Ever wondered who's responsible for the constant rotation of Mariah Carey's 'All I Want for Christmas Is You' at your local mall, whose warbling may just push your festive spirit over the edge?
A Wellington-based music curator has opened up about what goes into crafting the perfect Christmas playlist for malls and homes.
Brent De Bres of AMS Nightlife, who pull together playlists for commercial businesses and have been in the game for 19 years, says work planning the music begins way back in September.
"We always start by removing the worst bits of last year's list. [One of our big questions this year is] why did we program so much Meghan Trainor in 2021? A lot of the year's fresh content doesn't start coming out until November, so it is a weekly process from there," he told Newshub.
"There are just so many bad Christmas songs that you have to listen to, to find the good stuff. About one in 50 makes the cut for the list."
And that includes the Mariah Carey Xmas anthem 'All I Want For Christmas Is You', a song that's a perennial entry on playlists and has become synonymous with the festive season.
"I think it is genius. Her voice is astounding and the song is designed to showcase that - but furthermore it is important to remember she wrote it," said De Bres.
"She went away and studied Christmas albums from Phil Spector and what made Irving Berlin's Christmas tracks work and incorporated it all in an uplifting fun jazz track complete with sleigh bells.
"She deserves every cent of the US$80 million she has reportedly earned from it! People often don't think about the royalties music creators earn each time their songs are played in a business, but we're proud to ensure this happens - no matter if the musician is ultra-famous like Mariah or an up-and-comer, they deserve to be paid for the great work they do.
"People also demand Chris Rea's 'Driving Home for Christmas' a lot as well - it is a staple that often sneaks through without the mention and Brenda Lee's 'Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree' is a public performance favourite."
While it may seem like the easiest thing in the world to do, De Bres said there are many ways a Christmas music playlist can go disastrously wrong at this time of year.
"Just last week, we stepped in for a client - a well known burger chain - that was playing their own wall-to-wall bad Christmas music. We provided a Christmas list that suited their brand and demographic much more [thanks to] modern, uptempo and fun music with some great remixes and funksoul Christmas classics and we only played the Christmas list one in every three songs.
"The place was vibrant and Christmassy, and more importantly the staff were happy, and music was on brand."
De Bres said some of the worst requests come from those who don't think about what they're doing.
"A client once wanted only music from Christmas movies. Like a lot of these concepts, the idea sounded good, but once you pull together all the different soundtracks and scores it is a mixed tempo/style hodge podge and it didn't make a lot of sense unless you explained what they were trying to do. If you have to explain a playlist, you know something is wrong."
But he admits it's a tricky job to keep on top of every Christmas-related release.
"There are thousands of new Christmas songs each year to add in. Additionally, there is room to rotate the back catalogue," said De Bres.
"Even throughout the Christmas season we rotate in and out our Bubles, Sinatras, Elvis etc. We also rotate our different versions of the main carols. We have 36 versions of 'White Christmas' alone!
"To make the cut, it needs to be positive, uplifting and have an energy and soul. Importantly it needs to meet the public performance gauge - not too loud/screamy or too slow and maudlin.
"It also needs to be relevant - both musically and lyrically. The best way to be left out of a Christmas list is to swear - you would be surprised how many Christmas submissions we get with swearing."
De Bres said there's one Kiwi artist and song he'd love to be hearing more of on everyone's playlist.
"I love James Brown's 'Santa Claus Go Straight To The Ghetto', with its concept that these kids need presents and Christmas cheer more than anyone. I love he even throws in the line 'Tell 'em James Brown sent you!' I would also love people to be adding Stan Walker's new song 'Favourite Part Of Christmas' as it is a Christmas cracker!"
And if you think the work is done come January 1, De Bres said you'd be wrong.
"We do a final clean up at the end of January to include all of the season's releases. Luckily Christmas in July is becoming less of a thing, but we still do a quick polish in June for those that still hold a mid-year Christmas party."
