The tsunami of submissions has been tamed, trained, analysed, enjoyed, purged and perfected!

Thanks to everyone who submitted a song – they were outstanding! The Search for the Star has never been more sucessful.

With 32 songs to sort out, there were wrestles wranglings as to who would make the final cut but without further ado, CCOTY presents the 2020 Christmas Carol of the Year Nominations for …

Christmas Carol of the Year 2020:

1.       Every Bell on Earth – Oh Hellos
2.       Turn on the Lights – Jamie Callum
3.       Merry Merry – The Bird and The Bee
4.       Jesus, What a Wonderful Child – Stevie Mackay & Take 6
5.       Joy to the World 2 – Tommee Profitt, Clark Beckham

HIGHLY COMMENDED:
Rudolfs Mambo – Klazz Brothers
O Come, O Come Emmanuel – For King & Country
Joy to the World – Tori Kelly
This is My Wish – Heather Headley
1st Noel – Cory Henry
All I want for Christmas is You – Patrick Droney
Let it snow! Let it snow! – Accent
Honestly, the list could go on …

Listen on YouTube | Listen on Spotify

COVID Christmas Songs

1.       12 Days of Lockdown – Notalentonix
2.       Covid Christmas – Pae3ot
3.       A Very Covid Christmas – Mike Barnett
4.       Can’t stop Christmas – Robbie Williams
5.       No More Lockdown – Ignasi Terreza, Randy Greer

Listen on YouTube | Listen on Spotify

Voting Opens > Saturday, December 19

Take a tour of some comments by CCOTY’s tried and true fans!

Every Bell on Earth – Oh Hello’s

Fresh and folky. I loved the ethereal harmonies and bare finger banjo. It felt honest and not an ego trip like some of these folk-style tunes can become! Love how they used O Come O Come Emmanuel as an outro… felt like falling asleep next to a campfire under the stars. – RN

Banjo, mando, steel-string guitaro. Say no more. – HR

Merry Merry – The Bird and the Bee

Weird name for a band, but anyway this song was really quite catchy. It had my head bopping the whole way through – from the groovy bass intro to the synth solo and groovy piano outro. The jazzy chord progression was superb (and nice and different as well – I liked this song’s originality). I think the production was perfect as well – nice and simple, but didn’t detract from the groove of the song at all. This is one that I will always love listening to year after year I’m sure. If I could play piano, I would be playing along whenever I had the chance to sit down at the keys! Alas, I cannot play piano so I’ll just stick to clapping on 2 and 4. – BA

Often the more foreign a sound, the less some people want to listen to it. I think the magic of this one is that it is as listenable as it is foreign/unique. So original yet so accessible – true songwriting! Great Groove. AND it rewards the patient ear with the dopest dang synth solo I’ve heard in a while. – SF

Joy to the World 2 (He is Come) – Tommee Profitt, Clark Beckham

This one got me on the second listen. Excellent vocals that were still in service of the song and weren’t so showy that they detracted from everything else present. – JR

Felt like an original song. His arrangement actually improved the song, like a good arrangement should. -HR

This one grew on me. And quickly. Clarks voice is nice. It’s like a car that’s a really nice ride and then you discover it has mind-blowing power and corners like a rally car. Whaat!?! Let’s go again! – AS

Jesus What A Wonderful Child – Stevie Mackey, THE ELEVEN & Take 6

There is something quintessentially Christmassy about Take 6 singing carols! I loved this song’s arrangement and groove as well (seems to be a theme for my noms this year, hey!). I don’t have anything but praise for this song – especially given I don’t usually like a capella carols – but this one is a sure exception to that. And those notes being hit from 3.40 onwards are wild!! – BA

12 days of Lockdown – Notalentonix

This piece of art should be immortalised in CCOTY history. The fact that the artist inserted some fake applause at the end had me applauding myself, as did “fiiiive, packs, of, toiletpaperrrrrr!” What a mood, honestly. – SF

A hearty and festive congratulations to Notalentonix for managing to sound exactly like lockdown felt. Bonus points awarded for a commendable display of self-awareness while choosing a name for their ‘musical’ act. An atonal but nevertheless joyful and telling ode to the year that was. ‘Fiiiiivvvve packs of toilet paper!’ is a refrain this reviewer will find herself singing well into April, 2021. It is also (incidentally) at the top of her Christmas wish list. – JR

‘Covid christmas’ (Pae3ot).

