Last Christmas, after a busy year promoting her debut solo album, Vanity Project, Cyrena Wages released two very different Christmas tunes. We dig into them again, as those nights get longer, the days get colder, and the only thing to live for is some turkey and baubles.

Blue Christmas

Joke: what type of Christmas do they have in the home of the blues, the Mississippi Delta? A: A blue Christmas. Explanation: it’s not white, it’s more melancholy than that. A blue Christmas is therefore the opposite of a white one. Even their snowflakes look blue, without you there to enjoy them with.

And when those blue snowflakes start falling
That’s when those blue memories start calling
You’ll be doing all right
With your Christmas of white

If you’re in Britain and under 60 you might not recognise this as an Elvis Presley track. It turns out he was not the first to record this all-time Christmas classic, but it is hard not to think of him when you hear it.

It’s great to hear Cyrena in a duet, and Butch Walker does a fab job. The sense is that they had a fun time recording this one, practicing their Elvis vibrato or whatever the correct term is. The video clip is Cyrena hanging balls on her tree for the holidays. It’s not quite as deep or blue as you might expect, and a nice way to kick off that bluest of seasons.