Recorded December 2015 Christmas & Chill
(2015) Dangerous Woman
(2016) Release date 18 December 2015 | Length 13:08 Artist Ariana Grande Label Republic Records | |
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Released December 18, 2015 (2015-12-18) Genres Christmas music, Trap music, Contemporary R&B Producers Tommy Brown, Ariana Grande, Travis Sayles | ||
Christmas & Chill is the second holiday EP by American singer Ariana Grande. Republic Records released it on December 18, 2015, exclusively on iTunes as a Christmas gift to Grande's fans, as a follow-up to her 2013 holiday EP Christmas Kisses and her 2014 Christmas single Santa Tell Me. The EP features six original holiday tracks written by Grande, all of which have an R&B/trap sound.
Contents
The project received favorable reviews by critics, most of them noting the new sound for Grande. Despite not having any singles and receiving zero promotion, the EP had huge commercial success during the holiday season of 2015. It reached a peak of number 3 on the worldwide iTunes album chart, debuted at number 3 on the Billboard Holiday Albums chart and at number 34 on the Billboard 200 chart.
On November 18, 2016, Christmas & Chill was released on CD in Japan.
Recording and music
According to Tommy Brown, the EP was recorded in 4 days at Grande's home studio. Songwriting credits are shared by Grande with Tommy Brown, Michael Foster, Steven Franks, Victoria Monet, Travis Sayles, Ryan Matthew Tedder and Peter Lee Johnson. For Rolling Stone's Brittany Spanos, the EP consists of "romantic Christmas ballads over trap beats", commenting that "the one song to stand out from the more R&B-leaning EP is the folky 'Winter Things', where the acoustic track sounds a bit like Jason Mraz, as Grande sings 'My baby's in town and we're gonna do some winter things'."
Critical reception
Jaleesa M. Jones in USA Today called it "a festive ode to winter romance." Emma Garland from Noisey said the album "basically sounds like a Cassie album ... but with sleigh bells and lyrics like 'tis the season for some love giving!' It's basically the perfect festive romp." Apple Music described the EP as "a sultry set of modern holiday originals".
Songs
1Intro1:06
2Wit It This Christmas2:41
3December1:56