#voiceplay christmas

[acaplaya-musings]

VoicePlay/Geoff Christmas song predictions for 2024

I don't know for absolute certain that we're getting full-length Christmas covers from both Geoff and VoicePlay this year (for all we know we could get a 'regular' non-seasonal song from one or both channels, idk), but I do hope so, especially as Geoff's last full length thing (Song Of Durin) was back in September, and VP's Stand By Me was filmed roughly around that time or earlier as well, so we can hope that everyone's had enough time to plan out some Christmas stuff.

Anyway, I initially made this list last year, as I was starting to become a full-on massive VoicePlay fan, and I might as well share it here for this year! It's my list of hopes and/or general predictions for what Geoff and VoicePlay might do for Christmas this year. That way, if I do end up predicting something correctly, then I can brag about it I have proof! And I'm posting this now because I wanna get in early, before I potentially hear any hint of any new releases on the Patreons (and it feels like nearly everyone here has decided that Christmas season has begun already anyway, rip).

So yeah, list time!

Geoff Castellucci predictions:

Sleigh Ride (you do likely know this song, even if you're not familiar with the title. It's fairly catchy)

Silent Night (I'm not typically a fan of most "traditional" Christmas carols, but this one is undeniably a classic, and if Geoff did this? God I would melt! It would be the most gorgeous thing honestly)

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas (he's got the right voice for it, and I'm quite fond of this song ngl)

Voiceplay predictions:

Rockin Around The Christmas Tree (trying to recreate the saxophone solo in acapella style could be a challenge, but hey, they could always bring out Violayne again for it!)

Let It Snow (no real reason for this pick other than "I know the song and I think it would be doable in group acapella format")

Winter Wonderland (VoicePlay could have a lot of fun with this one I feel like, in both the arrangement and the video (actually, there's actually a cover of this on their Spotify - from one of their 2004 EPs, Unstoppable, back when the group was still 4:2:Five, but like it's been 20 years, y'know?))

Silver Bells (This is perhaps an unusual addition to my list, simply because I'm actually not all that fond of this song - I find it kinda boring/dull. But that's kinda exactly why I'm including it here - if anyone can make me like a song, it's VoicePlay/Geoff. I would never ordinarily choose to listen to Silver Bells, but if it was a Geoff/VoicePlay cover? I so absolutely would!)

WILDCARD: Santa Baby as a Voiceplay Mini (this isn't one I'm actually holding my breath for, more of just one that my brain was like "hey you know what would be really funny?" (And listen, I first made this prediction last year, before the release of Jingle Bell Rock - I'm just saying!)) (Also you can't tell me Cesar wouldn't fully commit to the bit!)

I will also mention that at least one or two VP Patrons have been holding out hope for a Carol Of The Bells cover this year, but I'm not overly fussed about that one either way (there's a Peter Hollens cover of it that I really like and quite honestly I'd be shocked if VoicePlay managed to create a version that was just as good). But maybe we'll get a Christmas cover from one or both channels of a song I'm not even originally familiar with! (Like with Geoff doing Blue Christmas last year).

Who knows, idk, but you know me, I'll be happy with pretty much anything! <3

[jules-has-notes]

Oogie Boogie's Song — VoicePlay music video

It wouldn't be spooky season for VoicePlay without an elaborate production involving costumes, makeup, and character voices, so they dipped into the soundtrack from The Nightmare Before Christmas once again. After portraying the hero and denizens of Halloween Town over the previous two years, the boys turned to the villain of the piece. And since they'd been kidnapped a couple times themselves during that time, it seemed only fair that the boys got to turn the tables for once.

They'd included an excerpt of this song in their "Aca Top 10 – Disney Villains" countdown earlier in the year, the fans had clamored for a full version, and VoicePlay definitely delivered.

Details:

title: Oogie Boogie's Song

original song / performer: Ken Page as Oogie Boogie in The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

written by: Danny Elfman

arranged by: Layne Stein

release date: 18 October 2019

My favorite bits:

their closet cosplay versions of the characters, complete with dramatic high-contrast makeup

that high, taunting "Oooh, I'm really scared!"

