Listen To The Album Michael Bublé Crazy Love

[Bridgette Kubis]

STEVEINSKEEP, HOST: We are now well into the Christmas music season. Yesterday on this program, we heard how more and more radio stations have taken to playing all Christmas music, all the time, during the holiday season, and doing it longer. This morning, we'll dig more deeply into the business of producing the music that so many Americans come to know by heart; sometimes in newer versions, sometimes in old.(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WHITE CHRISTMAS")INSKEEP: Bing Crosby's hit is the best-selling single of all time. And plenty of other artists look for holiday sales, as we're going to hear from NPR music producer Frannie Kelley, who's in our studios.Welcome to the program.FRANNIE KELLEY, BYLINE: Thank you very much.INSKEEP: And NPR music critic Ann Powers. Hello to you, Ann.ANN POWERS, BYLINE: Happy holidays.INSKEEP: Thank you very much. There's an incredible variety of people who put out Christmas albums, isn't there?POWERS: Oh, yes. This year we have two big Christmas releases. One is from Canadian crooner Michael Buble who gives us "Christmas," a kind of a "Mad Men" style revisiting of classic Christmas caroling.(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SANTA BABY")INSKEEP: I'm sorry, Santa buddy? I don't know. I don't know.(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)POWERS: I love it. Are you kidding? It's so Don Draper.(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)INSKEEP: Oh, gosh. Now I'm trying to remember who did the - who is the woman who does the very sexy "Santa Baby"?KELLEY: Eartha Kitt.POWERS: Eartha Kitt.INSKEEP: Oh, but that's the thing. People update these traditional songs, but Michael Buble, anyway, is in this vein of that Bing Crosby kind of singer. There are other kinds of songs out there, as well, right?POWERS: Well, we hear from a very popular young man, Justin Bieber, who has a new album called "Under the Mistletoe." And this cut, I think it's going to blow your mind. It's called "Drummer Boy."(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DRUMMER BOY")INSKEEP: Oh, my goodness. And I guess we should clarify for people who may be searching for it online. It's not "Drummer Boy." It's "Drumma Boy," with an A on the end of the word.POWERS: Yes, and that's the rapper Busta Rhymes joining him for a little holiday throw-down.INSKEEP: OK, Frannie Kelley, who's been listening in, what are the economics here? What motivates so many people to spend that time to do that Christmas album?KELLEY: Well, what's crazy about this is, that's a totally new arrangement of "Drummer Boy." But in most cases, if you rearrange a song with enough creative originality, then you're going to get a cut of the publishing on that song. So in this case, Justin Bieber, and probably Busta Rhymes, are going to get money from the actual song. So if anybody, God forbid, you know, wants the rerecord their own version of "Drumma Boy," they'd continue to make money.They'll also make money off the sales of the single, when it gets played on the radio, when they buy the album. So you just continue to sell.INSKEEP: So we're talking here about remaking the classics. But of course, people also throw original songs into the mix.(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "FELIZ NAVIDAD")INSKEEP: Jose Feliciano with a song from a couple of decades ago that has ended up sticking around.POWERS: Absolutely, I'd call it a standard now. And similarly, Run-D.M.C. created a Christmas standard in hip-hop form with "Christmastime in Hollis Queens."(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CHRISTMAS IN HOLLIS QUEENS")KELLEY: If you write a Christmas song and it becomes sort of a pop hit, you make what any pop hit would make in any sort of four- to six- month period, which can be from $80,000 to $400,000. And then, once you have a hit, if it continues to stick around - if it does become a new standard - your money starts growing exponentially.POWERS: And there are certain artists who have made Christmas sort of a cottage industry. I think the greatest example of that in contemporary times is Mariah Carey. She has recorded some classic new Christmas songs, and is doing another one this year with John Legend. She is a Christmas artist almost as much as she is a pop artist these days.INSKEEP: Let's hear one of her songs. It's practically become a standard.(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS")INSKEEP: I want to talk about a couple of the effects of having such a great variety of Christmas music here. And one of them is that everybody can get their own little niche kind of music served, even people who aren't necessarily celebrating Christmas.POWERS: Absolutely. Well, my family is an interfaith family, Steve, and we celebrate Christmas and Hanukkah. And last year, we finally got the Hanukkah song we really deserved. The Maccabeats, who are an a cappella choir out of Yeshiva University, remade the hit song by Taio Cruz called "Dynamite," as "Candlelight."(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CANDLELIGHT")(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)KELLEY: The best thing that's ever happened.(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CANDLELIGHT")INSKEEP: So has the Christmas music industry become atomized the way that the rest of the pop music industry has, Frannie?KELLEY: I think the way it's working is, it's mimicking the pop industry. I mean, so now we have the Maccabeats giving that song away for free. And what they're getting out of it is a tour, where they're going to make more money and support to, you know, to make some more songs. What happens during Christmas is the radio starts playing less pop, more Christmas music. And so these artists that have fallen off the radio get to get back on by playing songs that put them right in the homes and on the computers of their fans.POWERS: It's also a way that we can listen to music that wasn't made this year. It takes us back in time a little bit. Holiday traditions are about connecting with family history, with the history of the holidays, and also with the musical past that perhaps we all tend to overlook during the rest of the year.INSKEEP: OK. NPR music critic Ann Powers, thanks very much.POWERS: Thank you so much.INSKEEP: And Frannie Kelley of NPRMusic, thanks to you.KELLEY: Thank you.

