25 beloved holiday albums to rediscover this winter

Holiday Wishes – Idina Menzel

Queen Elsa can control the snow (and the cold never bothered her anyway) so I assume that means she loves winter, and probably loves Christmas too. So it makes sense that the real-life Elsa, Idina Menzel, would put out a Christmas album. Despite being raised Jewish, Idina proved that no matter what religious affiliation or cultural background, you can still get into the holiday spirit when she released Holiday Wishes in 2014.

A beautiful voice like Idina’s is meant to be heard and cherished, and what better time to do that than during the holiday season? The Tony winner covered Christmas standards like “Do You Hear What I Hear”, “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas”, “What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?”, and “Baby It’s Cold Outside” with Michael Bublé. She also has two unexpected covers on the album: “When You Wish upon a Star” from Disney’s Pinocchio and “River,” the not-a-holiday-song by Joni Mitchell that has slowly been appropriated into a Christmas classic. It’s always refreshing to see different songs than the usual crop of carols.

Idina didn’t take many risks with this album; she didn’t make it sexy like Ariana Grande, bring in rap like Justin Bieber, or go electronic like some other artists on the list. She just kept it classic, and critics appreciated the beauty of her arrangements. Holiday Wishes made it to the Top 10 of the Billboard 200, the first of any of Idina’s solo albums to do so, and it was also the second best-selling holiday album of 2014, second to That’s Christmas to Me by Pentatonix. Both great albums, so who could be mad about that?