''Christmas Gift'' is Kokia's eighth studio album, released in October/November 2008. It is her first full-length

Christmas album Christmas music comprises a variety of genres of music regularly performed or heard around the Christmas season. Music associated with Christmas may be purely instrumental, or, in the case of carols or songs, may employ lyrics whose subject ma ...

, though she had released a special Christmas EP for fans, '' A Piece of Christmas'', in November 2006. It is the final of four albums released in 2008 to celebrate her 10th anniversary as a singer. One song from the album, "Kokoro no Rōsoku," features on Kokia's 2009 greatest hits collection '' Coquillage: The Best Collection II''.

Recording

Kokia began recording the album in May 2008, though refused to mention what the sessions were for. In September, the album was still gradually being recorded, with Kokia working with producer Kiyohide Ura for several tracks. The album was confirmed in Kokia's blog on September the 1st, though recording was still continuing at this point. Kokia also travelled to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

for a week to record for her "Remember the Kiss Music Gift" project in early September. These sessions were for Kokia's special '' Music Gift'' EP, which featured Christmas recordings. One of the songs from these sessions, "Remember the Kiss (Dedicated to "New" NY)," was released as a bonus track on the Japanese edition. It was recorded on the organ with a church choir at the Institutional Church of God Church in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

Song selection

Of the songs included in the album, 12 are covers and three are original Kokia songs (if counting medley songs and bonus tracks). Of the covers, five are religious Christmas carols: "

Amazing Grace "Amazing Grace" is a Christian hymn published in 1779 with words written in 1772 by English Anglican clergyman and poet John Newton (1725–1807). It is an immensely popular hymn, particularly in the United States, where it is used for both ...

," "

It Came Upon the Midnight Clear "It Came Upon the Midnight Clear", sometimes rendered as "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear", is an 1849 poem and Christmas carol written by Edmund Sears, pastor of the Unitarian Church in Wayland, Massachusetts. In 1850, Sears' lyrics were set ...

," "

The Little Drummer Boy "The Little Drummer Boy" (originally known as "Carol of the Drum") is a popular Christmas song written by American composer Katherine Kennicott Davis in 1941. First recorded in 1951 by the Trapp Family, the song was further popularized by a 19 ...

," "

The First Noël "The First Nowell", also known as "The First Noel (or Noël)", is a traditional English Christmas carol with Cornish origins, most likely from the early modern period, although possibly earlier.We Three Kings of Orient Are "We Three Kings", original title "Three Kings of Orient", also known as "We Three Kings of Orient Are" or "The Quest of the Magi", is a Christmas carol that was written by John Henry Hopkins Jr. in 1857. At the time of composing the carol, Hopki ...

". Four of the songs are secular Christmas songs: "

I'll Be Home for Christmas "I'll Be Home for Christmas" is a Christmas song written by the lyricist Kim Gannon and composer Walter Kent and recorded in 1943 by Bing Crosby, who scored a top ten hit with the song. Originally written to honor soldiers overseas who longed ...

," "

Jingle Bells "Jingle Bells" is one of the best-known and most commonly sung American songs in the world. It was written by James Lord Pierpont (1822–1893) and published under the title "The One Horse Open Sleigh" in September 1857. It has been claimed th ...

," "

Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!", also known as simply "Let It Snow", is a song written by lyricist Sammy Cahn and composer Jule Styne in July 1945 in Hollywood, California, during a heat wave as Cahn and Styne imagined cooler conditions ...

" and "

Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town" is a Christmas song featuring Santa Claus written by J. Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie. The earliest known recorded version of the song was by banjoist Harry Reser and his band on October 24, 1934. It was the ...

." Three of these four secular songs are a part of the Christmas medley. Two songs are covers of songs not directly related to Christmas by popular Western musicians. The first is

Leonard Cohen Leonard Norman Cohen (September 21, 1934November 7, 2016) was a Canadian singer-songwriter, poet and novelist. His work explored religion, politics, isolation, depression, sexuality, loss, death, and romantic relationships. He was inducted in ...

's "

Hallelujah ''Hallelujah'' ( ; he, ''haləlū-Yāh'', meaning "praise Yah") is an interjection used as an expression of gratitude to God. The term is used 24 times in the Hebrew Bible (in the book of Psalms), twice in deuterocanonical books, and four tim ...

," and the second is

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

's Japanese song, "

Teo Torriatte (Let Us Cling Together) "Teo Torriatte (Let Us Cling Together)" (Japanese title: , ) is a song by Queen from their 1976 album '' A Day at the Races''. Written by guitarist Brian May, it is the closing track on the album. The song is notable for having two choruses su ...

." "

Ave Maria The Hail Mary ( la, Ave Maria) is a traditional Christian prayer addressing Mary, the mother of Jesus. The prayer is based on two biblical passages featured in the Gospel of Luke: the Angel Gabriel's visit to Mary (the Annunciation) and Mary's s ...

" is a re-recording of the

Vladimir Fyodorovich Vavilov Vladimir Fyodorovich Vavilov (russian: Влади́мир Фёдорович Вави́лов; 5 May 1925 – 11 March 1973) was a Russian guitarist, lutenist and composer. He was a student of Pyotr Isakov (guitar) and Iogann Admoni (composition) ...

classical piece of music, originally found on Kokia's ''

The Voice The Voice may refer to: Fictional entities * The Voice or Presence, a fictional representation of God in DC Comics * The Voice (''Dune''), a fictional ability in the ''Dune'' universe * The Voice, a character in the American TV series ''Cleo ...

'' album. In the ''Christmas Gift'' version it is sung in a different key, with different lyrics (

Girolamo Savonarola Girolamo Savonarola, OP (, , ; 21 September 1452 – 23 May 1498) or Jerome Savonarola was an Italian Dominican friar from Ferrara and preacher active in Renaissance Florence. He was known for his prophecies of civic glory, the destruction of ...

's 1495

Hail Mary The Hail Mary ( la, Ave Maria) is a traditional Christian prayer addressing Mary, the mother of Jesus. The prayer is based on two biblical passages featured in the Gospel of Luke: the Angel Gabriel's visit to Mary (the Annunciation) and Mary's ...

prayer in Latin).

Release

Much like Kokia's first album released on Wasabi Records, '' Aigakikoeru: Listen for the Love'', it was released in France prior to the Japanese release. The French edition was released on October 22, three weeks before the Japanese release. Christmas Gift was also simultaneously released in France as a part of a 3CD set called Kokia Collection. The album also featured 2006's Aigakikoeru: Listen for the Love 2008's and

, and featured a cover similar to the Christmas Gift photoshoot cover.

Reception

The album reached #56 on the Japanese

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in Nov ...

albums charts, selling 3,000 copies. (subscription only) CDJournal called the album a "Christmas song selection you can enjoy with your family."

Track listing

The French and Japanese versions were released with different track orders. The Japanese version also had a bonus track, " Remember the Kiss (Dedicated to "New" NY)."

Japan sales rankings

References

{{Authority control Kokia (singer) albums Victor Entertainment albums 2008 Christmas albums Christmas albums by Japanese artists Folk Christmas albums Pop Christmas albums