Holiday Wishes (Idina Menzel album)

For the Jon B album, see Holiday Wishes: From Me to You. For the seasonal greetings, see Christmas and holiday season#Greetings.
Holiday Wishes
Christmas Wishes
Studio album by Idina Menzel
Released October 14, 2014
Genre Christmas, pop
Length 48:34
Label Warner Bros.
Producer Walter Afanasieff, Rob Mounsey
Idina Menzel chronology

Live: Barefoot at the Symphony
(2008)		 Holiday Wishes
(2014)

Holiday Wishes, also titled Christmas Wishes,[1] is a Christmas holiday album by American singer-songwriter and actress Idina Menzel. Produced by Walter Afanasieff, it was released by Warner Bros. Records on October 14, 2014 in the United States, and on November 3 in the United Kingdom.[2][3][1] It is Menzel's fourth studio album to date, as well as her first in six years, and features a duet with Michael Bublé.

Background

During a summer performance at Radio City Music Hall, Menzel revealed details about the album, and indicated that the track "December Prayer" would be an original song. She also added, in regard to her Jewish ethnicity, "I know I'm Jewish. But a lot of famous Jewish people have written Christmas songs, so I'm going to try out some of their songs on the album."[2][4]

Although it's the only song in the album that was written by Menzel, the song "December Prayer" is a cover of the Yvonne Catterfeld song. Catterfeld's original rendition was included in her 2010 album "Blau im Blau".

Commercial performance

Upon its release, Holiday Wishes debuted at number 13 on the Billboard 200 albums chart with sales of 20,000 copies, making it the highest-charting solo album of her career. In its sixth week on the chart, the album sold 33,000 copies and reached a new peak of number 10, making it Menzel's first ever solo album to reach the top 10 on the Billboard 200. With sales of 370,000, Holiday Wishes was 2014's second best-selling holiday album, behind That's Christmas to Me by Pentatonix.[5]

Track listing

No. TitleWriter(s) Length
1. "Do You Hear What I Hear"  Noel Regney, Gloria Shayne Baker 3:45
2. "The Christmas Song"  Bob Wells, Mel Tormé 3:32
3. "Baby It's Cold Outside" (duet with Michael Bublé)Frank Loesser 2:46
4. "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"  Ralph Blane, Hugh Martin 5:43
5. "All I Want for Christmas Is You"  Mariah Carey, Walter Afanasieff 5:12
6. "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?"  Frank Loesser 4:36
7. "December Prayer"  Afanasieff, Menzel, Charlie Midnight 4:50
8. "When You Wish upon a Star"  Leigh Harline, Ned Washington 3:00
9. "Silent Night"  Franz Xaver Gruber, Joseph Mohr 4:30
10. "River"  Joni Mitchell 4:01
11. "Holly Jolly Christmas"  Johnny Marks 2:27
12. "White Christmas"  Irving Berlin 4:12
Target edition bonus tracks[6]
No. TitleWriter(s) Length
13. "Mother's Spiritual"  Laura Nyro 4:19
14. "Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow"  Sammy Cahn, Jule Styne 2:41

Charts

Chart (2014) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[7] 55
UK Albums (OCC)[8] 42
US Billboard 200[9] 6

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Eames, Tom (September 30, 2014). "Idina Menzel announces Christmas album, includes Michael Buble duet". Digital Spy. Retrieved October 2, 2014.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Strecker, Erin (September 4, 2014). "Idina Menzel Announces Release Date for Christmas Album". Billboard. Retrieved October 2, 2014.
  3. ↑ "Tony-Winning Frozen Star Idina Menzel to Release Christmas Album, Holiday Wishes, on October 14th on Warner Bros. Records". Yahoo!. September 4, 2014. Retrieved October 2, 2014.
  4. ↑ Evans, Suzy (June 17, 2014). "Idina Menzel Belts Stage and Songbook Hits, Accepts Fake Tony at Radio City Music Hall: Concert Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved October 2, 2014.
  5. ↑ Caulfield, Keith (January 2, 2015). "Billboard 200 Chart Moves: Pentatonix Earns 2014's Top Selling Christmas Album". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved January 3, 2015.
  6. ↑ "Idina Menzel - Holiday Wishes (Deluxe Edition) - Target Exclusive". Target Corporation. Retrieved October 9, 2014.
  7. ↑ Ryan, Gavin (December 13, 2014). "Michael Bublé Christmas Creates ARIA Chart Record". Noise11. Noise Network. Retrieved December 13, 2014.
  8. ↑ "2014-12-20 Top 40 UK Albums Archive". Official Charts Company. Retrieved December 16, 2014.
  9. ↑ "Idina Menzel Album & Song Chart History" Billboard 200 for Idina Menzel. Retrieved December 6, 2014.