Layne's shuffling percussion line that keeps the tempo feeling unhurried

the moments of double-tracked Geoff doing his usual non-lyric bass stuff to give the sound more depth and menace

J.None, Earl, and Eli repeating ♫ "Ha!" ♫ in their harmony lines to really rub it in

everyone's distinct character voices that they somehow maintain while singing and speaking on pitch

Layne's giving adorable finger guns on beat in the first chorus

the fun syncopation from the trio on ♫ "This may be your last song" ♫

Geoff jumping up two full octaves for that first big belt of ♫ "I'm the Oogie Boogie man!" ♫

J's bouncy gallop as they sing ♫ "roly poly Santa Claus" ♫ 🎅

that funky descending arpeggio from Geoff after Layne's "to add a little spice"

the eerie, ghostlike ♫"oooh"s ♫ in the backing vocal behind Santa's "please come to your senses"

those cool raver mouth lights in the blackout breakdown section

the crunchy harmonies for ♫ "shut this fella up" ♫

the jittery audio panning on ♫ "drowning in my tears" ♫ (Listen with headphones if you can.)

Eli's plaintive descending riff behind "I'm going to do my stuff."

the playful tone of "Imma do the best I can."

Layne's descending tom line to transition into the key change

those light, rounded arpeggios behind "Release me fast…"

the meta humor of Geoff addressing his actual brother-in-law as "Oh, brother…"

Earl putting a little extra grit on "You haven't got a prayer."

Eli's wavy hand motions as the whole group creeps toward Santa

that long belt on ♫ "No-WHEEERE" ♫ followed by going even higher

Geoff spelunking down three and a half octaves in about ten seconds, good grief

the captions (accurately) describing his final subharmonic note as "subterranean"

that deep, gravelly chuckle under the rest of the group's laughter

Trivia:

This is the third of four consecutive Nightmare Before Christmas videos VoicePlay created as their Halloween offerings.

It was filmed at the REBL HQ studio at Full Sail University, with production assistance from several of the film students there, and set design by the studio's production design instructor.

Their costumes represent characters from the movie. Geoff is, of course, the titular Oogie Boogie, as he was two years earlier for their version of "What's This?". Eli, Earl, and J.None are his minions: Lock, Shock, and Barrel, respectively. And Layne cast himself as Jack Skellington's ghost dog, Zero.

To achieve those looks, the guys once again called on stylist Tanya Buzu, who had previously dressed them for the "Beautiful Low" and "Shape of You / No Diggity" mashup videos.

The character appearances were made complete with makeup from their frequent collaborator, Rick Underwood.

The performer in the Santa costume is Kathy Castellucci's brother, Pasquale Palazzolo, who had known most of the guys since they were in high school together.

Santa's dialogue, however, was provided by Eli, who lends his voice acting talents to many of their guest characters.

For their "Kidnap the Sandy Claws" video the following year, Eli and J.None reprised their roles as Lock and Barrel, but everyone else was recast.

Geoff's original final note was an E2 (already fairly low), but Layne asked if he could take it down the octave for a more dramatic ending. He gave it his best shot, and the E1 that reliably shocks YouTube reactors was born. He quickly got good enough at it to consistently perform the song in their live shows starting that holiday season.

The funky bass-guitar-sounding descending arpeggio at 1:20 was created by layering two different takes of Geoff singing the notes in two different octaves, then applying a filter in post-production.

The Facebook upload hit a million views in less than three weeks.

The YouTube version quickly caught up and surpassed that total, with another recent surge of views bringing it over 13 million after the passing of Oogie Boogie voice actor Ken Page in late September 2024.

A fan's daughter was inspired to draw her mom some adorable chibi-fied versions of some of the characters.

digital drawings posted by @/tra23581191 on Twitter

[music-interpretation-review]

Original–Cover Battle: Head-To-Head

[ambular-d]

VoicePlay - Jingle Bell Rock (Mean Girls)

[nerdhappenings]

What's This? - Voiceplay ft. J.None

[thehappysorceress]

Happy Halloween, Everyone!

[theodorejamisonseville]

“A lot of different people have covered the Chipmunk song. Like Glee and Pentatonix and VoicePlay!”

[fidjiefidjie]

Belle soirée 🆕️ 🎄🎅💙

VoicePlay &Deejay Young 🎶 The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)

[playvoices]

Front row seats to Hamilton!

[yoursinharmony]

Watch "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late) - VoicePlay Ft Deejay Young" on YouTube

Add some hilarity, joy and outrageous talent to your holidays 🎄😍

[claramurphyqueenoffandoms]

Huh. You know what I realized this Christmas season?

