Fruitcake

By James Yu Dec. 11, 2024

After a blowout year for Sabrina Carpenter, the radio-frequent is looking to end the year with a new holiday-themed Netflix show, “A Nonsense Christmas.” This show follows up Carpenter’s Extended Play “fruitcake,” filled to the brim with holiday-themed songs from last Christmas.

The first song on the EP, “A Nonsense Christmas,” delivers on what its title entails: warm christmas bells, Carpenter’s popstar lovesong singing and illogically lewd lyrics make clear Carpenter’s goal for the production: to break into the lucrative and esteemed Christmas tune archive amongst the likes of stars such as Mariah Carrey’s “All I want for Christmas is You” and Wham!’s “Last Christmas.” “A Nonsense Christmas” achieves what Carpenter sets out to do with it, yet outside of being a catchy radio ditty falls short of bringing anything new to the holiday table. Indeed, the song is so generic that its melody blends in with every other song on the radio, Christmas season or not.

Following up “A Nonsense Christmas”’ mediocrity is “buy me presents.” Throughout the song, Carpenter angelically sings about maintaining a roster of interested lovers at the ready through sensual innuendos of Santa’s milk and cookies, amongst other Christmas elements. Although I appreciate Carpenter’s choice to experiment with lascivious themes, the song suffers from the same mediocrity as “A Nonsense Christmas;” while the beat and instrumental is signature Christmas, the composition lacks passion, almost as if the drummer is the slacking lover Carpenter is singing about.

On the other hand, “santa doesn’t know you like I do” takes a softer approach to the holiday love song scene. Carpenter’s tender vocals make for a decent lullaby, though its corresponding softer tempo limits its radio playability. In a similar vein, “cindy lou who” tender and melancholy vibes make for a heartfelt listen. As Carpenter laments Cindy Lou, a girl who stole her lover, holiday listeners might forget that the song is even a Christmas tune, given its limited references to the holidays.

Returning to the fast pace of pop, “is it new years yet?” mixes together synths and christmas chimes to craft a groovy, forward song to dance to. Carpenter’s vocals fare well with the fast paced instrumental, and the simple lyrics make for a generic but acceptable track.

Ending the EP, “white xmas” does little to differentiate itself from the Christmas songs which came before it. Most indicative of this is the culmination of the song, where Carpenter includes a brief homage to Christmas classic “jingle bells.” While admittingly, the EP accomplishes its mission of creating radio-hit songs for the holiday season, its lack of innovative ideas prevents Carpenter’s songs from establishing themselves as true Christmas classics.

Rating: 2/5 

• Commendable Experimentation 

• Generic themes 

• Soulless compositions

  
  

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About the Contributors

James Yu is a Junior at Leland High School and Page Editor for the Sports Section. He loves listening to music and reviewing the newest releases as Music Columnist. Outside of Journalism, he enjoys debating for the debate team, hanging out with friends, and sleeping.