‘Merry Christmas To Me’ Mixtape: Feat. Nylo, Nash Overstreet + More!

About a month or two ago, I got the idea to get together with a few of my friends, and put out a mixtape of some of my favorite Christmas songs. Some of them, I produced from scratch… Learning a LOT of weird jazzy Christmas type chords in the process… And then some, I used a couple karaoke tracks and threw some programming/drums on top. I’ve been trying to hurry it up, between the typical holiday cold/flu/travel/schedule and all… And I’ve finally released almost all of the ones I’ve been working on.

Here’s a couple little insights to the making of each!

While I was in Nashville for thanksgiving, I had Kyra Christiaan come over and do “This Christmas” with me. I’ve worked on a bunch of songs with Kyra in the past couple years, and I figured since we’re both massive Chris Brown fans, we had to do our own version… Of his version. She is so fun to work with cause… Selfishly… I don’t really have to do much. I’ll throw out some ideas here and there, but it makes it so easy when someone like Kyra can just do whatever you suggest the first time and sound great.

Once I got back to LA for a bit, I got together with Aubrey Cleland. I only had a handful of songs picked out before choosing my duet partners/(victims). She had mentioned wanting to do “Baby, It’s Cold Outside”, and it seemed like a great idea… And WAY better once we finished it! I’ve been friends with her for a bit, and seen her perform at the W hotel’s jazz night several times; so it was fun and overdue once we finally got in the studio together on this song. I’m almost positive she doesn’t know how good she is. As a producer, picking from a bunch of great takes is a rare moment. Lucky me.

The title track, “Merry Christmas To Me”, was done with my SUPER talented friend Nylo. Leave it to her to not only record a great vocal to the track I emailed her… But to also surprise me by raising the bar and writing her own original lyrics to “The Christmas Song”. I obviously had to step up and follow suit. So I wrote my verse, sent it back, and about 10 emails later, we had a song! I really love having her on this song. Such a great voice and great vibe.

I’ve met some really incredible singers/musicians this past year, and I feel so blessed every time I get to work with someone that is truly great. Kiana Brown impressed me when I saw her perform live, but once we were recording… I was dumbfounded. Girl can SANG. She’s so young but has so much control over her voice. Very inspiring… And I was pretty stoked that she’s a label mate. I gave her a couple options on which songs to pick from, and once she started in on “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas”, it was the perfect fit. I’m pretty sure I had her do a few more takes than necessary, just to keep hearing her sing.

Claudia Lee is more than multi talented, being an actor AND singer. We got together on “Let It Snow”. It’s always so fun on duets to figure out who sings what parts, and how to flip back and forth. So she came over, picked our spots on who would swap off and when… And we definitely ended up having a great time, and having an awesome version! She killed absolutely killed it. “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” was originally going to be a duet with me and my brother Chord. It MAY still happen, but with our crazy schedules and Christmas coming up fast, I figured I’d better go ahead and put out a version. So as of right now, it’s just me on it… But who knows. The 11th hour may prove otherwise. Anyway, I’m psyched that so many of you all are loving the Christmas songs. I wanted to give it away as a gift to anyone out there from fans to friends to family. Have a happy holiday season, a merry Christmas, and an awesome New Years Eve.

What song is YOUR favorite!?