A Culturess Christmas Playlist

Pentatonix, “Hallelujah”, “That’s Christmas to Me”, “Little Drummer Boy”

Pentatonix have, surprisingly, made a name for themselves in pop music, despite the fact that they are a fully a cappella group, meaning that they do not use any instrumentation in their music. Also, as is true for most a cappella music groups, they do a lot of covers. There’s nothing wrong with covers, except that, well, you don’t usually hear a lot of covers on Top 40 radio. Cue the Christmas music success!

Ironically enough, of the three songs I’ve chosen, one is an original song. So there goes my covers-only theory for you.

The great thing about Pentatonix is that they are well-known and well-liked. You won’t find many people (even your curmudgeon of an uncle) who will go to great lengths to diss these guys. My three choices are “Hellelujah”, which isn’t normally a Christmas song, but ends up being a perfect fit for this time of year (and a beautiful tribute to Leonard Cohen), “That’s Christmas to Me”, their original song, and “Little Drummer Boy”, which was a break-out viral hit for them a couple years ago.

"The fireplace is burning bright, shining along me I see the presents underneath the good old Christmas tree And I wait all night ’til Santa comes to wake me from my dreams Oh, why? ‘Cause that’s Christmas to me I see the children play outside, like angels in the snow While mom and daddy share a kiss under the mistletoe And we’ll cherish all these simple things wherever we may be Oh, why? ‘Cause that’s Christmas to me"