Your December Music Guide – Cause it can’t ALL be Christmas Music

It’s December and if you’re like me, you’ll casually tune into a few Christmas songs if you’re in the car and happen to have the radio on, but I definitely don’t seek it out till like December 23rd, and even then, it’s the Beach Boys’ Christmas Album or NSYNC’s Home for Christmas or nothing at all. So consider this your December musical counter-programming to all the Christmas music the world is trying to shove down our throats!
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Raleigh Ritchie – Time In A Tree

No, not a Christmas Tree. We all know Raleigh Ritchie aka Jacob Anderson as Grey Worm on Games of Thrones. But now we can all know him as that hot dude from Game of Thrones who is singing that baby-making music on the side. No wonder Missandei is HERE FOR IT.

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Thank U, Next – Ariana Grande

In the perfect mashup of Holiday meets non-Holiday music we have Ariana Grande’s Thank You Next video which is so full of the hot tea and Mean Girls, Thirteen Going on Thirty, Bring It On, Legally Blond references plus LITERAL cameos (heeeeey Aaron Samuels!), I almost thought I directed it myself. Kris Jenner as the “cool mom” aka Amy Pohler is so good. Damn. Ok, I feel like an Ari stan now. If you need another Ariana hit and self-love anthem, her song God Is A Woman is just what the doctor ordered.
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Boo’d Up – Ella Mai

2018 has been another dumpster fire of a year, so let’s just forget it and head right back to the mid ’90s where this song is so obviously plucked from. Newcomer Ella Mai’s Boo’d Up is the perfect throw back to Mary J, TLC, En Vogue, SWV, and all those queens.
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Shallow – Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper

Cause I’m still not over it.
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Nothing Breaks Like A Heart – Miley Cyrus & Mark Ronson

I can’t explain it, I just want Miley to win. She seems to have gotten her shit more together in recent years, Liam’s back in the picture, and her Happy Hippie foundation works with homeless teens, and that’s so good. Plus this has such a Dolly Parton ‘Jolene’ vibe to it, I dig.
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Entropy – Grimes and Bleachers

Were you just thinking about how much you could use a little Grimes pre-Elon Musk? Me too. Here’s a song with her and Bleachers aka Jack Antonoff aka Lena Dunham’s ex aka I just try to forget those last two things.
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The Man Who Has Everything & Do My Own Thing – Chance the Rapper

In Chance the Rapper fashion, he dropped two singles back to back last week and they’re the perfect addition to December counter-programming music. There’s even Holiday-esque mentions in the song without being Jingle Bells and Celine Dion and Michael Buble. Bonus:

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Wanna listen to all of them? I made you a Spotify Playlist! Happy Holidays!

What are you listening to right now that is NOT Holiday themed?