#voiceplay christmas

[acaplaya-musings]

Okay, so when I was like "hey maybe VoicePlay could do an updated version of one of their songs from their Peppermint Winter album or something like that?" this was not one of the songs that I ever would have predicted for a refresh! Still, seems like it was a good idea for me to have a full listen-through of that album like a week or two ago! Their 2012 version features Geoff quite heavily (it's a Louis Armstrong song to be fair), but I have also watched a video of them doing it live at Disney World and that version is a bit different in the arrangement (and the Patreon video description even says that this is Layne's third time arranging this song for VoicePlay), so who knows what it's gonna be like! You won't be getting a Voiceplay Visuals for this one, but as always, I'll have a thoughts/commentary post scheduled for not long after this video premieres! See you then!

[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

[kitsune24fox]

Since New Year is exactly a week away, New Year's holidays will start on the weekend, and yesterday (and today) - Christmas, this video is very timely.

The clip is short and there is nothing special here, except for a few photos of the Poets with a Christmas song, which, by the way, they also performed. However, I didn't add it to the video, since the background noise interfered, but I found a cleaner, no less cool cover👌🎄

Merry Christmas and happy holidays!

Poets of the Fall: PAQ

[mythigal1966]

Zat U Santa Claus? (acapella) VoicePlay ft. J.None #christmas

[thehappysorceress]

Zat U Santa Claus? (acapella) VoicePlay ft. J.None

[nerdhappenings]

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

[theodorejamisonseville]

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

[claramurphyqueenoffandoms]

Huh. You know what I realized this Christmas season?

No VoicePlay Christmas fics.

[yoursinharmony]

You will not see anything sillier this Christmas, I can promise you *that* 🤣

VoicePlay - Jingle Bell Rock (Mean Girls)

[fallingblueroses]

So at my place of work we're having a Christmas tree contest. Our section put up a tree, and as I walked past it today I heard "Country Roads" playing. No big deal. It's our state anthem. But as I walked back it was playing a different version.

So I went to talk to the lady who worked on the tree and she said they had downloaded almost twenty (!) versions of "Country Roads". So of course I asked if they had Geoff's version and played it for her.

I got to watch a Geoff Castellucci reaction in real time. (She also agreed with me that he was indeed pretty.)

She said that if Geoff's version wasn't already in the mix, she'd add it! Also I said she should check out VoicePlay and she wrote it down and said she would.

I'm so pleased.

[acaplaya-musings]

VoicePlay 'Zat You, Santa Claus? - thoughts/commentary

Oh I loved this so much! Over on my "main" blog, BismuthBookshelf, I made a post like a week ago (about my favourite non-VP/Geoff Christmas music videos) where I mentioned how I was wanting more jazzy Christmas music, and this might not be the same sort of vibe as Man With The Bag or I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm, but it's still great! And of course it's wonderful to see J with the group yet again!

Okay so starting off with the set design: Filmed at Pattycake, duh, and the brickwork kinda looks like a set that VoicePlay and/or Geoff have used before (like Geoff's Shenandoah video kinda?), except for the windows and the vertical wood planks. Idk, I'm writing this before the BTS video is out but I'll update it if I figure anything out (EDIT: yeah the woodplanks were added in for this shoot, and maybe the windows too, as the "bricks" aren't actually bricks)

Love all the Christmas decor, like the carousel and the felt/fabric Christmas calendar(?) thing hanging up, and the tree! (How long did that take to set up and decorate? EDIT: actually Layne's wife Cyndi helped a lot with set design!)) And of course the Voiceplay logo symbol on top of the tree is brilliant. At least a few Patrons have already been wishing for that to be an item in VP's merch store. Also the five stockings hanging up have each of the guys' first initials on them! <3 (From closest to camera to furthest away, it's G, C, J, E, & L).

