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Stories   >   Samara Joy - A Joyful Holiday makes 'cleveland.com's The years 12 best new Christmas albums'

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Samara Joy - A Joyful Holiday makes 'cleveland.com's The years 12 best new Christmas albums'

Posted: December 19, 2023

What’s on your playlist this year?

cleveland.com's Gary Graff writes…..If you ask Stevie Wonder, what Christmas means is candles burnin’ low, lots of snow and ice and mistletoe.

It also means music -- and a lot of that.

The winter holidays bring an annual sleigh full of new titles as artists from all genres try their hand at the sounds of the season. It’s a ritual right up there with fruitcakes and ugly sweaters, and the number of new releases seems to grow every year.

But after grappling with the onslaught, we’ve determined these as this year’s 12 Discs of Christmas, any one of which will add to the joy -- or at least drown out and distract from the stresses that are also part and parcel of the celebration. Happy listening...

Samara Joy, “A Joyful Holiday” (Verve): This EP comes in the wake of Joy’s Grammy Award for Best New Artist (and Best Jazz Vocal Album) and further displays her singing skills over a quick six tracks, including a live version of “The Christmas Song” and a duet with Sullivan Fortner on Stevie Wonder’s “Twinkle Twinkle Little Me.”


From PR……2X GRAMMY winner Samara Joy is set to release a holiday EP ‘A Joyful Holiday’ next month. The 6-song collection of seasonal favorites is an extension of her latest album Linger Awhile and features a similar cast of jazz musicians - Pasquale Grasso on guitar, David Wong on bass and Kenny Washington on drums - plus Sullivan Fortner on piano. The tracklist includes previously-released singles “O Holy Night” (performed with multiple generations of her family) and “Warm in December,” in addition to a new recording of Stevie Wonder’s “Twinkle Twinkle Little Me” and both a studio and live version of “The Christmas Song.” Produced by Matt Pierson, the EP is set for release on October 27 via Verve and will be available as an exclusive D2C emerald green color variant LP. Pre-order / Pre-save ‘A Joyful Holiday’ HERE.

The holiday EP continues a whirlwind year that saw Joy take home the auspicious Best New Artist and Best Jazz Vocal Album awards at this year’s GRAMMYs. Since her breakout wins, Linger Awhile has reached #1 on Amazon Best Sellers, Billboard Jazz, Pandora Trendsetters, iTunes and Amazon’s digital-music and CD sales, and more. Joy has garnered over 1 million followers on social media, and her tour dates all over the world have rapidly sold out. Her voice, rich and velvety yet precociously refined, has already earned her legions of fans in addition to millions of likes on TikTok — cementing her status as perhaps the first Gen Z jazz singing star.

Throughout the remainder of 2023, Samara Joy will be touring across the globe, making stops in Athens, Berlin, Paris, London and more. The “A Joyful Holiday Tour” featuring members of the McLendon family kicks off December 1 in Houston, and includes shows in Nashville, Atlanta, Philadelphia, and two highly-anticipated hometown shows at the Apollo Theater in NYC. For all upcoming tour dates, please visit https://www.samarajoy.com/.

‘A Joyful Holiday’ Tracklist
1. Warm In December
2. Twinkle Twinkle Little Me ft. Sullivan Fortner
3. The Christmas Song
4. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
5. O Holy Night
6. The Christmas Song (Live)
 

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