12  
Okay.

​

Sophie Moser  17:13  
I'm gonna say 200.

​

Sophie Moser  17:16  
Jeopardy rules, Andrea?

​

Andrea Mercado  17:18  
Yes. 657.

​

Sophia Barber  17:21  
Okay. Um, so like weirdly in the middle, but I guess Sophie is the closest, it's 364 gifts, which is a lot. Too many. If you ask me. So I'll give a point to Sophie, her first point.

​

Sophie Moser  17:37  
Yay. 

​

Andrea Mercado  17:39  
Yay.

​

Sophie Moser  17:41  
Okay, and I have my last trivia question, which is, how old was Brenda Lee when she sang "Rocking Around The Christmas Tree"?

​

Sophia Barber  17:50  
I'm gonna just throw a random number out there and I'm gonna say 19.

​

Sierra Dudas  17:53  
My first thought was like, 16.

​

Andrea Mercado  17:56  
Uh, I don't know. 17.

​

Sophie Moser  18:00  
Okay, we can give Sierra the point on this one because she was, she was literally 13. 

​

Sophia Barber  18:05  
What?

​

Sophie Moser  18:05  
So I'm gonna give it to Sierra because she's the closest. But-

​

Sierra Dudas  18:09  
That's crazy!

​

Sophie Moser  18:10  
I know, because she sounds like, mature.

​

Sophia Barber  18:13  
Yeah, she sounds like a grown woman. Good for her.

​

Sophia Barber  18:17  
All right, this is our last-

​

Sierra Dudas  18:18  
It's like a Mila Kunis situation.

​

Sophia Barber  18:20  
Oh my gosh yes. She's like, yeah, I'm 18 eventually.

​

Sierra Dudas  18:26  
My birthday, eventually.

​

Sophia Barber  18:29  
Okay, we're gonna wrap it up with one last trivia question. And it is what is the most covered Christmas song of all time?

​

Andrea Mercado  18:37  
It's gonna be "The Christmas Song." 

​

Sierra Dudas  18:39  
Ugh, it's not "Santa Baby." 

​

Sophia Barber  18:40  
Okay. 

​

Sierra Dudas  18:42  
I feel like it's on the tip of my tongue. I don't know. I'm gonna go with "Santa, Baby" 

​

Sophia Barber  18:46  
Okay.

​

Sophie Moser  18:46  
I'll say "Last Christmas."

​

Sophia Barber  18:48  
Wrong, all of you. It's "Silent Night." And according to Music Reports I could only find in 2017 that's the most recent statistic. Silent Night has been recorded over 137,000 times by different people. 

​

Sophie Moser  19:03  
Oh my gosh. That's a lot. 

​

Sophia Barber  19:06  
Crazy times. Also Sierra is the winner of Christmas trivia. Your prize is my friendship. Congrats.

​

Andrea Mercado  19:12  
Yay.

​

Sierra Dudas  19:13  
Yay.

​

Sophie Moser  19:13  
Another year renewed.

​

Sierra Dudas  19:18  
I was gonna say did I not have it before now. 

​

Andrea Mercado  19:20  
Our friendship strictly runs on memberships now.

​

Sophia Barber  19:25  
Yeah, our friendship is based on trivia knowledge only. Okay, so now we have a segment. And we are going to go by decade starting from the 60s up to the 2010s. And Sophie and I have done a little research to pick like top three or four from each of these decades, in our opinion, of the most popular or best Christmas songs, we're gonna listen to them, deliberate as a group, and come up with a definitive list of the best Christmas songs from every decade. So we're going to start with the 60s, so I have three, The first one is "If Everyday Was Like Christmas" by Elvis.

​

Audio  20:07  
*Clip of "If Everyday Was Like Christmas" by Elvis*

​

Sophia Barber  20:20  
The next song is "Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home)" by Darlene Love.

​

Audio  20:27  
*Clip of "Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home)" by Darlene Love*

​

Sophia Barber  20:35  
And then the final song from our 60s category is "The Christmas Song" by Nat King Cole. And technically it came out in 1953. But he did a re recorded release in 1961. So I'm going to count it.

​

Audio  20:51  
*Clip of "The Christmas Song" by Nat King Cole*

​

Sophia Barber  21:03  
Okay, thoughts you guys on your top pick for the best song of the 1960s, Christmas song.