No VoicePlay Christmas fics.

[acaplaya-musings]

A review of old VoicePlay Christmas music, part 2

Go find the first part for more context, but basically I'm about to start listening to the latter half of VoicePlay's Peppermint Winter album (though I'm skipping Bollywood Jingle Bells - all I know is that it hasn't aged well), and then just a few more covers from a few years after that.

Let's keep going!

Title: Peppermint Winter Released: 2012, on the Peppermint Winter album (shocker I know, lol) Am I familiar with this song? Nope Thoughts: I just looked up the song and wait THIS WAS AN OWL CITY SONG? Bro I used to love that dude when I was younger! (Yeah it's just one guy). Have I really not heard this song before or did I just forget? This definitely gives Owl City vibes ngl. Anyway Tony is great and his voice is the most perfect for this. Also don't think you can slip that "baby it's cold outside" backing line past me!

I mean I feel obligated to add this one to the playlist by pure virtue of it originally being an Owl City song (but really it's a lovely vibe). (Also I'd absolutely love to hear Geoff cover Fireflies one day honestly).

Title: The Christmas Song Released: 2012, on the Peppermint Winter album Am I familiar with this song? Yes Thoughts: Old-timey radio effect yet again! It's definitely fitting for this song though, I'll give them that

Okay so fairly short and simple cover, kept it in the classic style and all that. I might leave it off the playlist though - this song has never really done much for me, sue me.

Title: Silent Night Released: 2012, on the Peppermint Winter album Am I familiar with this song? Yes Thoughts: I would still love a Geoff solo cover of this one tbh. Also one of these days I'll manage to make it through the "tender and mild" line on any version of this song without giggling, lol.

Nice cover, but I'm keeping it off the playlist, not exactly the vibes/energy I'm going for in my Christmas song collection, y'know? Nothing wrong with the vocals, though!

Title: Somewhere In My Memory Released: 2012, on the Peppermint Winter album Am I familiar with this song? No Thoughts: I just looked up this song and oh okay so I might as well just admit/confirm that I've never watched Home Alone. *Gasp*, I know

Pretty short song, only a minute and 16 seconds. Not for the playlist, sorry!

Title: Santa And I Know It Released: 2012, on the Peppermint Winter album Am I familiar with this song? Not exactly, but I'm pretty sure I know what it's based off of and oh boy Thoughts: Okay Carol Of The Bells? Sure, go off! Aaaaand there's the Sexy And I Know It parody, pfft. NOT THE CAROL OF THE BELLS MASHUP.

Okay why did that kinda slap though? Sure, onto the playlist, why not.

Title: 'Zat you Santa Claus Released: 2012, on the Peppermint Winter album Am I familiar with this song? No Thoughts: OH HEY THERE GEOFF. Well apparently this is originally a Louis Armstrong song (according to Google), so I guess Geoff is fitting for this one. Nice bit of growl there too! Also this sounds like this is likely a quite different arrangement to the original, I almost wanna do a comparison, but another time, maybe.

Not exactly much of a "Christmassy" vibe to this one (for some reason the beat is making my think of spy movies and stuff), but I'll add it to the playlist anyway, if just for Geoff getting a lot of parts if nothing else.

Title: Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas Released: 2012, on the Peppermint Winter album Am I familiar with this song? Of course! Thoughts: So like with I'm Dreaming Of A White Christmas, I'm of course gonnab be biased towards a newer cover, in this case VoicePlay's 2019 re-do of this song with J None, but just like with the previous case, I didn't wanna skip this song completely, especially as it's the last track on the album! Oh okay so the 2019 cover is a pretty similar arrangement to this one? (Except with J None instead of Tony). Admittedly I don't even listen to the 2019 version that much. Oooh that was a nice little run Geoff!

Well, the 2019 version is going on my playlist anyway! But still, the original cover is nice too!

Title: The First Noel Released: 2015 (and then again in 2017 on the Warm Up EP) Am I familiar with this song? I'm not sure actually. I vaguely know of the title if nothing else. Thoughts: Oh nevermind I do know some of this song actually. Oh hello beat? I'm by-and-large not really one for traditional Christian carols (with only some exceptions for certain covers), but I love this beatboxing/background percussion! Ooh I like this breakdown section! Dang Eli and Tony went off with the runs on this one!

