Graphic created by Lucas Seidel Design

Growing up in Pembroke Pines, Fla., my Christmas mornings were never about hoping for presents under the tree, but more about hoping it wasn’t too hot outside so I could wear my Christmas pajamas and slippers while sipping on hot chocolate - with extra mini marshmallows of course! While South Florida doesn’t offer snow, the holiday season here brings its own kind of magic. Our warm weather means we can’t get snowed in, but it also means we get to experience some of the most incredible community events, especially during the holidays.

What made these events even more special for me growing up was that they weren’t just about celebrating the season; they were also some of my first opportunities to perform. I can still remember getting up on those stages in front of a crowd made up of families and neighbors, while performing my favorite holiday songs and passing out candy canes, sharing the holiday magic through music. These were the performances where I first learned to connect with an audience, where I found my voice and where my passion for performing truly began. It was in these moments that I realized how much I loved bringing joy to others through music.

These holiday events still hold a special place in my heart, and they’re some of the performances I still look forward to most every year. Even with the big mound of ice from the local rink serving as "snow", the magic of Christmas isn’t lost. It’s not about the perfect winter wonderland but about the joy of being together with loved ones, sharing laughter and music and creating memories that last a lifetime. Every year, I remember how these events helped shape me into the artist I am today, and how they continue to inspire me to spread the holiday cheer wherever I go.

It's been so fun to perform at community events over the last decade!

Graphic created by Lucas Seidel Design

Graphic created by Lucas Seidel Design

I love to cook, cater and host at our home in Nashville throughout the year. I get it from the queen of hosting for the holidays: my mom. My mom runs the kitchen during the holidays! 

Dan and Austin getting “haircuts” (chocolate syrup + peppermint schnapps) from Santa at Dan's annual Christmas party

Graphic created by Lucas Seidel Design

For me, the best part of Christmas is the memories it brings. Certain smells bring me back to my childhood: peppermint, cinnamon, gingerbread. I remember drinking hot chocolate with the small marshmallows in my childhood home. Our childhood dog, Boomer, a Saint Bernard, would slobber all over everything and steal the wrapping paper after we opened our presents. I remember opening presents with my little sister.

Graphic created by Lucas Seidel Design

Do you know that feeling when you’re perfectly in sync with “the now”? We, songwriters, love being right there in the present because we’re not trying too hard and not chasing something we have already done before.

Writing “Christmas Time” was just that. David Boyd and I had just become friends, and we were goofing around in the studio. I don’t remember who said it, but somehow, the “let’s write a Christmas song” idea came up, and we wrote the whole thing in a short amount of time. Initially, we wanted to make it a dance track, but years later, in Brooklyn, we did it as a fun rock band tune. It was meant to be for the fans of New Politics and nothing else, but I kept returning to the song, wishing I had a real recording.

So, fast forward some years. I lived in Nashville, where I produced records for other people. The idea that I could record a Søren Hansen record started to come about, and luckily, I got connected to an amazing label in California that believed in what I do. On a hot summer’s day, I got a phone call from Enci Records asking me if I wanted to record a 2024 Christmas song, and I said, “Yeah! I might just have the song.”

To keep it as original as possible, I hit up Louis Vecchio (New Politics drummer) and asked if he wanted to play on it, as well. And that’s how it came about.

I tend to draw a lot of inspiration from more haunting parts of my brain, but this one came from a place of joy. I also grew up in a home where we didn’t celebrate Christmas the traditional way. In fact, we only really celebrated Christmas when I was a kid, and I genuinely love the holidays. In a way, you could say that the song comes from a place of longing, after all.

I’ve also always been a fan of rock n’ roll holiday tunes (Tom Petty, Beatles, Queen, and the list goes on). It’s fun! And it’s acceptable to just have fun with a Christmas tune. What’s not to love??

And now I get a chance to do it, too. Nothing would make me happier than to be able to spread some holiday cheer to people around the world, and I hope you’ll love “Christmas Time” as much as I enjoyed writing and singing it!

Merry Christmas!

Graphic created by Lucas Seidel Design

 Gather 'round the open fire for Chimneyside Chats - a monthly feature with holiday stories from our favorite artists. See what's in their stockings this year as they reminisce on Christmas memories, share their favorite recipe and more! Here's what songwriter and vocalist Kristen Anzelc had to say:

I’ve always been a huge fan of Halloween and horror movies, and luckily, my best friends share the same passion. Through the years, we’ve turned what many might consider an unusual tradition into something we eagerly look forward to every year - a movie-thon featuring good food and Christmas-themed horror films.

As Blink-182 perfectly puts it, "We'll have Halloween on Christmas", and that’s exactly what we’ve done. There’s something about pairing Christmas cheer with a touch of horror that makes the holidays feel even more alive (pun intended).

To help you get into the holiday spirit, I’ve rounded up my top 10 favourite Christmas movies - an even mix of horror and non-horror classics, all guaranteed to make your season bright (or delightfully spooky).

