The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection

Background and composition

For the original release of The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection, Swift partnered with the American retail company Target; it was made available as an exclusive limited release at Target stores in the United States and online, at Target.com. The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection's cover art is from Swift's music video for "Teardrops on My Guitar" (2007). On October 6, 2009, the EP was re-released by Target and made available as a digital download on the iTunes Store and Amazon.com, both making minor adjustments to its cover art and removing "Sounds of the Seasons", leaving it as The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection.

The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection is holiday music with a country pop inclination. The EP is mainly composed of cover versions of holiday hits and Christmas carols. The EP's opening track is a cover version of "Last Christmas" by Wham! from their 1986 album Music from the Edge of Heaven. The original song "Christmases When You Were Mine" was written by Swift, Liz Rose, and Nathan Chapman. Lyrically, the track fixates on prior Christmases, in which the song's protagonist, was happier. The lyrics also express that the current Christmas is much harder to cheer for than previous ones. It is the only song to date that Swift has ever recorded in which Chapman is credited as a co-writer, in all of their other collaborations, Chapman is only credited as a producer, while Swift and sometimes other songwriters are credited. Swift covered "Santa Baby", a 1953 song originally performed by Eartha Kitt. "Silent Night" is a Christmas carol cover that is musically performed differently, replacing the instrumentation from piano to acoustic guitar; Swift's vocals are also faster than traditionally recorded for the song. "Christmas Must Be Something More" is the second original song from The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection, self-penned by Swift. The lyrics attempt for audiences to recognize the reason for the celebration of Christmas, the commemoration of Jesus Christ's birth. The closing track is a rendition of Irving Berlin's "White Christmas", which was popularized by Bing Crosby on his 1942 album of the same name.

Critical reception

The EP received generally positive critical reception. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic said the songs on The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection were "all crisp, cheerful arrangements that are suitably seasonal but also faithful to her bright country-pop." Craig Shelburne of CMT said, "Thanks to this teen star, a new generation of sensitive girls may discover the melancholy but oh-so-melodic 'Last Christmas'. She also includes two original holiday songs." An uncredited review in Deseret News felt that the release was too short, with only 6 songs, yet fulfilled its task. Dan Maclntosh of Country Standard Time concluded, "Swift is a fine singer, who finds ways to inject sincere emotion into every line she sings. They say the best things come in small packages. And that saying holds true for Swift's new one."

Commercial performance

On the week ending December 8, 2007, The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection debuted at number eighty-eight on the Billboard 200. The following week, the EP rose to a new peak at number forty-six on the Billboard 200. Following its 2009 re-release, The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection re-entered the Billboard 200 at number twenty, its peak, and extended its run on the chart to twenty-four weeks. For the 2007 holiday season, the EP peaked at number eighteen on Top Country Albums and at number twenty-two on Top Holiday Albums, and for the 2009 holiday season, it peaked at number fourteen on both Top Country Albums and Top Holiday Albums. For the 2010 holiday season, The Taylor Holiday Collection re-entered the Top Holiday Albums Chart at number one. As of December 2014, the EP has sold 1,040,000 copies in the United States.

Promotion

Swift first performed a song from The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection, "Silent Night", on November 28, 2007 in New York City, at the Rockefeller Center, which was broadcast by The Today Show; Swift dressed in a long black dress and a white winter coat and performed while playing a rhinestoned acoustic guitar. She then performed "Christmases When You Were Mine" on November 29, 2007 in St. Charles, Missouri, at the Family Arena, as part of her set for WIL's Jinglefest 2007, and "Santa Baby" in Bloomington, Minnesota, at the Mall of America on December 8, 2007. Swift appeared on The Today Show again on Christmas Day of 2007, performing "Christmases When You Were Mine" and "Silent Night".

All of the tracks except "Christmas Must Be Something More" received airplay on several country radio stations and therefore each charted on Billboard's Hot Country Songs: "Last Christmas" peaked at number twenty-eight, "Christmases When You Were Mine" peaked at number forty-eight, "Santa Baby" peaked at number forty-three, "Silent Night" peaked at number fifty-four, and "White Christmas" peaked at number fifty-nine.

Track listing

All tracks produced by Nathan Chapman.

Personnel

As listed in liner notes.