Grammy Award winner and multi-platinum recording artist Kelly Clarkson
releases her first
Christmas album ‘Wrapped In Red’.
The album features Christmas favourites ‘Have Yourself A Merry Little
Christmas’, ‘Blue
Christmas’, ‘Run Run Rudolph’, ‘Please Come Home For Christmas’ plus
new instant classics
such as first single ‘Underneath The Tree’ and title track ‘Wrapped
In Red’.
Review
If American Idols are ready for anything, it's that industry standard, the
Christmas album. It is to Kelly Clarkson's credit that she waited a decade to
deliver a seasonal platter, but 2013's Wrapped in Red is worth the wait; a
testament to her confidence as an interpreter. Generally, the 14 songs here
emphasize Clarkson's skills as a full-throated diva – the arrangements are
bold and brassy, as is her delivery – but when the tempo slows and the
arrangements scale back, she's perhaps even more alluring, turning “Blue
Christmas” into a sweet fireside crawl and effortlessly overshadowing the
overmatched Ronnie Dunn on “Baby It's Cold Outside.”
Clarkson's selections favor the bold – there aren't many carols here,
these are primarily secular holiday tunes, and she doesn't resist Vegas glitz,
giving “My Favorite Things” a bit of a gaudy makeover – but she fares
well in this setting, always sounding like the strongest element in the mix.
Perhaps the concept and execution are conventional, but even in this utterly
expected setting, Clarkson retains her fiery, individual spirit, and
that's what makes Wrapped in Red appealing: to the letter, it delivers what it
promises. Stephen Thomas Erlewine – AllMusic