​

Sierra Dudas  21:11  
Okay, I have a strong opinion. And that is "Christmas" Darlene Love's version I think is the best of the 60s. And there's two reasons why. One, I think that upbeat songs, like upbeat Christmas songs are more of the Christmas spirit. Like when you're listening to Christmas music you're, you know, doing things with your family, you're opening presence, you're baking cookies, like I don't love to listen to like really-

​

Sophie Moser  21:40  
Yeah you don't want to be sad.

​

Sierra Dudas  21:40  
Like all the slow songs, I don't know. I just feel like they're downers. So that's my first reason is because it's the most upbeat of the three. But also, her version, Darlene Love's version is the one I still consistently hear. Like, a lot of songs have iconic covers, or like a lot of different people covering them. But this song, like I don't even know if I've ever heard- I mean, I'm sure I have, but like she, her version, like still lives on today. And it's what like 60 years ago. Anyway, that's my opinion. 

​

Andrea Mercado  22:18  
I was literally gonna say the same thing, because it's like a fast, upbeat song and it's so iconic. Like we still hear it all the time. So that was literally my same answer, but like, I love Elvis, but I'm still gonna go with that one.

​

Sophie Moser  22:30  
Yeah, I second both of you. That's just such an iconic Christmas song. Like that's one of the like, I don't know, I feel like the most iconic Christmas songs out there. Got to be my pick.

​

Sophia Barber  22:44  
All right. I want to preface the rest of these by saying that I'm probably going to lose out on a lot of these because I do like soft, like, more vibey Christmas songs. Because I think it's fun when you're like cuddling up in the winter time. I mean, I'm by myself, but like cuddling up with myself-

​

Sophie Moser  23:01  
Some blankets.

​

Sophia Barber  23:01  
in the winter time. Um, so I like it.

​

Sierra Dudas  23:06  
Body pillow. 

​

Sophia Barber  23:07  
Yeah. So I'm a fan for upcoming, but I will give it to "Christmas" by Darlene Love because I feel like it's just iconic. It's everywhere. Still. I've heard it so many times, but I still like jam out to it. So I think we're going to declare the best Christmas song of the 1960s is the 1963 smash hit "Christmas" by Darlene Love.

​

Sierra Dudas  23:29  
Sorry, Elvis.

​

Sophia Barber  23:30  
Yeah. Oh, I also do love Elvis. Um, me and Andrea are Elvis stans but-

​

Andrea Mercado  23:35  
We are, yeah.

​

Sophia Barber  23:35  
you know, you can't compete. Okay, now we are moving on to 70s so our first song from the 70s is "Feliz Navidad" by Jose Feliciano. And it's from 1970.

​

Audio  23:51  
*Clip of "Feliz Navidad" by Jose Feliciano* 

​

Sophia Barber  24:03  
Our next song is "This Christmas" by Donny Hathaway from, also from 1970.

​

Audio  24:09  
*Clip of "This Christmas" by Donny Hathaway*

​

Sophia Barber  24:20  
The next song is "Wonderful Christmastime" by Paul McCartney from 1979.

​

Audio  24:29  
*Clip of "Wonderful Christmastime" by Paul McCartney*

​

Sophia Barber  24:31  
And then this last one is kind of an honorable mention from me. I don't think it's gonna win, but I love it so much and I wanted to play it. I think it's like a Christmas banger. So this is "Lonely This Christmas" by MUD from 1975.

​

Audio  24:49  
*Clip of "Lonely This Christmas" by MUD*

​

Sophia Barber  25:01  
Okay, thoughts on the 1970s

​

Andrea Mercado  25:04  
I'm gonna go with "Feliz Navidad" because it's just so iconic and like wow, the representation. Thank you so much.

​

Sophie Moser  25:12  
That's kind of hard. I think I'm also between "Feliz Navidad" and then "This Christmas" those are my top two picks. And I don't know how to narrow it down.

​

Sophia Barber  25:21  
People listening. This was this is literally the hardest assignment that I've ever given myself, to narrow down these are decades into like three songs. Um, so yeah, we're struggling just to put that out there. Sierra do you have any thoughts?

​

Sierra Dudas  25:37  
Yeah, I'm, do not have as strong of an opinion this time. I think all the first three, sorry, I'm throwing out you're true love "Lonely This Christmas"

​

Sophia Barber  25:44  
No I totally understand.