This was initially disqualified for the sudden and unforgivable use of the phrase, ‘feliz navidad’ (which should always come with a Hazardous Waste Warning). This song was the leading cause of this reviewer’s face scrunching up as though she’d smelled a bad smell. Zero points awarded. Having said that…was it actually brilliant??? There was a rapid-fire pig snort that punctuated the song to great effect, which I can’t say I’ve ever heard before (with the exception of ‘Old MacDonald’). Was it just awful enough to be…good? This entry is bound to be divisive, so perhaps it deserves to be offered up for the people’s vote! This was either heinous or tremendous! – JR

A wildly entertaining carol. Sanitise the table! Sanitise the fridge! And if you get chance señor, sanitise the pig! Wiser words have never been spoken. – BA

A Very Covid Christmas – Mike Barnett

Top tier lyricism and I love the way it’s been produced to sound like a classic carol. – BA

Can’t Stop Christmas – Robbie Williams

How do you revive a Christmas album done a year ago and prepare it for re-release in 2020? Write a song about COVID! Well done Robbie. – BA

No More Lockdown – Ignasi Terraza, Randy Greer 

Ignasi and Randy had a real whale-of-a-time laying down this track, if the cover art is anything to go by. And why not? This is a jazzy, jaunty and bubbly festive offering. I don’t think there is anything at all to dislike about this delightful concoction. It sounds like it should be playing while a Christmas cocktail is sipped under palm trees draped with fairy lights. During the piano and guitar instrumental intermission, it is easy to imagine adults pausing their cocktail sipping to help negotiate the children’s backyard cricket complaints before getting back into the swing of things. ‘No more lockdown…for now’ is a message that is simultaneously aspirational and cautious, which is a mixture suitable for the times!  – JR

1st Noel – Corey Henry

This is good at the start and exceptional at the end. At the start: The “chillaxed” slidy / beachy synth chords juxtaposed with the harsh rigid dope drum beat shouldn’t work – maybe that’s actually why this groove is so great. I believe that kind of art is what the youngsters of today call “dope”? At the end: At exactly the 3 minute mark, this song starts to open up like a fine wine at dusk beside the Noosa River. The drums come back in, the bass begins to flourish (e.g. 3:03, 3:13-3:17), and the vocal riffs really bring it all together – a well-built song that should be nominated for its uniqueness and high quality! – SF

I feel like this was a good example of a rendition that ‘added’ something to the original song. It wasn’t just another cold, clinical cover… he actually takes us across some interesting new terrain while somehow remaining true to the original song. It felt genuine… musically intriguing without sounding self-indulgent. Each layer felt absolutely necessary, and I loved that sweet harmonica solo in the middle. The more I listen the more I like it. – RN

O Come, O Come Emmanuel – for KING AND COUNTRY, NEEDTOBREATHE

Dramatic, evocative and echoey. Sometimes this is EXACTLY what you need a Christmas song to be. I listened to this four times in a row. And I’m going to level with you – I even got a bit teary. I love that this doesn’t rev up to full throttle the whole way through – it has periods of quieter reflection but doesn’t hold back when it’s time to hit the accelerator (excuse my confused automotive metaphors). This one makes full use of gritty vocals giving it their all. If you did not find yourself crying, ‘REJOICE!’ in an operatic loop in the last 30 seconds or trying to hit the falsetto note, can I humbly suggest you go back and give this another listen? – JR

All I Want For Christmas is You – Patrick Droney

A pleasant surprise! At first I thought this was going to be reminiscent of those vomit-inducing “songs” like Riptide or whatever. But when the half-beat drums and smooth saxophone kicked in, I realised that we are dealing with a Professional Musician. – SF

This song had me from the first guitar note and Patrick’s voice has the same grit and soul as the background saxophone (Thanks again Sony Noise Cancelling Headphones for the privilege!). Honestly, have you ever heard guitar and saxophone go together like this?! No, you haven’t! Listen again properly!! – AS