Question: The last time we spoke, you were playing the Lady of the Lake in Spamalot. Did you enjoy your run?

Lauren Kennedy: I did. I had the best time. It was a good learning experience for me. It was just an amazing cast, such a great challenge, and so much fun.

Question: Was it difficult juggling Broadway and being a new mom?

Kennedy: Yeah, just because [I was] sleep deprived. [Laughs.] That also made it incredibly joyous at the same time. I loved the time at home. It made me appreciate being with [Riley] so much, and then I also really appreciated going off to work at night and doing my thing. It was a nice balance.

Question: How did this new CD come about? Whose idea was it to feature up-n-coming songwriters?

Kennedy: I guess it was mine. Honestly, after [I finished in] Spamalot, I [was] sitting around thinking, "Hmm, what am I gonna do now?" [Laughs.] It really was one of those things where I knew I wanted to do another album, but what was I gonna do? A couple things went through my head. I wanted to do the songs that I love to do. I also am really passionate about new writers and composers and lyricists. It just felt like the right thing. It literally dawned on me, "I wish I could just call some of my friends and sing some of their stuff." And then I thought, "Well, there it is. There's the album!" . . . I'm interested in promoting new writers and being a part of that creative process and having them in the studio with me. The whole thing was a labor of love, and having the writers with me and having the other orchestrators come and be a part of it, it just was a really fun atmosphere. We had a really good time putting it together.

Question: How did you go about choosing the material once you decided what your focus was going to be?

Kennedy: I wrote emails to different people that I knew, saying, "Hey, do you have anything that you think I could sing on this next album?" [To] a couple of people, I specifically said, "I want to sing this. I've heard this, I love this song, and that's what I want to sing." [Laughs.] Everybody was so incredibly supportive. I also got in touch with other friends and people who knew some composers and up-and-comers that I didn't know. I said, "Do you have any suggestions? Anybody you think I should listen to?" So I just started compiling songs and seeing how thing would fit together. As we started recording, things got added to and things were taken away, but it came together pretty seamlessly. Actually, the whole time, I kept thinking, "How is this gonna be of a piece?" Everybody's styles are so different. I hate to say that I was surprised by it, but I was. I was just crossing my fingers that it would all turn out okay, and I couldn't be happier with the way the whole album moves as sort of a journey. Every song complements each other, and it was really exciting to see it come together. "Here and Now"

Question: Were there any songs that surprised you, people's work you didn't know?

Kennedy: Tommy Krasker and Philip Chaffin, who run PS Classics, are sort of big advocates for Josh Salzman and Ryan Cunningham, who wrote a show called I Love You Because. I didn't really know anything about them, and [Tommy and Philip] kept saying, "You have to listen to these guys. These guys are fantastic, and you have to listen to their music." At that time, not that I was reluctant, but I thought I had the whole album together. So I finally listened and just completely fell in love with a number of their songs, but one in particular that we ended up sort of rethinking and reshaping for this particular album. To me it's the one song ["Just Not Now"] that sort of brings it all together. It was the glue that was missing to hold it all together. I was completely surprised and taken aback by how much I loved that [song] and how much it was really necessary. That's why I surround myself with really smart people! [Laughs.] Question: You've been associated with Jason Robert Brown's work for awhile. What is it about his songwriting that appeals to you?

Kennedy: He's just so freakin' talented, and he's just so smart. He challenges the singer, and his melodies are so interesting to listen to. What he has to say really speaks to the contemporary theatregoer. It really cuts right to the heart of the matter. [His work is] just so funny and witty and heartfelt all at the same time. It's everything I think you could ask for in a writer. So when I did The Last Five Years, I knew I had to attach myself to his coattails. [Laughs.] It was just very much the kind of music that I wanted to be associated with and a part of.

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