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“As is the case with most Christmas projects, ‘A Different Christmas’ is a nice project with some good songs and a few that get you in the Christmas mood. Nevertheless, it’s nothing spectacular, nor do I believe Bryson intended it to be.” – Aaron Adade
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ – 8/10 Lyrical Dexterity
⏱⏱⏱⏱ – 6/10 Longevity
🎧🎧🎧🎧 – 7/10 Production
Before blessing us with his fourth studio album, Bryson Tiller has decided to gift his fans a brand-new Christmas-inspired project titled ‘A Different Christmas’. With only seven tracks, this project is a short and sweet one, and Bryson brings out some feelings people have around Christmas time.
On ‘be mine this christmas’ he sings about heartbreak around this time of the year with plenty of people sadly spending the holidays alone. One of the great things about Bryson is how his engineer mixes his voice over intoxicating instrumentals. In this EP, we may not get a lot of it, but when we do it really hits.
After a smooth interlude that wonderfully transitions into the next song, ‘presents’ featuring Kiana Ledé. Bryson sings about how truly amazing it feels to spend Christmas with that special someone. He and Kiana have great chemistry on this track. She sings back in a way like she’s replying to everything Bryson put out there.
Till this point, we may get a lot of R&B music with Christmas topics, but there isn’t a lot of Christmassy feel music. However, with ‘i’ll be home for christmas’ this all changes. There’s a Christmas carol feel to this one. The pitch Bryson uses with the mixture of harmonies with his own vocals is very soothing. It reminds you of music you’d hear in all the classic Christmas movies.
The most notable feature on the project is Bryson’s fellow Canadian star Justin Bieber who features in ‘lonely christmas’ along with Poo Bear. The guitar-led beat with drums makes this one of the funniest songs to groove to on the project. Even though the lyrics are about regret over things they’ve done to lead to a lonely Christmas, it’s sung so well it just makes you feel good and forget all about it.
Bryson and the talented artist Tayla Parx then link up to sing about being thankful for the person that came along and changed their life. This song is a nice switch up from some of the lonely, regret-filled music we heard before, as although it was sonically pleasing, you get to really feel the love on this one.
The project ends with a rendition of Dean Martin’s classic song ‘Winter Wonderland’. Nothing quite matches the original. Nevertheless, Bryson does a decent job of adding a little twist by featuring his adorable daughter on it. This instantly puts a smile on your face and makes you melt a little inside. Christmas is all about spending time with your loved ones and truly appreciating them. So, closing the project with Bryson’s daughter Halo is lovely.
Overall, as is the case with most Christmas projects, ‘A Different Christmas’ is a nice project with some good songs and a few that get you in the Christmas mood. Nevertheless, it’s nothing spectacular, nor do I believe Bryson intended it to be. The project does, however, hold fans over until his highly anticipated next studio album ‘Serenity’.
