Peppermint Winter

"Peppermint Winter" is a song by American synthpop act Owl City. The song was released on November 22, 2010 as a promotional single, and also serves as a Christmas single. It was first made available on November 22, 2010.^[1]

Meaning

Adam Young of Owl City wrote on Last.fm that it is about his "...own participation in snowball fights and sidewalk shoveling. Sleigh rides, present-giving and receiving and of course, the ingestion of marvelous Yuletide nutrition (or lack thereof), namely sugar cookies, hot chocolate and peppermint candy canes..."

Composition

"Peppermint Winter" is a light, waltz-like song that incorporates synth beats and vocals. The beat is mainly formed by jingle bells and occasional heavy drums. Piano is often featured as well, among some orchestrations, such as wooden string instruments and some woodwinds. The song is in 3/4 time at approximately 150 beats per minute. It is written in C Major with a key change at the end to D Major. Adam's range in the song spans from the notes Eʒ to A5.

Critical reception

"Peppermint Winter" received mixed reviews. The Idolator blog gave the song negative review, writing in its review of the song: "Owl City's frontman Adam Young has released his own contribution to the cornucopia of Christmas pop songs flooding this season, "Peppermint Winter", and the saccharine love song to snowballs and sleigh rides gives us the same feeling we get when we eat too many candy canes in one sitting. Somebody get Owl City's prankster buddy Ke$ha on the remix of this track to pour some much needed Schnapps all over it."^[2] However, the Napster blog gave the song a more positive review, writing that the song "is cut from the same cloth" as his previous song "Fireflies", and calling the song "light and sugary like the candy canes on a Christmas tree". The review continues stating that while the song "might not become a classic like "Christmas Wrapping" from The Waitresses", "who can really say no to just one more Christmas song?"^[3]

Charts

References