This winter, think pink (and red and green and white). Morgan Noelle Smith & Kaylee Domzalski/NPR

Poolside Yuletide: 51 Songs To Paint Your Holidays Pink

By NWPB Music December 24, 2018

PHOTO: This winter, think pink (and red and green and white). CREDIT: Morgan Noelle Smith & Kaylee Domzalski/NPR

BY LARS GOTRICH, LYNDSEY MCKENNA & MARISSA LORUSSO, NPR

You’ve donned the gay apparel and trolled the ancient Christmas Carol from Accounting, but the snow has turned to gray slush and whenever a mulled beverage is served, your uncle can’t help but channel his inner Rob Thomas: “Man, it’s a hot wine!” (The pun is solid, but the impression sounds more like Bill Murray’s caterwauling howl in Scrooged.) You want to get in the spirit, but you’re hardly dashing through the snow. What to do?

This winter, think pink. The guardians of roséwave spent the summer guiding y’all through newfound singledom, messy young adulthood, crying, summer romance, child rearing and boutique fitness, all through the power of pop music and a glass of rosé (or iced coffee, or seltzer, or whatever inspires carefree sipping). Roséwave is the soundtrack for living your best life, no matter the season.Poolside Yuletide is the holiday playlist for both basics in warmer climes (hello Australia!) and those of us who need to escape the winter blues, or at least require a reflective mix of sweet and sad while staring out frosty windows. (We see you, “Blue Christmas” as sung by noted mope Conor Oberst.) Saxophones stream across Carly Rae Jepsen‘s faithful, yet undeniably Queen of Christmas cover of “Last Christmas” and Bruce Springsteen‘s high-kickin’ “Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town.” There’s the drum-machine joy of Saint Etienne‘s should-be-classic “I Was Born On Christmas Day” and the perfectly titled “Dashing Through the Snow in High Heels” by K-pop group Orange Caramel. PJ Morton puts a New Orleans bounce spin on “This Christmas” while Big Freedia twerks all over “Rudy, The Big Booty Reindeer.” A La Face Family Christmas offers not one, but two tidings: TLC‘s bopping “Sleigh Ride” (Left Eye’s “giddiup, giddiup, giddiup and away we go” will single-handedly make your spirits bright) and a reminder that OutKast‘s very first single was a “Player’s Ball” wrapped in “nonsense about some silent night.”

But your halls just aren’t properly decked without some classics, including The Supremes’ lush orchestration of “My Favorite Things,” Otis Redding‘s “Merry Christmas Baby” and, yes, Mariah Carey‘s “All I Want For Christmas” — Christmas doesn’t even begin until we hear this song, don’t @ us. We made Poolside Yuletide three hours long not just to soundtrack holiday parties and long drives home, but because we know the season contains every shade of e•mo•tion.

Thanks to roséwave contributors who shared songs for the playlist, including Sidney Madden, Beca Grimm, Margaret Willison, Lauren Onkey and Stefanie Fernández.