The guys are all looking very snazzy in this video. Love Cesar's scarf, love Layne's red sweater(?) (the most colour that any of them are wearing in the video), and honestly Geoff is really working that long-sleeve black turtleneck, man! 👀 (And obligatory shoutout to Geoff's hair, of course, *chefs kiss*)

I'm of course just typing this all from the Patreon early access thing, but fun fact: this is both the second Christmas video and the second consecutive video of this year to be filmed without an actual cameraman! But unlike using an iPhone like in the previous cases, this was filmed using a robotic camera arm, fully programmed to the music, able to repeat precise movements with each take! I highly doubt Voiceplay are gonna give up on using human camera operators completely, but this is still a cool thing to have as a potential option for video shoots! (EDIT: it's called "Cinebot", and a guy called Ben Meyers helped out with programming/operating it!)

Right, now time to talk more about the vocals and the song arrangement itself!

As per with previous thoughts/commentary posts, most of these notes are after a second watch, with a few extra thoughts mixed in from additional watches, because as I've said before, the first-time watch is just for the vibes

Y'know when I listened to the cover of Zat You Santa Claus on the Peppermint Winter album, I was like "eh it doesn't really have much of a Christmassy vibe imo, gives me more spy movie vibes?" but like with this version I don't even care (the video makes up for it, it's fine), and by the the time you're reading this post, this song will have replaced the old version in my Christmas Spotify playlist!

On my second watch-through, I had the song lyrics up on my phone (while the video played on my laptop), and that made me realize that a few lines got slightly reworded, and then there's a whole section that's not in the original! The bit where they're singing "he's coming for you/hope you've not been bad" or something like that is definitely new, but not new for VoicePlay, because I went back and relistened to the 2012 Peppermint Winter cover and that section is in there as well.

Doing a relisten of their previous cover also made me realise that this arrangement really is different to the older one, even genre-wise, and I like this one more!

Okay I'm gonna do a third watch-through, pausing to take notes as I go, just to make sure I don't miss anything or forget to mention anything here!

A nice bit of whistling from Cesar at the start! (Seriously can everyone whistle except me? 😅)

"Is that you, Santa Claus?" pfft I love the little bit of dramatic flair Geoff put on the delivery of that line 😁

"Are you bringing a present for me?" ooh that harmony at the start of that line! I don't wanna say it's dissonant, because I'm not a music expert and I really don't know, but it sounded "different" and I liked it!

"Something pleasant that you can present; a present for me" this is one of the main line changes, because in the original (and in their 2012 cover as well, in fact), it's "something pleasantly pleasant for me". But sure, why not change it up a bit?

Eli killing it as always!

Oh man I'm almost tempted to make a screenshot compilation just for the "he's coming to get ya" section alone ngl. All their facial expressions are just so great! I feel like I gotta watch this video five times and just focus on a different person each time!

I'm assuming the YouTube description will confirm it (and/or the BTS video), but Patrons are guessing that "Santa" (the one handing over the present) is Tony, which'd make sense (though I'm also guessing that the voice of Santa would be Eli, since he did the same thing in Mission Jingle Bells and Oogie Boogie's Song, and was "Sandy Claws" in Jingle Bell Rock last year.

UPDATE TO THE ABOVE: Nope, that was actually Bucky as Santa Claus! Or as the YouTube description puts it: "Zat Ur Hands? - Bucky Claus" 😂

Omg now I'm just thinking that it would've been really funny if Geoff had subtly sang "Is that you, Sandy Claws", as a fun little double throwback, lol.

Not sure what I love more - Eli killing it on lead vocals yet again, or Geoff just fully grinning as Eli does so 😄

"Who's there, who is it? Are you - stopping for a -" Layne!!! I love him honestly, and it's always great when he gets a little bit of lead vocals.

J's Louis Armstrong impression was freaking amazing, and so was the scatting!

Yeah I love this song and video so much - it's so fun, they all look like they had a great time filming it, and it's such a freaking vibe!

