New Music Friday Playlist: Holiday Edition Part 2

As December presses on, each day more houses are adorned with colorful lights, brightly decorated trees can be seen twinkling through front windows, and people are joyfully gathering together with family and friends celebrating traditions, holidays, and love.

While the holidays can be a time filled with happiness and loved ones, it can be equally as painful and deeply isolating for others. Whether kept apart by time, distance, or death, not everyone is able to be with those they love most, which can leave many people feeling far less than celebratory during this time of the year.

This week’s featured artists have felt the pain of separation and unrelieved torment during the holidays and turned their desolation into the gift of music. If you’re feeling lackluster right now, give these songs a listen, and you may just feel a little less alone.

It’s not uncommon that as we grow and begin to pursue independent lives of our own, the distance between us and our family (particularly our parents) widens. Life happens, money gets tight, or the obligations of our new daily lives take priority, which can result in family visits getting put on the backburner. When the holidays approach, they often usher in an air of childlike wonder and a sense of nostalgia, leaving many people longing to spend time with family and the people that raised them. Jes Justice captures this wistful yearning in her featured single, ‘Christmas Always’. With a stylized storytelling reminiscent of early 90’s Reba, this country Christmas ballad will leave you misty eyed and booking a plane ticket back home!

While many of us have the luxury of our loved ones being only a phone call away, others are plagued by the weight of grief and the loss of those they held most dear. The holidays can amplify that anguish to an inconsolable degree. In 2017, Amanda McCarthy lost 3 of the people she felt closest to in the span of 7 months. For McCarthy that year, “the holidays did not feel holly or jolly.” Through her sorrow, she wrote this week’s other featured single, “Christmas Without You”. She states, “I am reminded every year that people can relate for losses new or old.” Whether you’re currently sitting in the recent loss or maybe listening to honor the absence of loved ones lost years ago, this song is sure to bring you a sense of solidarity this season.

Do you have a favorite song or beloved tradition that brings you comfort during the holidays? Share with us in the comments on our Instagram!