Phillip Phillips – “This Christmas” – The National Tree Lighting – (VIDEO)

By On 12/06/2012 · 70 Comments · In American Idol, Phillip Phillips

Share on TumblrShare via email

The National Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony took place in Washington DC today, and was streamed online. President Obama and his family helped flip the switch, while a slew of artists performed for a crowd braving the chilly winter air. American Idol winner, Phillip Phillips sang a Christmas tune, as did Jason Mraz, Ledesi, The Fray, James Taylor and more.

Check out Phillip performing “This Christmas” with a big band. There wasn’t much room for Phil to improvise, nevertheless (and maybe because of it) he delivered a soulful performance of the classic. Phillip sang a bit of “White Christmas” as part of a group finale medley.

The special will air on PBS beginning on December 7. Check your local listings for dates and times.

Via PPhillipsOnline.com

Tagged with:
 
← Older Comments
  • Louisvillefan

    Not bad for P2, but no one sings it better than David Archuleta.  Take a look:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTAmW5buG3Y

  • iani

    Phillip doesn’t need “to act like the kind of AAA” artist, he was this kind of contender on the show and he has come with an album that fit that format. Unfortunately some hundreds of spins may not be enough to support him in business  if he doesn’t come with another AAA song to crossover at least to HAC format. He doesn’t need to convince people he is authentic, they by music by the “good sound” not necessarily by the authenticity of the artist. He has to convince the people in the industry, the PDs and DJs he is an authentic AAA artist to support and play him, “quirky” enough for their tastes of music and the formats’ standard-sounds of the today’s music.
     
    I think for the market/promotion discussion, a good example is Adam Lambert’s situation. The label supported him, as always for other idols, with the 2 singles, giving him the promos they had thought they were good to get the invested money back, the third one didn’t get any promotion and ultimatly he sold in US under 200K. And then his direct management has changed the strategy: forget resuscitating an album and  promoting a music that didn’t have a good reception in US, Adam demonstrated with album #1 he is good enough for some markets and they are taking advantage right now of his reception overseas to keep his name and image up, marketing him and internationally. I would like other idols to have such a “greedy” management to think for their own pockets and take advantage of the artist’s talent they represent.

  • girlygirltoo

    lots of extremely successful artists are putting out Xmas albums these days. Lady A, Blake Shelton, Michael Buble, Scotty, etc. Putting out a Xmas album doesn’t mean your career is a wreck.

  • girlygirltoo

    “Small town ordinary dude makes good” is the exact narrative that Kris had. Not to mention Scotty. So it’s not exactly a fresh angle with which to promote Phillip.

  • http://twitter.com/CanadianLady2 CanadianLady

    That wasn’t quite Scotty’s thing. He was the boy from Garner, N. C. who needed his sweet tea and Bojangles and had an amazingly deep voice, grew up listening to Elvis and Conway Twitty, loved pitching a baseball, and had a very humble demeanor, while at the same time sticking to the songs he wanted to sing, which were traditional country. That was repeated in a 100 different ways. His family also became part of the story.

    I was a fan of Kris, and love his first CD, but other than his being married to Katy, I never really knew much about who he was. Not even remotely close to Scotty. And I think that hurt him.

    ETA – I did know they were both Christians, too.

  • cmom

    thanks  louisvillefan for that @davidarchie link to the song – what he did at 2:52 when he goes up high at “through the night” was really amazing. I enjoy all the idols Christmas interpretations but I do have to say that archie spoils me for so many songs it is annoying! Glad to see the idols all out at the tree lightings.

  • girlygirltoo

    For me, far too much of both the promo and the marketing for people coming off Idol has been so cheesy, no wonder it’s hard to take them seriously. For me, while I appreciate that they are, for the most part, nice, humble, friendly, blahdiblahdiblah, I would much rather them be marketed/promoted for their music, not for their “All-American” personalities. Honestly, it often makes them come off as overly wholesome, boring, cheesy, etc. I would bet that even the cleanest of the clean cut contestants who have come off Idol (for example, someone like Archie) are not anywhere near as boringly wholesome in reality as the marketing/promotion can make them appear.

    Outside of the Christian and possibly the country market, does a significant portion of potential music listeners/buyers even care what the artist is like as a person? I would doubt it.

    Put more focus on how good the music these people put out — and a lot of them put out very good music, irregardless of whether it sells well or not, stay away from piling on the “cheese” factor — and maybe more of them will actually have solid success.

  • kmd23

     I could not agree with you more Louisvillefan. Thanks for posting the video.

  • heike hoffmann

     I wouldn`t say, Phillip shouldn`t sing Christmas music. But maybe he shouldn´t sing these  kind of songs. They are all a bit cheesy.
    But I think, there are Christmas songs which would fit him ( Happy Xmas; Santa Claus is comming in town; Jingle bell rocks; Rockin around the Christmas tree ….).
    Phillip is a rock musican and these songs could fit with his genre. I heard a very cool version of “Santa Claus is comming…” from Bruce Springsteen.

  • fuzzywuzzy

    Among Idol alum, I think that Ruben does a nice job of TC. It’s more upbeat than Archie’s version.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sccEKsM9A-4

  • hellomusicgirl

    Santa Claus is Coming to Town and Jingle Bell Rock aren’t cheesy? lol.