And that's VoicePlay's final song of 2024 (SIKE! We still got Party Of Your Lifetime to come, but hey, I didn't know that when I was first writing up this post!) other than some VoicePlay Minis and stuff (and Party Of Your Lifetime!). I of course have not a single clue what VP has in store for 2025, but that's just part of the greatness of VoicePlay! You never know what you're gonna get next, but it's always gonna be amazing in its own way.

Happy Holidays, and see you soon for both some 2024 roundup posts from me, as well as whatever Voiceplay has been cooking up next! ;)

[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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A post shared by VoicePlay (@thevoiceplay)

[willows-adventures-in-words]

Just a random, short, thing I came up with when I saw the prompt.

(I have no idea what to title this) Day 6 - “You say you hate Washington’s birthday or Thanksgiving, and nobody cares, but you say you hate Christmas, and people treat you like you’re a leper.” —Gremlins Fandom: VoicePlay Warnings (if applicable): none Word Count: 349

~-~

“You can say you hate Washington’s birthday or Thanksgiving, and nobody cares, but you say you don't do Christmas, and people treat you like you’re a leper.”

Geoff looked back at Layne as he entered the kitchen and raised a brow. “Isn't that a bit of an exaggeration?”

Layne shrugged and accepted the tray of food that Geoff handed him. “Yeah a little.” Then gave a smile. “But I guess you can judge that for yourself.”

Though not quite sure what Layne meant by his comment, Geoff figured he'd find out soon enough as they brought a couple trays of snacks and cookies out to the table. The food was barely on the table when Cesar came over. When Layne saw him coming he glanced over to Geoff for a second. “Layne, seriously, why do you hate Christmas?”

“I didn't say I hate Christmas. I said I don't celebrate it.” Geoff now understood. Somehow he wasn't surprised. He stayed to listen to Cesar passionately defend the holiday. His eyes shifted from Layne, who listened patiently, to everyone else there. He could hear Layne's daughters laughing in the living room. He knew William was there too. Eli, Ashley, and Cyndi were talking at the other end of the table with some drinks. Kathy left the living room to head for the kitchen with a smile. “Cesar, hey, so did you forget I'm Jewish?” Geoff looked over in time to catch Cesar's expression fall into embarrassment as he tried to apologize. Layne just laughed and told him it was fine.

“Dad!” Layne looked over and, after picking up a cookie from the tray he had carried out, walked over to the living room.

“... I can't believe I forgot that,” Cesar commented.

Geoff smiled. “You shouldn't worry about it. I know Layne wasn't offended by it.” He rested a hand on his shoulder for a moment as he said, “You want to help bring out the rest of the snacks and drinks?” Cesar smiled and followed Geoff into the kitchen.

[doyourememberrocknrollradio]

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

[bismuthbookshelf]

My 10 favourite Christmas music videos that I watch every year*

*that aren't from VoicePlay or Geoff Castellucci

I've never been much a fan of most "traditional" carols (with only a few exceptions for certain covers), and I guess you could say my tastes are somewhat eclectic, so I thought I might as well share my recommendations here! They range from more 'standard' Christmas music to stuff that's just a silly good time, but they're all stuff that I watch at least once a year every Christmas season. I don't wanna give these any sort of proper ranking, and so I'm just gonna list them from oldest release date to most recent release date. Enjoy!

(Everything below cut!)

Straight No Chaser - The 12 Days Of Christmas

The video was uploaded to YouTube in 2006, but it's actually from the first time the group ever did this performance, back in 1998, and let me tell you that it's AMAZING. I don't wanna spoil it, but basically this is not your standard Twelve Days Of Christmas. It's hilarious while still being fantastically well done, and if you love the "VoicePlay brand of dumb" especially, you will love this!

Straight No Chaser - The Christmas Can-Can

Yeah Straight No Chaser is getting a double recommendation on this list, but man they deserve it!

This is basically what you think it is - a song about Christmas to the tune of can-can music (but acapella, as SNC is an acapella group), and it is hilarious and SUCH a mood. Lyrics like "Thoughts of joy and hope and cheer/But mostly shopping, shopping, shopping" and "Christmas season/Starting sooner every year/It's October/Stores with plastic Christmas trees". But honestly it's just so fun.