​

Sierra Dudas  25:48  
But the first three I like them all I agree with Andrea that, you know, it's kind of nice to have a song that-

​

Andrea Mercado  25:55  
Like give us this one thing.

​

Sierra Dudas  25:55  
one song that has some diversity in it. Yeah. The one diverse Christmas song like we should take that into account but I don't know all three are bangers like I can, I can party to them.

​

Sophia Barber  26:08  
I'm gonna try and influence the vote and give, and second "Feliz Navidad" because it's like my favorite Christmas song ever. I love it so much. It's just like, super fun and that when the trumpets kick, kick in it's like an out of body experience. 

​

Andrea Mercado  26:27  
Honestly it is. 

​

Sophie Moser  26:27  
Oof yes, okay I think we can we can call it then because all of us supported that. 

​

Sierra Dudas  26:31  
Sophia for someone who says they like slow songs you sure are voting for all the upbeat ones.

​

Sophia Barber  26:36  
Ones Listen, first of all, I follow the crowd. No, but like, I'm just saying, I'm not going to rule them out automatically. But also like, I love upbeat songs too. Um, so Okay, the best song of the 1970s the best Christmas song is "Feliz Navidad" by Jose Feliciano from 1970, a banger. Now we'll move on to the 80s. This one was pretty wild. There's a lot of good Christmas songs from the 80s. So we're going to start, sorry everyone, with kind of a slower song. And it is "Peace On Earth/Little Drummer Boy" by Bing Crosby and David Bowie. From 1982.

​

Audio  27:17  
*Clip of "Peace On Earth/Little Drummer Boy" by Bing Crosby and David Bowie*

​

Sophia Barber  27:30  
Our next song is "Last Christmas" by Wham from 1984.

​

Audio  27:35  
*Clip of "Last Christmas" by Wham*

​

Sophia Barber  27:44  
Our third song is "Thank God It's Christmas" by Queen from 1984.

​

Audio  27:50  
*Clip of "Thank God It's Christmas" by Queen*

​

Sophia Barber  28:09  
And then our last candidate for the best 1980s Christmas song is "Christmas Wrapping" by The Waitresses from 1981.

​

Audio  28:16  
*Clip of "Christmas Wrapping" by The Waitresses*

​

Sophia Barber  28:27  
All right thoughts? Sierra is eating a snack. So Andrea do you want to start?

​

Andrea Mercado  28:33  
As much as I want to give it to Queen because I love them. I'm gonna go with "Last Christmas." It's so iconic. I feel like everyone knows it. And like every artist has a cover of it.

​

Sophie Moser  28:42  
Yeah, I would second that. I think there's a lot of really good ones on here. But that stands out to me as like the timeless classic that has. I don't know we hear like so much of even today.

​

Sierra Dudas  28:53  
I'm also going to go with "Last Christmas." You know, surprisingly, for Queen I feel like that song is the least iconic of the list. Despite them coming out with so many bangers. Yeah, I think last Christmas. It's a bop, it's upbeat. It's fun. You remember it. You hear on the radio a lot. That's my vote. 

​

Sophia Barber  29:14  
Okay, I do have to say that my vote I think is "Christmas Wrapping" by The Waitresses just because I think while it's a less iconic song I go really hard to it, especially the Kylie Minogue cover with Iggy Pop, that's who I was trying to think of. So that is my vote. However, I was outvoted. So the best song of the 1980s goes to "Last Christmas" by Wham from 1984 and you know what, it deserves it because it's still hanging on, and it's still a banger.

​

Sierra Dudas  29:48  
Honestly, it's impressive that "Christmas Wrapping" has managed to last so long because it sounds so of its time. Like a lot of these Christmas songs are so timeless and it's feels fresh even today, but we still love that song and listen to it and hear on the radio, even though it's, it's so of its era.

​

Sophia Barber  30:07  
That's true. That's a good observation. Now we get into some interesting cuts.

​

Sophie Moser  30:14  
Yeah, I, I mean, honestly, I think this is kind of where maybe, hot take, Christmas music declined. Not, Not as many, like, just timeless classics from the 90s and onward, but you could disagree with me so we can we can get into this. But in the 90s the first song I brought, of course, is "All I Want For Christmas Is You" by Mariah Carey from 1994.

