Well...first off, Mariah's "O Holy Night" is the best thing ever. Also, unfortunately, the video is filmed in an obviously poor black church in the South, which seems patronizing if not straight-up pandering. BUT. The church is filled with adorable kids AND it is filled with candles, AND Randy Jackson is playing bass. You can tell that the kids are super excited to be in the crowd, Mariah IS wearing an amazing red velveteen dress (sexiest Ms. Claus ever), so once she starts to sing: ALL IS FORGIVEN. When she sings: "the weary world rejoices," I think, "yes, yes, I am weary too!" The choir is amazing; I can't get enough of the church-style organ. Mariah is going to make a believer out of me! At 2:34, I know that I know that I know that this song isn't not about Christianity; it's about the pain--and the beauty--of being human! "Fall on your knees," there IS some sort of holiness that speaks to all beings, through all things!! By three minutes into the song, I srsly believe in angels. By 3:07, I'm raising my fist into the air. Every Christmas Eve for the last 8 years, my mom and I watch this video together. Usually one of us cries; most often we both cry. How terrible humbling and beautiful it is to be human!!
J. Hudson's version is in a candle-lit church too. In some ways, she doesn't have the panache of Mariah Carey. In others, however, she is classier. She is, in dress and manor alone, clearly more humble. Then at 2:51-2:55, I know she means business, in all that ways that power singers do. At 3:25, she doesn't have to ask me to fall on my knees, I just do. At 3:33. I can't even. Yes. Love her and everything she is about. At 4:0-4:10; you can be singing about the birth of our Lord Satan, it doesn't matter; i'll believe whatever your beautiful voice tells me to believe in.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEJmP8T07JU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DbZWRSDdIw
No comments:
Post a Comment