Maybe not one for the playlist, just my own personal taste, but I still really like it as a cover and would choose to listen to it over a more "traditional" version of it any day of the week!

Title: O Little Town Of Bethlehem Released: 2016 (and then again in 2017 on the Warm Up EP) Am I familiar with this song? Again, not sure, but I do know the song title. Thoughts: Oh hey Geoff! Oh his upper register is so lovely. <3 Eli's tenor vocals are pretty smooth here as well, and it sounds great! Also go off with those runs! God Geoff switching in a second from his more tenor voice to more of a bass voice (or vice versa) will never not be insane to me.

Keeping it off the playlist, but this was a really pretty arrangement/performance, and Eli and Geoff were definitely the shining stars here and I love that for them

Title: O Holy Night (ft Rachel Potter) Released: 2017, on the Warm Up EP (going off what Spotify says, anyway) Am I familiar with this song? Yes Thoughts: I know I have listened to this at least once or twice in the past but all I remember is that Geoff starts off the song. And oh yeah he sounds so gosh darn pretty on those first lines! And oh hey there J None! :D And of course Rachel always slays and leaves no crumbs, no notes.

Y'know even though it's more of a slower song, I'm almost tempted to add it to my playlist regardless, because this was absolutely stunning and every single person killed it! Idk, I'll think about it.

Anyway, that's all for now! Hopefully in like 2-3 weeks or so there'll be some brand new Christmas music from Geoff/Voiceplay for me to talk about! Until then!

[jules-has-notes]

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas — VoicePlay music video

The holiday season can evoke some complicated emotions, especially when we can't be with the people we love. But expressing those feelings can still be beautiful. When VoicePlay turned this melancholy ballad into a gentle doo-wop tune, they had no way of knowing how much its sentiments would be needed in the coming year.

Details:

title: Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

original performer: Judy Garland as Esther Smith in Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)

written by: Hugh Martin & Ralph Blane

arranged by: Geoff Castellucci

release date: 1 December 2019

My favorite bits:

those lovely, warm opening chords

J.None's smooth timbre on the first verse

Geoff holding down the bulk of the rhythm duties with his bass line

the lush backing harmonies with Layne in the mix

Eli's bright tone and agile riffing on the second verse

the syncopation of the echoed ♫ "merry little" ♫

the quick cannon on ♫ "make the Yuletide gay" ♫

Earl's clear, ringing melody in the bridge

the little smile J and Eli exchange during ♫ "golden days" ♫

everyone glancing over at Geoff as he sings ♫ "we'll always be together" ♫

that gorgeous descending bell chord starting from Earl's ♫ "highest bough" ♫

the moment of peaceful silence before they jump back in

J's freedom on those ad libbed riffs and runs

the richness of sound in that final chord, complete with Geoff's rumbling subharmonic underneath

the end of the captions asking, "You ever type the word now so much it stops looking like a real word?" 🤣 (Semantic satiation is the technical term for that, if you were wondering.)

Trivia:

Earl professed on Twitter that this is his favorite holiday song.

The guys had previously recorded a version of this song for "The December EP", a three-song free download that 4:2:Five released during the 2011 holiday season. Those tracks featured their friend Ryan Simpson from Tigerweather in the baritone spot, since it was created in the window between Ryan Reed leaving the group and Tony Wakim joining.

After Tony became a permanent member, they re-recorded all three songs from the EP with him for their 2012 holiday album "Peppermint Winter". The other two songs, "Deck the Halls" and "Here Comes Santa Claus", have often been included in their setlists for holiday concerts and their three-year residency in Mickey's Very Merry Chistmas Party at Disney World.

This video was filmed at a local event venue called Gallery J, which is frequently used for weddings.

According to Geoff in the YouTube premiere chat, their cozy wardrobe was a bit unnecessary on the 72℉ autumn day. Luckily, most buildings in Florida have air conditioning, so they could at least get a taste of artificial winter weather.

During their warm-up rehearsal at the location, they indulged in J.None's favorite part of the process, the intentionally bad take, which they later released on social media as a teaser for the full behind-the-scenes video on Patreon.

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[mythigal1966]

The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late) - VoicePlay Ft Deejay Young

[ambular-d]

Geoff Castellucci: Jack's Lament

[doyourememberrocknrollradio]

This Is Halloween | The Nightmare Before Christmas | VoicePlay A Cappella