​

Audio  30:45  
*Clip of "All I Want For Christmas Is You" by Mariah Carey*

​

Sophie Moser  30:58  
Our next song is "What Christmas Means To Me" by Hansen from 1997.

​

Audio  31:05  
*Clip of "What Christmas Means To Me" by Hansen*

​

Sophie Moser  31:14  
And our last song for the 90s is "Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays" by *NSYNC from 1998.

​

Audio  31:22  
*Clip of "Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays" by *NSYNC*

​

Sophia Barber  31:32  
I mean, is that even a competition? 

​

Sierra Dudas  31:35  
And we all-

​

Andrea Mercado  31:35  
It's like-

​

Sierra Dudas  31:37  
we all know the correct answer, but I do. I just agree that all of these aren't iconic songs. Like I think these are all Christmas classics. They're all just as good as the other eras.

​

Sophia Barber  31:48  
Here's the thing- 

​

Andrea Mercado  31:49  
You guys know how I feel about *NSYNC so but like we like all know what the answer is.

​

Sophia Barber  31:57  
Here's my thing, right, what Sophie was talking about is from the 60s I literally had a list of 30 Christmas songs that I had to choose three from and from the 90s on it was like a struggle to come up with three. So while the three we picked or four, like are good and are bangers, we just mean like there's a lot less to choose from as time goes on. 

​

Sierra Dudas  32:16  
I got you.

​

Andrea Mercado  32:17  
Yeah that makes sense.

​

Sophie Moser  32:17  
Yeah, I think I also spoke a little too soon, too. Now that I'm listening to these back. I think I will revise my hot take and say specifically the 2000s were kind of a, like a just a little bit of a letdown. I think you'll see why. But the 90s and the 2010s definitely some bangers in there for sure.

​

Sophia Barber  32:38  
I think we can come to a consensus that all three of these songs slapped but like we just have to give it to the Christmas Queen Mariah.

​

Andrea Mercado  32:46  
Ms. Carey.

​

Sierra Dudas  32:47  
Really, our hands are tied. 

​

Andrea Mercado  32:50  
Yeah, but like *NSYNC know I love you.

​

Sophia Barber  32:52  
I really do love that *NSYNC song.

​

Andrea Mercado  32:54  
You guys know my hot take on *NSYNC that you guys roast me for constantly.

​

Sophia Barber  33:01  
Just jokes. I'm with you.

​

Sophie Moser  33:02  
Okay, well, we will call the 90s for "All I Want for Christmas Is You" by Mariah Carey. But yeah, we all agree all three are very good songs. And onto the lovely 2000s I think we were all born in the 2000s so that's fun for us. 

​

Sierra Dudas  33:28  
Don't date us Sophie.

​

Sophie Moser  33:29  
What?

​

Sierra Dudas  33:29  
I said don't date us. We're so young, or maybe old?

​

Sophie Moser  33:33  
Yeah, no, I feel like it's you know, we were too young we we can't really speak for this but I don't know you, you guys can let me know what you think about these songs. We can kick it off with "My Only Wish (This Year)" by Britney Spears from 2000.

​

Audio  33:49  
*Clip of "My Only Wish (This Year)" by Britney Spears*

​

Sophie Moser  34:03  
Okay, and next we have "Where Are You Christmas" by Faith Hill also from 2000. And this one is really sad. So sorry about that.

​

Audio  34:12  
*Clip of "Where Are You Christmas" by Faith Hill*

​

Sophie Moser  34:32  
And last, we have "8 Days of Christmas" by Destiny's Child from 2001

​

Audio  34:39  
*Clip of "8 Days of Christmas" by Destiny's Child*

​

Sophie Moser  34:49  
So thoughts ladies.

​

Andrea Mercado  34:51  
I'm not even gonna lie. I don't think I've heard any of these before.

​

Sierra Dudas  34:54  
Are you serious?

​

Sophia Barber  34:56  
Exactly.

​

Andrea Mercado  34:57  
I'm so serious. I mean, I lived in, like Mexico this time like, I don't know, I I genuinely never heard any of these.

​

Sophia Barber  35:04  
Have you ever seen the movie The Grinch with Jim Carrey, Andrea?

