Single Review: Ariana Grande – ‘Santa Tell Me’
2 min read
Mainstream pop’s darling diva Ariana Grande has been blessing charts internationally with her sophomore album My Everything, spawning the smash single Problem with Iggy Azalea; not to mention singing alongside Jessie J and Nicki Minaj in the powerful Bang Bang, which was also a chart success. Now Ariana has released a special Christmas song to celebrate the upcoming holiday, Santa Tell Me.
The cliche use of sleigh bells can be heard in the background with the innocent tap of the xylophone throughout the chorus, Santa Tell Me is already set to be accepted into the endless array of Chrissy tunes. The track also has a decent boppy beat, keeping you around for its entirety; lyrically Grande is questioning Santa’s notions of making her fall in love, ‘Santa tell me, if you’re really there, don’t make me fall in love again if he won’t be here next year’. Does Santa really have that power? Anyway, to see the song out the backing vocals chant the chorus while Ariana does her thing and belts out some high notes.
Instrumentally, Santa Tell Me passes as a Christmas song purely because of the sleigh bells and encouraging chanty chorus towards the end, lyrically it’s so and so and now I’m under the impression that temporary flings are caused by the jolly red man himself. Vocally, it’s Ariana and we know her for her lovely singing voice, and it’s not meant to be as cheery and full of joy like the bulk of Chrissy songs as it’s written about falling in and out of love and wanting that stable relationship; therefore it’s basically a pop song with sleigh bells and Santa’s name thrown in to make it Christmassy, but hey, it’s a new Ariana Grande song so it’s listenable.
