How many ‘Baby It’s Cold Outside’ covers do we really need?

Leah Hardgrove | Contributing Writer

No matter what holiday you celebrate, ‘tis officially the season for catchy Christmas tunes to dominate the radio. I think we can all agree that nothing beats walking to class in your winter coat while being serenaded by the king of Christmas music himself, Michael Buble. His album, appropriately titled “Christmas,” features a wide range of festive cover songs, from “Silent Night” to “All I Want for Christmas is You.”

Buble is not the only pop star to release a holiday album—in fact, it’s become standard for an artist to cover at least one holiday jam. There have been a lot of fantastic covers and original songs made by artists in their attempts to capitalize on the most wonderful time of the year. Sia’s newest album, “Everyday Is Christmas,” includes terrific tracks like “Santa’s Coming For Us” and “Candy Cane Lane” that never fail to bring the holiday spirit. If artists gave up entirely on covering classic Christmas music, the world would have never been blessed with Mariah Carey’s iconic “All I Want for Christmas is You [Extra Festive Edition].” I’m also a big fan of “Santa Tell Me,” an original by Ariana Grande. A cappella group Pentatonix has also impressively covered the holiday classics—and Ella Fitzgerald’s jazzy rendition of “Sleigh Ride” is another festive favorite.

Buble

However, some musicians probably shouldn’t deck the halls with wintery releases.

Honestly, the world does not need as many “Baby It’s Cold Outside” covers as already exist (according to Spotify, there are more than 20). Do Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, Gwen Stefani, Ashley Tisdale and Carly Rae Jepsen all really feel the need to revamp and rerelease Wham!’s “Last Christmas”? Plus, don’t forget that World Wrestling Entertainment star Jillian Hall released the worst-ever rendition of “I’ll Be Home for Christmas.”

However, none of these even come close to the atrocity that is Jingle Cats. This band, composed solely of cats and a doggy chorus, has released two full length albums entitled “Meowy Christmas” and “Here Comes Santa Claws,” and the songs are just cats meowing to the tunes of traditional holiday songs. No lyrics, no human singers—just cats meowing. Back in high school, I had a Latin teacher who would play these albums during class all throughout December. Let me tell you, Jingle Cats gets really annoying, really quickly. I don’t understand why it exists, or why someone even felt the need to make this, but all 34 songs are available on various music platforms, from cassette tape to Spotify. Jingle Cats is funny if played ironically, but the fact that this music is listened to seriously blows my mind. Does the world really need cats meowing to the instrumentals of “Ode to Joy”?

No. It does not.

There are plenty of good, modern Christmas songs and covers to play this season, so don’t waste your time listening to meowing cats or multiple versions of the same song.

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