When Christmas Comes Around...

Kelly Clarkson's ninth studio album and second Christmas outing, 2021's When Christmas Comes Around... offers a mix of standards and original songs by Clarkson. Along with its 12 new recordings are three bonus tracks originally released between 2017 and 2020, including a version of Vince Vance's "All I Want for Christmas Is You" (not to be confused with the Mariah Carey song). Other covers here include a refreshingly non-infantile "Santa Baby" and a jazz-combo version of Wham!'s "Last Christmas." A vibrant, fully orchestral, high-volume set on average, it sees Clarkson take a momentary break from belting on the tenderer original "Merry Christmas (To the One I Used to Know)," a song she co-wrote with frequent contributor Aben Eubanks, and which still features the singer's precision pitch. More-high-profile collaborators here include Ariana Grande, who joins Clarkson on the upbeat "Santa, Can't You Hear Me," and Chris Stapleton, who duets on the equally exuberant "Glow," thought it regrets being separated from loved ones for the holidays. Following in the bootprints of 2013's Wrapped in Red, When Christmas Comes Around... topped the Billboard holiday albums chart upon release. ~ Marcy Donelson