Peter Hollens (& Friends) - Carol Of The Bells

Unless VoicePlay ever decide to do a cover of Carol Of The Bells (not counting the bit of it in their old Santa And I Know It song), then this is the only acapella cover of it that I need in my life!

Peter Hollens collaborated with BYU's Vocal Point (an acapella group who were also on The Sing Off, but the 2011 season), as well as BYU's men's choir, and the One Voice Children's Choir, and the result is epic! I get chills even watching it now!

AsapSCIENCE (ft Jon Cozart) - Science Christmas Carols

And now for something completely different! (Told ya my tastes were eclectic)

It's a mini medley of science-y Christmas carol parodies! The first song bit, "It's Beginning To Not Look A Lot Like Christmas" sadly still hits hard, or perhaps rather hits hard again, because, well, you'll see, but otherwise it's pretty fun

(Still never buying a real Christmas tree though, because I'm Australian and that's basically impossible for us, let alone maintaining one)

I also wanna give a mini shoutout to Jon Cozart's "Progressive Christmas Carols" video, over on his solo channel, Paint. I'm not giving it an official recommendation because the humour maybe might not be everyone's cup of tea, but it's another traditional video for me and I basically know it off by heart.

Lindsey Stirling (ft. Sabrina Carpenter) - You're A Mean One, Mr Grinch

It's rare that I can love two covers of the same song just as much as each other, but this is one of those times, because I love the VoicePlay version (of course), but I also really love this version! (It helps that I found this version first because it's older but anyway).

The video gives the song a completely different vibe and it's honestly great. Just read the comments - it makes it seem like "The Grinch" is a mobster, or a mafia boss, or a slimy yet suave casino owner, or an "evil James Bond"! And both Lindsey and Sabrina killed it of course, both violin-playing (Lindsey) and vocals (Sabrina) on point!

Idina Menzel (ft Billy Porter) - I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm

Apparently this song was first composed in 1937 by Irving Berlin, and it's been covered by a fair few notable artists over the past decades, but I never heard it until this cover, and I love it so much! It's so fun and jazzy!

I was already a fan of Billy Porter for his fashion alone, but he can definitely sing as well! And Idina can of course do no wrong <3

Idina Menzel (ft Josh Gad) - We Wish You The Merriest

Speaking of doing no wrong, I just had to give Idina a double recommendation, because I also really love this cover! And it's an animated music video that's just a silly light-hearted good time, what's not to love!

(Also I'll just slip in a mini-recommendation here for her cover of Sleigh Ride, which is also great)

Taylor Swift - Christmas Tree Farm

Yeah I'm a Swiftie, sue me :P

But like seriously, this song (written by Taylor herself) has extra value in the fact that her parents really did own a Christmas tree farm, which she spent a lot of time at growing up! Apparently one of her first ever 'jobs' when she was younger was helping to pick bugs out of the trees! And this video features a bunch of home video snippets from Taylor's childhood! (And a couple of clips from before she was even born!)

Peter Hollens (ft Brian Hull & Geoff Castellucci) - Epic Christmas Movie Medley

When I said "favourite Christmas videos that weren't from Geoff or VoicePlay", I meant not from their own channels - this one doesn't count! Anyway, Geoff only does one section in this (though he still does a great job, of course <3), and the video also features Peter's wife, Evynne (I think that's her name?) and their son, Ashland! (who is very cute)

Also I really love the Snow Miser/Heat Miser bit in this; it's such a tune, and the latter half is definitely relatable for me!

Darren Criss (ft Adam Lambert) - (Everybody's Waitin' For) The Man With The Bag

I'm honestly not sure I ever heard this song (somehow) before this cover (which is only like 3 years old btw) but now I love it and can I get like half a dozen more Christmas songs with this same kinda jazzy swing-like vibe please?

The video is definitely a delight as well, just watch it and have a good time!

So yeah, there's my list of recommendations for the season! What are some of yours!