Photo courtesy of Jeremy Daniel

Taking a modern day Christmas classic and turning it into a full-blown musical is no easy task, but ELF has become a family favorite to those who love film or theater. For Tara Nicole Vinson, playing the lead role of Jovie is a magical opportunity.

This is the second national tour Vinson has been a part of. She played Suzy Sheep on Peppa Pig Live! in 2022 and said that this production has some drastic differences. Her time on tour with Peppa Pig Live! taught her all about adaptability. Many of those shows were one night only, which meant taking a sleeper bus to the next show and waking up in a different city each day. ELF is more of a traditional tour, spending multiple nights in one city before moving onto the next.

The stage productions are also quite different, which means that the stages they perform on could require modifications to their individual performances. Different theaters could mean different set placement or different choreography, so being prepared for a last minute change is crucial.

Vinson’s most important takeaway from touring is keeping a good mental mindset. Being adaptable is part of that, and she always reminds herself that change is not bad; it’s different. There are so many miniscule parts of a performance that are not necessarily thought about until it has to be changed, so keeping that in mind is what makes the final performance all the more energizing.

The story of ELF does not substantially change from the 2003 film. ELF The Musical is the hilarious tale of Buddy, a young orphan who mistakenly crawls into Santa’s bag of gifts and is transported back to the North Pole. Unaware that he is actually human, Buddy’s enormous size and poor toy-making abilities cause him to face the truth. With Santa’s permission, Buddy embarks on a journey to New York City to find his birth father, discover his true identity and help New York remember the true meaning of Christmas.

Adapted for the stage by Sam Scalamoni featuring songs by Tony nominees Matthew Sklar and Chad Beguelin, the part of Jovie holds sentimental value to Vinson. Every year growing up, the film was a holiday staple in her own household and was her grandmother’s favorite holiday film.

She knew she wanted to honor those who played the role before her but also bring something new to the stage. She rewatched the film and researched past performances, but also took real-life experiences that tie her to Jovie.

“I’m a person who likes to be inspired but not necessarily copy and paste when it comes to how I approach things,” she said. “When reading my script, I realized I am very similar to Jovie. That also allowed me to really take from my own experiences; take from my own thoughts, my own feelings about moving all the way to New York City, and how that felt for her and how that felt for me. I decided to bring my own little twist that was inspired by those who came before me but put a little Tara on her.”

Photo courtesy of Adam Castilla

Ava Wilson looks back fondly on a childhood spent at her grandmother Mimi’s house in Memphis. It was a place where she fell in love with nature and music, spending as much time as possible either out in the backyard or in front of the grand piano. It was her grandmother’s influence that led her to a career in music.

“She’s a creative as well and has always been supportive and has pushed me to do what I love, which is making music and creating,” Wilson said. “She introduced me to music. Some of the first music I ever heard she played for me.”

Through her grandmother’s encouragement she taught herself piano and wrote original songs. Despite that encouragement, she felt as though she lacked the confidence of believing in herself as much as Mimi did.

It wasn’t until a stay at a residential treatment center in Utah that she found her own confidence. The center did not provide a safe and supportive environment, so she took it upon herself to give a bit of relief when she could. With good behavior she would earn privileges which included access to a guitar that she would play for her fellow residents.

“I would play for a lot of the peers around me who were also struggling with their own challenges and also the challenges of being in a place like that,” she said. “More people started listening and telling me that it was the best part of their day and helping them get through the stuff that they were going through. I think that hearing that was the biggest ‘a-ha’ moment for me.”

After escaping the treatment center a year later, Wilson considered moving to Nashville to pursue music before ultimately deciding on Los Angeles. She attributes part of that decision to producer Adam Castilla and the immediate connection they formed.

She recognized instantly that he wanted to make music that was uniquely hers. She enjoyed her previous sessions with other producers, but this was the first time she wasn’t being pushed to sound a certain way. Castilla’s first question to her was simple: What did she want from this? She barely finished describing her ideas before he was bringing them to life.

She took inspiration from an artist that was frequently played during her childhood, David Bowie, and channeled his boundary pushing into her own creativity. She wasn’t worried about sounding like anyone other than herself.

Her first single under the moniker Babyfangs, “Feelings Bleed”, delves into the concept of not only escaping the treatment center but escaping the emotions it left behind. She wrote the song to give herself the closure that she did not receive while she was there.

Her latest single, “Prima Bella Donna”, stemmed from a writing session with Castilla where Wilson found a book in the studio about poisonous flowers. One of the first flowers listed in the book was the Belladonna and inspired a poem that ultimately turned into lyrics.

The beautiful yet deadly flower inspired lyrics pertaining to toxic relationships. With experience in that department, the song compares those types of relationships to the flower.

“I wanted to be able to put something out there that other people can hopefully [recognize] as something they’re dealing with right now or felt before and take it as an initiative to either leave a toxic relationship or to take care of yourself more,” she said.

The accompanying music video is set in an abandoned home that gives off the same eerily beautiful vibe as the lyrics. Castilla directed and filmed the video, as well as scouted the location. When he showed Wilson the home, she instantly saw the resemblance of her grandmother Mimi’s house. It was bright with natural beauty and history, and the piano in the sitting room sealed the deal.

