Sia: Everyday Is Christmas
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This came out in 2017, and had ten tracks. Since then it has been re-released several times, each time with more tracks, so that by 2022 it had twenty tracks. I didn't get it until 2022, but alas, I got the original, ten-track version. (I guess I wasn't aware of the other versions when I bought it.) And then, because I had so many other Christmas CDs to review in 2022, I didn't get around to listening to this one until Christmas Eve 2023.

1. "Santa's Coming for Us" - This is one I knew probably way back in 2017 because of its music video, which starred a bunch of celebs, the main one being Kristen Bell. I don't think it sounds very Christmassy, but it's fun, and at least the lyrics are Christmassy. Probably the highlight of the album, but maybe I just say that because it's like the sort of song that gets released as a single or gets radio play or whatever. You know, songs like that are just more memorable when you listen to the album because you've heard them even when not listening to it. But it's good, anyway.

2. "Candy Cane Lane" - I also knew this one, not for its music video (even though that's cool, because it's stop-motion animation), but just because... I dunno, I had heard it somewhere, maybe just on Amazon or maybe YouTube, but whatever, I like it. I'd say it's easily the most Christmassy song on the album. I think this is also a "single" song, and it's one that people could easily see as the album's highlight, rather than the first song.

3. "Snowman" - Well, this technically mentions Christmas, but it feels even less Christmassy than the first two songs. It's more of a general winter song like "Frosty the Snowman", if that were a love song somehow. It's nice, though. It has an official video that was released in 2020, and it's cool because it's another stop-motion video. But someone had made a fanvid for the song in 2017, which was CGI. I probably like that one better than the official video. I don't know what the animation was originally actually for, because I don't think it was made for this song. But it fits, and it's pretty heartwarming.

4. "Snowflake" - This sounds nice, because I mean it's Sia, how could it not? But it's kind of surreal, as far as I can tell it's a sort of ode to an actual snowflake. But I could be wrong.

5. "Ho Ho Ho" - It's hard to say if this is about Christmas, or pirates ("ho ho ho" reminds me of "yo ho ho", and of course there's rum involved), or misfit toys, or what. So it's kinda weird, but I do like it.

6. "Puppies Are Forever" - The purpose of this song seems to be reminding people they shouldn't give someone a puppy as a Christmas gift if they're not planning on taking care of it forever. Which is a good message. And it's an okay song.

7. "Sunshine" - This is probably the least Christmassy song on the album, both in sound and lyrics. Well, it does mention some elements of Christmas, but uh... I feel like it's mostly about, well, sunshine.

8. "Underneath the Mistletoe" - I'm not even sure what this is about, except maybe kissing? Because that's what mistletoe is for. But other than that it really doesn't seem very Christmassy to me at all. Probably my least favorite song on the album, but I wouldn't say it's bad.

9. "Everyday Is Christmas" - Well, this is obviously the title track. It's not so much about Christmas as it uses Christmas as a metaphor for being in love. Personally, I think the title also works as a metaphor for my not finding the album super different from Sia singing non-Christmas songs. This is another candidate for my least favorite song on the album, but again, I wouldn't call it bad.

10. "Underneath the Christmas Lights" - Um, at first I thought this was basically the same thing as "Underneath the Mistletoe" but with lights instead. But the more I listened to it the less sure I became. It's a bit ghostly, actually. And once again, it could be my least favorite song, but it's not bad.

So... I keep saying songs are not very Christmassy, that they're more like normal Sia songs than Christmas songs. But that's not entirely true. They're definitely Christmas songs, in that I wouldn't expect to hear any of them on a non-Christmas album. But again, it's more due to lyrics than the sound of the songs. They all just sound so Sia. Which is a good thing, but I'm probably not going to remember more than the first two or three tracks.