Ringing in the holidays with K-pop carols

For those looking to celebrate the Yuletide with K-pop rather than traditional Christmas carols, there will be no shortage of new releases to choose from by the end of the year. In honor of the holiday season, many K-pop artists have or are scheduled to release special season’s greetings-inspired tracks to usher in Christmas and the New Year.

The artists of Cube and A Cube Entertainment came together as Cube United for the collaborative holiday single “Christmas Song” ― not a variation of Mel Torm’s classic American holiday song. The single, released on Tuesday, features 29 of the agency’s artists including members of 4minute, Beast, and A Pink, as well as G.Na, Huh Gak and “K-pop Star 2” contestant Shin Ji-hoon. The upbeat Christmas pop song is the first collaborative holiday carol from Cube Untied. 

The quirky ladies of Crayon Pop have also joined the K-pop Christmas carol bandwagon with the group’s first holiday song. The song, titled “Ccoohristmas,” was released last week and was written by the same composer who wrote the girl’s hit song “Bar Bar Bar.” The lyrics of the song talk of snowfall and winter fun, while the feel of the music is very much in keeping with the group’s pop-heavy, up-tempo beats.

The group released a teaser image for the song Monday, showing the five members dressed in festive green Christmas outfits and accessories.

One of the year’s hottest new idol boy bands EXO is ending the year on a cheery note with the release of the group’s upcoming winter EP, “Miracles of December.” The new album will contain five “winter-inspired tracks” and will be released in both Korean and Chinese, according to a representative at SM Entertainment.

EXO prereleased the album’s lead track on Thursday through local music sites, and in less than an hour skyrocketed to the No. 1 spot on a handful of real-time music charts including Melon and Bugs. The album in its entirety will be available on Dec. 9.

Popular girl group Secret has announced that it will also soon unveil its latest single album titled “Gift from Secret,” a holiday spin-off of the ladies’ fourth mini-album “Letter from Secret” released in April. The upcoming Christmas single “Gift from Secret” is slated for release at the same time as EXO album unveiling on Monday.

By Julie Jackson
(juliejackson@heraldcorp.com)