    I agree with the premise of what you’re saying though. It’s not the cheesiness that’s the problem, it’s the melody and the type of singing required to perform the song well. Traditional Christmas songs with a certain type of melody are probably not going to work well for him but he could definitely pull off more of a rock or folk version of Christmas music. Happy Xmas is a great example and actually one of my favorites.

    And now that you’ve said that, I really want to hear him sing it.

  • journey1

    I think it is easier for those competing on Idol to stick to their style of singing now than it was 3 or 4 seasons ago.  Scotty would have been chastised by the judges for making everything a country song. Philip was encouraged to do his own thing on each song.  The judges were constantly telling the singers to mix it up and sing something outside of their comfort zone. The last 3 or 4 seasons they have been much more open to the competitors staying with the kind of song that fits their voice.  I think that helps alleviate  the confusion on what kind of artist they are.

  • heike hoffmann

     Santa C…. and Jingle B…. are more funny and playful songs, what takes away the cheesiness.
    But I agree with you, the best song of them would be “Happy Xmas” for him. I think generally, some John-Lennon-songs fit Phillips voice very well.

  • Incipit

    I think it is easier for those competing on Idol to stick to their style of singing now than it was…The last 3 or 4 seasons they have been much more open to the competitors staying with the kind of song that fits their voice. 

    I agree, journey1, although it doesn’t go back quite that far – IMO. ..and it’s a deliberate decision w/TPTB to have more open themes. This new approach starts with Season 10…and what you wrote about Scotty and Phillip not being asked to leave their lanes is very true. Another year, they would have been dinged hard for what easily passed in their seasons.

    Do a comparison of theme weeks with Seasons 7,8,9 and 10,11 – so far – Season 7 was the most extremely controlled, even the Semi-Finals had defined themes, and ALW was in ‘nobody’s’ wheelhouse, but neither was Disco in Season 8  - and even Season 9 had a cast of predominately singer/songwriters trying to sing the Stones, Elvis and Frank Sinatra.

    In the inevitable post mortems of Idol as a whole, there always seems to be three year cycles – like the Time of the Big Voices, or the predominance of Instruments (7,8,9)- (which were then limited in Season 10) – and I have a feeling 10, 11, and 12 will be the Cycle of Self Expression, or something.

    People may argue that this provides much fewer creative surprises, twists and water cooler moments – and this is true, IMO – but it also allows for fewer train wrecks, where people crash and burn in an unfamiliar or unsuitable genre.

    But if Idol keeps going – I expect the next three seasons will have a different common pattern – although I have no idea what that may turn out to be…but I do look forward to reading all the opinions.

  • tucker davis

    I didn’t mean that popular & current artists don’t put out Christmas music. I think it’s great that the ones you named have done that…can’t wait to hear Lady A’s. I meant that Phillip doesn’t look really comfortable with this genre. Of course that could change with more experience. I’m a P2 fan but don’t think that everything is in his wheelhouse.

  • Heidijoy

    Agreed I saw David sing/perform this in SLC and Beaver Creek last Christmas Season.  He was really grooving to this :)  Great Memories and I listen to it year round when I need something Groovy.  

  • elliegrll

    Outside of the Christian and possibly the country market, does a significant portion of potential music listeners/buyers even care what the artist is like as a person? I would doubt it.

    I wouldn’t agree with this, because the buyers having an idea of who the artist is is part of branding.  I think that we’ve seen that an audience can like a song, but that doesn’t mean that the are going to make an effort to buy an artist’s album, check out his or her other songs, or pay to see the artist on tour.  

    This doesn’t mean that the image/perception that the audience has of the artist is real, but you seem to be saying two contradicting things.  Some of the alums have been hurt by marketing, or a lack there of, that makes them seem boring, who wants to buy an album from someone who comes across like they they don’t have a pulse?  It’s reasonable to assume that the artists would be helped by marketing that shows that their interesting, not just manufactured acts, and like they actually have their own voice, meaning a say in their careers, sound and music.

  • Incipit

    I think generally, some John-Lennon-songs fit Phillips voice very well.

    heike hoffman, “Happy Christmas, War is Over” – Lennon’s song  goes out of Phillip’s range on that…on “A very Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year”.. Maybe not a good choice without extensive re-arrangement.

    Actually, Phillip didn’t do so badly on “This Christmas”, singing with the band seemed to keep him within the melody…and after this year, with the ‘newly minted Idol’ thing, he probably doesn’t ever have to do Christmas songs again if he doesn’t want to – which is good – “most Christmas music is really not his niche”, as Eilonwy noted. Just get through the Holiday season…next year the New Winner will get these gigs.

    JMO.

  • http://twitter.com/CanadianLady2 CanadianLady

    >It’s reasonable to assume that the artists would be helped by
    marketing that shows that their interesting, not just manufactured acts,
    and like they actually have their own voice, meaning a say in their
    careers, sound and music.

    Exactly. Your brand doesn’t have to be nice or sweet or humble – it can be quirky, daring, smart, funny, crazy, scary, out of the box… whatever is most attractive to your target audience. 

  • heike hoffmann

     I would say, he could pull it off. He had to perform songs, where he had also sing some higher notes and he did well (“Imagine” , The national anthem). Yes he maybe have some problems with the highest notes from the chorus of “Hold on”. But this one does go a lot higher than the highest part of the Lennon-Christmas-song.
    Or maybe he had to sing the completely song a half octave deeper, but this I wouldn´t call “extensive re-arrangement”.
    But probably you are right and he don´t have to perform christmas-songs anymore after the end of this year. Lol

← Older Comments