Kodaline, an Irish rock act, unwraps something a little less sugar-coated in this festive season with their brand-new holiday offering, “This Must Be Christmas.” But don’t expect sleigh bells and syrupy cheer, this is Christmas, Kodaline-style.
Written by Vincent May, Steve Garrigan, Mark Prendergast, Jon Maguire, Jason Boland, and Corey Sanders, the track is a long-standing wish list item for the band. “We always had an idea to write a Christmas track, but we never got around to doing it until now,” they explained. That feeling of anticipation is present in the song itself, it sounds like a moment that’s long been waiting for its time.
But instead of providing a traditional festive anthem, “This Must Be Christmas” leans into something grittier and more contemplative. The group concedes that the song takes a cue from The Pogues’ Fairytale Of New York, mirroring its raw honesty and pub-marinated sadness. Titled “kind of an anti-Christmas song about drowning your sorrows in the pub on Christmas,” Kodaline’s new one crystallizes the aspect of the holidays that is rarely discussed, the subtle twinge behind all that sparkle.
It’s this emotional ambivalence that makes the song hit. There’s a warmth in its vulnerability, and shared loneliness offers camaraderie. Rather than pursue festive perfection, Kodaline settles for imperfection, the missed opportunities, the clinked glasses, the desire that still simmers under a curtain of fairy lights. Feeling particularly magical about this time of year, an official music video will be revealed on November 25th, all the more to relish in the bittersweet seasonal soundtrack. With “This Must Be Christmas,” Kodaline reminds us that the holidays don’t always go according to plan, and that sometimes is what makes them true.
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