Holidays (Meghan Trainor song)

"Holidays" is a collaboration between Meghan Trainor (left) and Earth, Wind & Fire (right).

In January 2020, shortly before the release of Meghan Trainor's third major-label studio album, Treat Myself (2020), Billboard announced that she had started writing original Christmas songs, planning to release them later in the year.[1] Three months into the COVID-19 lockdowns, she decided that it was the right time to complete her Christmas album.[2] Trainor's intention with the project was to "spread some joy this year" in contrast to the gloom surrounding the world at the time.[3] Trainor recalled that most of the work for the album was done in "July and August", when the weather was hot.[3] Trainor pre-recorded two music videos and fifteen performances five months into her pregnancy, for later use.[4] She wanted the album to feel like "a pop Christmas", something that could be played throughout the year, and decided to include original songs along with covers.[2]

Trainor wrote "Holidays" with Earth, Wind & Fire members Philip Bailey, Verdine White, and Ralph Johnson, along with Eddie Benjamin, and its producer, Mike Sabath.[5] In an appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show,[6] she announced that the soon-to-be-filmed music video for her Earth, Wind & Fire collaboration would be the first one shot during her pregnancy.[7] On September 9, 2020, Trainor officially announced the album title as A Very Trainor Christmas on her social media accounts.[8][9] She revealed the album's tracklist on October 22, 2020, which included "Holidays" as the fifth track. Trainor stated: "'[They] are [one] of my family's all-time favorites. We worship the ground they walk on, so to get them to feature on this album still doesn't feel real. Best Christmas present ever!'"[10] The song became available for digital download on A Very Trainor Christmas, which Honest OG Recording and Epic Records released on October 30.[11]

"Holidays" is two minutes and 45 seconds long.[11] Sabath produced and programmed the song. He handled vocal production with Trainor and engineered it with her brother Justin. All three provided background vocals alongside Benjamin, Bailey, Daryl Sabara, Tristan Hurd, Maddie Ziegler, and Philip Doron Bailey. Benjamin and Morris O'Connor play guitar, Bailey and Johnson play percussion, White plays bass, Hurd plays trumpet, John Paris plays drums, Rashawn Ross and Will Artope play trumpet, Gary Bias plays alto and tenor saxophones, Reginald Young plays trombone, and Ray Brown plays horns orchestration. Serban Ghenea mixed the song, and Dale Becker mastered it.[5]

"Holidays" is an uptempo song driven by trumpets, which incorporates layered harmonies and horn bleats.[6][12] The song's musical style has been described differently by critics. The Associated Press's Mark Kennedy called it "an old-school, propulsive funky" song.[13] Allan Sculley of The Spokesman-Review wrote that it "illustrates the connecting threads between '70s R&B/pop and current-day pop".[14] Writing for Idolator, Mike Wass stated that Trainor "moves forward a couple of decades, production-wise" compared to the A Very Trainor Christmas track "My Kind of Present".[15]

The lyrics of "Holidays" are about celebrating the holidays and having a party. In the part sung by Earth, Wind & Fire members, they implore listeners to say that they are "rеady for the holiday" and call their families to inform them that they will be there soon.[6] Trainor announces her intentions to have a party: "Tryna party 'cause we goin crazy / You can feel it, you can feel it".[7] One of the lyrics repeated throughout the song is "It's a celebration / Get ready for the holi-, holi-, holidays".[5] GQ's Olive Pometsey described it: "Trainor and the band's jubilant vocals invit[e] you to have a festive boogie".[16]

Music critics compared "Holidays" to Earth, Wind & Fire's 1978 single "September". Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic believed that the former "works hard to bring the spirit of 'September' to December".[17] Pometsey described it as a "gem" and thought "it sounds exactly like you'd hope it would", fusing "September" and "Let's Groove" (1981). He added: "Sure to get people on the dance floor at your support bubble's Christmas do, 'Holidays' is perhaps the most fitting way to close 2020's disco renaissance."[16] Melissa Ruggieri of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution thought the song's quality justified Trainor's excitement about the collaboration, which she described as "so very EWF".[12] In his biography of the group, Trenton Bailey wrote that it "embodies EWF's classic sound".[18]

Commercially, "Holidays" reached number 35 on the Canada AC chart issue dated December 12, 2020, and debuted at number 10 on the Holiday Digital Song Sales chart issue dated November 14, 2020.[19][20]

Trainor wore bows in the music video and live performances for "Holidays".

Sarah McColgan directed the music video for "Holidays", which was released on November 24, 2020, following a live chat hosted by Trainor.[21][22] Trainor was five and a half months pregnant when it was filmed. In the video, she appears with tiny gift bows on her face, and she wears a large ruby red bow over a black evening gown and a white winter dress. Trainor performs the song with Earth, Wind & Fire, dressed in shiny jackets, on a stage decorated with enormous ornaments, disco balls, toy troops, and dancers wearing matching red bows.[7][23]

Trainor continued wearing bows during her live performances of "Holidays", one of which was at The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. She wore a nitid bodysuit with a huge green bow while reprising the song with Earth, Wind & Fire for NBC's Christmas in Rockefeller Center special, which aired on December 2, 2020. The bow was noticed by the public on social media; Today's Lindsay Lowe remarked that "oversized bows are quickly becoming a signature holiday accessory for [the] Grammy winner".[24][25] That same day, Trainor performed the song on Today.[26]

Credits are adapted from the liner notes of A Very Trainor Christmas.[5]