While she’s never been one to release a half-hearted performance behind the microphone, what Jekalyn Carr does with her vocal in the brand new single “Great Christmas” is something for even the most diehard of R&B fans to marvel at. There are many charms to this latest track from the acclaimed pop star in the making – the beat is mildly virtuosic, the ebb and flow of the instrumental melody charismatic, and the production quality strong – but among them all, none is more important, nor as spellbinding, as the singing that Carr puts down here, in what is arguably her best work to date.
There’s a relaxed tone to the structure of the verses in this song, but that doesn’t stop a certain sense of urgency from entering the big picture as soon as our vocalist begins to unfurl her lyrics. As so many others who have made their mark on seasonal classics in the past have, Carr relies on her natural swagger to pump up her singing in “Great Christmas” as opposed to leaning on the artificialities of the soundboard, which would have potentially made the groove here a lot less appealing in the long run. She’s all substance and no filler in this track, which is refreshing for her generation of performers, to say the least.
The music video keeps things straightforward and out of excessive territories, and I especially like that it doesn’t appear to alter the original mix of the song at all. I’ve grown pretty tired of the sorted multi-mix “singles” that have been dropping in the underground as of late, and I get the impression that this is a singer who doesn’t have any interest in overstating her presence in the market – if anything, she’s letting her incredible voice speak for itself through the majesty of the melodies it’s presenting in this one and only version of her new song.
As I mentioned previously, “Great Christmas” has got a great beat that grabs our attention right from the jump, and I think that its delicately arranged eruptions increase the emotionality of the lyrical content here exponentially. The tension that exists before the hook’s explosive release doesn’t stand a chance against the percussive resilience this drum pattern is boasting, and even if it were mixed with slightly less bass, the groove in this song would still be more than enough to make even longstanding wallflowers want to shake their bodies in perfect rhythm.
I’ve been keeping up with Jekalyn Carr’s artistic and professional progress for a little while now, and I think that with the release of “Great Christmas,” she’s going to start getting a lot more attention and accolades from the mainstream press. She’s been quietly building up quite an impressive following in recent times, and in this single, she sounds like a musician who is ready to take her craft to a bigger and better stage. I’m curious to know what she’ll be producing next, and after you catch up with her fantastic Christmas release, I think you will be too.
