It’s Never Too Early (Or Late) For Christmas
While constantly interviewing new and upcoming artists, it is rare that I meet someone who focuses solely on Christmas music and strives towards creating the next biggest Christmas hit.
Most of the time I speak with an artist who is Pop, Rock, or Hip-Hop and they can easily be categorized into one of those genres. However, never to this day have I met an artist with such a passion for Christmas music, where they seem to make it a genre in itself.
Elizabeth Chan is a NYC native who has never lived anywhere but there. Her passion since the time she has been a child has been writing and performing Christmas music — no matter what time of the year it is.
Chan currently has two albums out that are solely focused on the holiday season, and she even left her day job as a fruitful media executive who helped Fortune 100 companies navigate through new media.
I asked Chan in our interview if she had a particular Christmas song she wrote that resonates the most with her due to childhood memories or a particular event.
“All of my songs are very personal, and because I write holiday music all year round, each record is autobiographical,” she said. “It’s a journal of my personal philosophies on the holiday season. The song that is most special to me is, ‘A Christmas Song.’ It was one of the first songs I wrote (out of the 300+ original songs) and was written for my sister. Every Christmas memory I had, she was there. She was definitely my partner in Christmas music crime for most of my life. We both love Christmas music so much. A couple of years ago, we spent our first Christmas apart. I wrote this song to let her know that anytime I heard a Christmas song, she was always in my heart.”
I personally love when artists write their songs based on people or events that mean the most to them, so after Elizabeth’s answer, I listened to “A Christmas Song,” once more, and realized just how much emotion was put into the heart felt message to her sister.
Songs like this are extremely rare to find in today’s music industry.
Following up the last question, I asked Chan if growing up in NYC affected her writing style or influenced her genre choice at all.
“There is something magical that happens in NYC during the holiday season,” Chan said. “It almost feels like a different city because of the influx of tourists and the Rockefeller tree, which smells in the air that wafts through Fifth Avenue. It almost writes itself, as cliché as that sounds, it’s absolutely the truth. I think it’s pretty cool that decades later, I’m following in the footsteps of people such as Irving Berlin who wrote, ‘White Christmas,’ about NYC. Not to be completely nerdy, but I have studied the history of Christmas carols and standards – many of which were born from NYC.”
As someone who did not grow up in NYC, but who always visited with her family during the holidays, I have to say that I know the exact majestic feeling Chan strives to capture in all of her songs, and I personally think she does an amazing job of portraying the atmosphere and Christmas spirit.
“Usually when I’m getting ready to record, I give up caffeine completely. That includes coffee, something I basically live off of,” said Chan, when asked how she prepared for her recording sessions. “I also produce my own records. It’s been really interesting to need to switch between the artist and producer hats.”
As an artist myself, I find this extremely admirable, and I cannot imagine how much work Chan puts into the writing and production of one album from start to finish.
Out of all of my interviews, I have never been more inspired by an artist before. Chan is a true inspiration to aspiring artists out there who think it is too late or not practical to follow their musical dreams.
With the holiday season quickly approaching, I advise you all to download Chan’s latest album, Everyday Holidays. This is a great gift to give to yourself for the holiday season or to pass on to someone you love.