​

Andrea Mercado  35:09  
I don't know. I don't remember.

​

Sierra Dudas  35:09  
It's the real one.

​

Sophia Barber  35:11  
Like, the second song is from that if that provides any context.

​

Sierra Dudas  35:17  
Was it actually written for the movie, or did they just use it?

​

Sophie Moser  35:21  
No, it came out before and then, because the movie was a lot more recent than that, like the live action movie, I think. So they just use it for, I think, I could be wrong, but I'm like 95% sure that's correct.

​

Sophia Barber  35:34  
Hi, everyone. This is editing Sophia, and I'm here to fact check something said on the podcast. "Where Are You Christmas" by Faith Hill was actually released and written for How the Grinch Stole Christmas, which came out in the year 2000 along with the song, so sorry for the mis-info. Thanks, everyone. 

​

Sophia Barber  35:53  
I only know it from the movie. So that's embarrassing for me. 

​

Sophie Moser  35:56  
Yeah, no, I only know it from the movie as well. Just in my research, I found out that it is from an earlier point in time.

​

Sierra Dudas  36:05  
Okay, that's interesting. Maybe it's because my mom is such a huge country music fan. I did not associate it with The Grinch. Also, The Grinch kind of freaks me out. So I haven't seen it, the movie that much. So that might also have something to do with it.

​

Sophie Moser  36:19  
I love the Grinch. You guys should watch it.

​

Sophia Barber  36:23  
I'm- Yeah, I do too. I'm gonna put it out there that my vote is "My Only Wish" by Britney Spears.

​

Sierra Dudas  36:31  
I immediately, I'm going to say we need to throw out "8 Days of Christmas." I rarely hear it on the radio. Honestly, I don't really bop to it. I'm tied. My first instinct was to say "My Only Wish," but I also like "Where Are You Christmas?" I don't know. I could be convinced either way. 

​

Andrea Mercado  36:51  
Well, I don't know. But from the clips, the one that I liked the most was Britney like "My Only Wish" so I'm gonna give it to her.

​

Sophie Moser  36:58  
So I'm kind of with Sierra that I like both of the first two but I think for the Christmas vibes I will also say Britney, and that way we don't get stuck in a tie.

​

Sierra Dudas  37:11  
True.

​

Sophie Moser  37:11  
So for the 2000s-

​

Sophia Barber  37:14  
Notable shout out to "Where Are You Christmas?"

​

Sophie Moser  37:16  
Yeah. Yeah, this this was the decade where I was like, wow, I don't know any of these songs and the ones I picked are all from 2000 and 2001. So the second half of the 2000s kind of didn't show up. But that's okay. We'll call it for "My Only Wish (This Year)" by Britney Spears. And we will finish up with the 2010s which I think we have a little bit of a comeback here in my opinion and we will kick it off with "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" by Michael Buble in 2011.

​

Audio  37:51  
*Clip of "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" by Michael Buble*

​

Sophie Moser  38:01  
Next we have "Mistletoe" by Justin Bieber from 2011.

​

Audio  38:07  
*Clip of "Mistletoe" by Justin Bieber*

​

Sophie Moser  38:19  
Next we have "Santa Tell Me" by Ariana Grande in 2014.

​

Audio  38:26  
*Clip of "Santa Tell Me" by Ariana Grande*

​

Sophie Moser  38:36  
And last we have "That's Christmas To Me" by Pentatonix in 2015.

​

Sophie Moser  38:41  
*Clip of "That's Christmas To Me" by Pentatonix*

​

Sophie Moser  38:54  
All right, thoughts?

​

Sierra Dudas  39:00  
Are all of these the original version or are some of these covers? Putting you on the spot.

​

Sophie Moser  39:06  
Okay, "Santa Tell Me" is original. 

​

Sierra Dudas  39:10  
And "Mistletoe"

​

Sophie Moser  39:10  
"That's Christmas To Me" is not and "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" is not. 

​

Sierra Dudas  39:16  
Okay, that's what I thought. I don't know. I feel like "Mistletoe" and "Santa Tell Me" are so iconic. And like, of the era you know, they are written in the 2010s but I'm torn between the two. I mean, "Mistletoe" in my opinion that's Justin Bieber's best album cover. Like physically it was his prime, like, look, you know the hair cut.