“It just felt like a very special place, especially to be creating something for my music,” she said. “I felt very excited and happy to be able to stumble upon something that felt that sentimentality even though I had never been there.”

Babyfangs could very well be a real-life Snow White, with her inherent love for animals and celestial voice. She has a gift for taking in nature’s beauty and crafting it into the perfect melody. Thanks to her grandmother, she gets to share her gift with all who will listen.

When Kate Voegele and Michael Grubbs were introduced to the world via The CW’s television drama, One Tree Hill, so was their musical catalogs. Their original music naturally took on a more traditional pop sound as it was featured on the show, but this time around they’ve decided to join forces and embrace their indie roots for the duo Your Future Ghost.

Closer to the beginning of the global pandemic, Voegele and Grubbs were catching up via video call when they decided to write a song together. They had maybe written together once before, but they’ve never lived in the same city so the opportunity just never came up. Since they currently had a seemingly endless amount of free time, they wrote another one soon after. The song naturally became a duet, and made them question, “is this a band?”

“We didn’t set out at all to start a band, but it was almost like we never had the chance to creatively see how our voices meshed until we stumbled into it,” Voegele said.

As the band organically took shape, so did their sound. It went from sounding like solo Kate Voegele music featuring Michael Grubbs to Wakey Wakey music featuring Kate Voegele before it suddenly clicked. They both leaned on their admiration for indie bands and it was as if the final piece to the puzzle was placed.

”It’s really true that sometimes you can be really good friends with somebody and you can both be really talented in your own ways but you just don’t creatively vibe sometimes,” Voegele said. “Just because a friendship chemistry exists does not always equal a creativity chemistry, but this was a case where we both realized we get along as friends really well but we also really work well together. [Grubbs] is just the type of artist and collaborator that really holds space and creates space for the other people collaborating to be real and honest and put forward ideas without feeling afraid of being vulnerable. That is harder to find than you think.”

Early albums from Arcade Fire and Yeah Yeah Yeahs served as inspiration for their upcoming album, slated for an early 2025 release. Their first single, “We’ve Got Places”, felt like the best place to start as the song feels like a bridge between the music fans know them for and the music fans are being introduced to.

“We felt like it would be a good idea to lead with something that maybe had echoes of some of what people are used to hearing from us even though it was really different,” Voegele said.

Prior to the release of “We’ve Got Places”, Voegele and Grubbs actually sat on the music for years. It felt incredibly vulnerable to share something drastically different than what their fans knew them for. It got to the point where they had such a strong selection of songs that truly represented where they were in life, and it would be a shame if no one ever heard them.

The timing was perfect when Voegele was invited as a guest on the Drama Queens podcast, a rewatch of One Tree Hill, but could not discuss the show per guidelines of the SAG-AFTRA strike. Instead she got to share the news of Your Future Ghost with the people that helped introduce them.

One Tree Hill fans were also the first to see Your Future Ghost perform live. Events honoring the show are hosted in Wilmington, N.C. every year where fans can meet the actors and tour the places they filmed. Voegele and Grubbs spent days rehearsing and had planned to bring a full production alongside their performance. Unfortunately, delayed flights and damaged instruments nearly derailed the show.

“It was one of those situations where everything goes to shit so much that you almost have to laugh and just rise to the occasion,” Voegele said. “The fans were so cool and supportive about it, and it actually ended up being this really special badass, grassroots, dive bar, indie band experience because it was just raw guitar and vocals. We just had to deal with it and figure it out, which is really the punk rock spirit of all indie rock music, so it was perfect.”

Their latest single, “I’m Like Money”, was one they knew they wanted a music video to accompany it. With a shoestring budget and an amazing group of collaborators, they set out to the desert to film a story about two hustlers who lure people into thinking they’re going to make money from a desert monster. The end product was something they were very proud of despite a mishap that involved Voegele being hospitalized for dehydration. Thankfully it was not anything too serious, and with the talent of director Teck Sokic, they were able to put together something exceptional.

For Your Future Ghost, taking a DIY approach to the music involves finding a perfect balance between everything else going on in their lives. Voegele said it’s part of the magic of the band - it may feel as though they are stumbling their way through it but there is something genuine in that. They have given themselves over to this art, and fans can feel that.

“I think there’s something really liberating and fun about being able to completely start from scratch,” she said. “In many ways this music is what got me out of a creative rut. I was really struggling with what I wanted to say next as an artist and I feel like now I’m more inspired than ever about what I wanted to say eventually with my solo stuff. I was able to go over here and explore this side of my artistry with [Grubbs] so it’s been really fun.”

Taking inspiration from their experiences in the spotlight and the community they’ve formed, Your Future Ghost plans on sharing a debut album that is full of everything they love about some of their favorite artists: big guitars, thunderous drums and striking synths. Trying something new in their artistry has sparked a fresh wave of creativity, and they plan to ride that wave as long as they can.