​

Andrea Mercado  39:40  
Oh yeah, the hair cut! The hair cut.

​

Sierra Dudas  39:41  
The hair cut, that's literally what it is, the hair cut. Like that is just like, this Christmas album for Justin Bieber was like when all the fan girls like couldn't handle it. 

​

Andrea Mercado  39:51  
Well, obviously I'm going to give it to Justin like that was, you know, a turning point in his career and Wow, it was honestly cultural reset in my eyes. You know my 11 year old, or 10 year old eyes, but I don't know. But yeah no, I love "Mistletoe." Bop to it all the time. So-

​

Sophia Barber  40:10  
I second that, I think for it just being like an original song and yeah, a cultural moment. And how old was Justin Bieber in 2011?

​

Andrea Mercado  40:20  
He was 17.

​

Sophia Barber  40:22  
Just like little 17, 17 year old Justin Bieber singing this song. That's iconic. I think he wins the 10s.

​

Sierra Dudas  40:30  
I didn't realize he was so much older than us. I was really about to say he was 13.

​

Andrea Mercado  40:34  
Oh, no, trust me I know. And I also would like to point out this was the first time he ever kissed a girl in a music video and I was heartbroken. I was like, what is happening? 

​

Sophia Barber  40:50  
Okay.

​

Sophie Moser  40:51  
Oh, your mans.

​

Sophia Barber  40:52  
Sierra, what's your official vote?

​

Sophie Moser  40:53  
Keep him in line.

​

Sierra Dudas  40:54  
I don't know. Okay, I I'm actually gonna go, even though I agree Justin Bieber's "Mistletoe" was a cultural reset. I think it was less because of the song and more because of just him in that era. I'm going to go with "Santa Tell Me" because I personally enjoy listening to it more. And I also think it was a cultural reset. Like, Ariana Grande,  you know what I mean? Like this was like, her moment, her Christmas moment. 

​

Andrea Mercado  41:21  
Oh, yeah. Especially because she has like a lot of Christmas- well not a lot. But she has like various Christmas stuff. But this is honestly the best.

​

Sophie Moser  41:28  
Yeah, I agree with you, Sierra. I think I would honestly go for, I mean, those are my top runners for sure. And I think I would pick "Santa Tell Me." So maybe for the 2010s we could call it a tie between "Mistletoe" and "Santa Tell Me" and end on a high note. I feel like this is kind of like our decade of when we were like engaged in Christmas music. So-

​

Sophia Barber  41:52  
That feels right, the tie.

​

Sierra Dudas  41:54  
Agreed.

​

Andrea Mercado  41:57  
You know, I love them both.

​

Sophia Barber  41:58  
Well guys, thank you for coming through the decades with us. We covered what was that? Like 60 years of music pretty iconic. Now we're going to wrap it up with, we asked everyone to bring their favorite- No, I'm not gonna say favorite. I'm gonna say a notable Christmas song from 2020 to give a hot take, so I'm gonna put Sierra on the spot and ask her to start us off with her song.

​

Sierra Dudas  42:30  
Yes, so I want to preface this by saying this is not my favorite 2020 Christmas song. I like it, but not my favorite. This is the one I have a hot take about. So the song is "Quarantine Christmas" by John Lindahl.

​

Audio  42:51  
*Clip of "Quarantine Christmas" by John Lindahl*

​

Sierra Dudas  43:11  
So I, I mean I like the song I think it sounds good it's kind of fun. But what really, what I dislike about it is the title, the topic of quarantine Christmas. The point of a Christmas song in my opinion, from an artist's perspective, is to make money year after year, to have a banger that's so iconic that every single year you make a ton of money because every single radio station plays it and then you live on in infamy for the next 60 years as we've learned in our decades of songs and so like I don't see people listening to quarantine Christmas, or like understanding its value years from now. Like, obviously this is very of the moment but at the same time it's, the song itself isn't, like no one's really in the mood to think about quarantine when they're trying to get in the Christmas mood. So my hot take is that I feel like the song, like it has- For it to work it either needs to be so of the time that it like takes over radio stations now like "Old Town Road" did back when, you know, summers were happening. But I feel like it doesn't do that and it doesn't have the ability to live on year after year. Like there's, the song's okay, I just don't think it has like the it Christmas, The X Factor of Christmas songs.

​