''Christmas Kisses'' is the debut

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...

record and

extended play An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record.

(EP) by American singer

Ariana Grande Ariana Grande-Butera ( ; born June 26, 1993) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Her four-octave vocal range has received critical acclaim, and her personal life has been the subject of widespread media attention. She has received ...

. It was released on December 13, 2013 in most countries, and on December 17, 2013 in the United States, as a collection of two covers of classic

songs, and two original songs. On December 3, 2014, the Japanese special edition was released for CD and two days later for digital download. It peaked at number twenty-five on the

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 ...

chart. The Japanese edition included a new track, "

Santa Tell Me "Santa Tell Me" is a Christmas song recorded by American singer Ariana Grande. It was written by Grande, Ilya Salmanzadeh and Savan Kotecha. The song was released worldwide on November 24, 2014, via iTunes Store, and was included on the Japanes ...

", which was released on November 24, 2014 as the fifth and final single from the EP. The EP went on to sell 68,871 copies in the US and over 405,000 copies worldwide.

Background and release

On 6 November 2013, Grande announced via

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

she would be releasing new music each week leading up to

, beginning with a cover of

Wham! Wham! (briefly known in the US as Wham! U.K.) were an English pop duo formed in Bushey in 1981. The duo consisted of George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley. They became one of the most commercially successful pop acts of the 1980s, selling more ...

's "

Last Christmas "Last Christmas" is a song by British pop duo Wham!, originally released in December 1984 on CBS Records internationally and as a double A-side on Epic Records with "Everything She Wants" in the UK. Described as a "high watermark of mid-80s Br ...

": "I'm releasing new music for Christmas! New song every week as a countdown to the holidays starting Nov 19. Beyond excited to share them w/ U! The 1st song #LastChristmas out Nov 19. I can't wait for u to hear our spin on it. There will be originals as well! Hope u love the music." "Last Christmas" was released as the lead single, opening up to positive reviews and was critically acclaimed for its "R&B and Soul spin" on the Christmas classic. On the final week of November, Grande released an original Christmas song, titled "Love Is Everything", and it was also revealed Grande would be releasing ''Christmas Kisses'' later that month. In the first week of December, Grande released another original Christmas song "Snow in California" and was later followed by a cover of the 1953 classic "

Santa Baby "Santa Baby" is a song performed by American singer Eartha Kitt with Henri René, Henri René and His Orchestra and originally released in 1953. The song was written by Joan Javits and Philip Springer, who also used the pseudonym Tony Springer i ...

", which features Grande's former ''

Victorious ''Victorious'' (stylized as ''VICTORiOUS'') is an American sitcom created by Dan Schneider (TV producer), Dan Schneider that originally aired on Nickelodeon, debuting on March 27, 2010, and concluding on February 2, 2013 after four seasons. Th ...

'' co-star

Elizabeth Gillies Elizabeth Egan Gillies (born July 26, 1993) is an American actress and singer. She gained prominence for her starring roles as Jade West in the Nickelodeon series ''Victorious'' (2010–2013), and as Fallon Carrington on The CW revival of ''D ...

. In November 2014, Grande announced she would release the special edition of the EP exclusively in Japan. The special edition included a new track "

", released on November 24, 2014, as the fifth and final single from ''Christmas Kisses''. The song was written by Grande,

Savan Kotecha Savan Harish Kotecha is an American songwriter and record producer from Austin, Texas. Kotecha is of Indian (Gujarati) descent. He was also the executive music producer of the 2020 film '' Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga'', for ...

and

Ilya Salmanzadeh Ilya Salmanzadeh (; born 19 September 1986 in Stockholm), known mononymously as ILYA, is a Swedish-Persian songwriter, producer and singer. He rose to prominence outside of Sweden after co-writing and producing Ariana Grande's " Problem" and Je ...

and peaked at number seventeen on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and number eleven on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. On December 5, the Japanese special edition was released on Japanese

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

. It was released physically on December 3, two days before the digital release. It peaked at number twenty-five on the

Oricon Albums Chart The Oricon Albums Chart is the Japanese music industry standard albums popularity chart issued daily, weekly, monthly and yearly by Oricon. Oricon originally published LP, CT, Cartridge and CD charts prior to the establishment of the Oricon Albu ...

, becoming her third album to peak on that chart, following '' Yours Truly'' (2013) and '' My Everything'' (2014).

Promotion

Preceding the release of her Christmas EP, she gave a series of performances, including at the 87th annual

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is an annual parade in New York City presented by the U.S.-based department store chain Macy's. The Parade first took place in 1924, tying it for the second-oldest Thanksgiving parade in the United States with ...

NBC New York WNBC (channel 4) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Linden, New Jersey–licensed Telemundo station WN ...

's Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree lighting broadcast, the

KIIS-FM Jingle Ball The KIIS-FM Jingle Ball (also referred to as just Jingle Ball) is an annual concert produced by the Los Angeles radio station KIIS-FM that takes place in early-to-mid December. Since 2000, the concert series has been staged at various venues aro ...

in Los Angeles'

Staples Center Crypto.com Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Downtown Los Angeles. Adjacent to the L.A. Live development, it is located next to the Los Angeles Convention Center complex along Figueroa Street. The arena opened on October 17, 1999; it was ...

and Z100's Jingle Ball event at

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylva ...

in New York City. She also sang at ''

Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve ''Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve'' (''NYRE'') is an annual New Year's Eve television special broadcast by ABC. The special broadcasts primarily from New York City's Times Square and prominently features coverage of its annual ball drop ev ...

'', with

Big Sean Sean Michael Leonard Anderson (born March 25, 1988), known professionally as Big Sean, is an American rapper. Anderson began his music career in 2007 and gained popularity in 2010 with his third mixtape '' Finally Famous Vol. 3: Big''. He then s ...

and

Mac Miller Malcolm James McCormick (January 19, 1992 – September 7, 2018), known professionally as Mac Miller, was an American rapper and record producer. Miller began his career in Pittsburgh's hip hop scene in 2007, at the age of fifteen. In 2010, h ...

Singles

Last Christmas

Love Is Everything

Snow in California

Santa Baby

Track listing

Personnel and credits

Credits adapted from

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...

(standard edition). *

: vocals *

Liz Gillies Elizabeth Egan Gillies (born July 26, 1993) is an American actress and singer. She gained prominence for her starring roles as Jade West in the Nickelodeon series ''Victorious'' (2010–2013), and as Fallon Carrington on The CW revival of ''D ...

: vocals * India Benet: background vocals *

Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds Kenneth Brian Edmonds (born April 10, 1959), better known by his stage name Babyface, is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. He has written and produced over 26 number-one R&B hits throughout his career and has won 12 Grammy A ...

: producer, composer, lyricist, guitar * Antonio Dixon: producer, composer, lyricist, programming *

The Rascals ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

: producers, programming * Khristopher Riddick-Tynes: composer, lyricist *

Leon Thomas III Leon G. Thomas III (born ) is an American actor, record producer, songwriter and singer. After early roles in Broadway and providing the singing voice of Tyrone on the Nick Jr. animated series ''The Backyardigans'' (2006–2008), he played Andr ...

: composer, lyricist *

George Michael George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the most significant cultural icons of the MTV generation and is one of the best-selling musici ...

: composer, lyricist * Joan Javits: composer, lyricist * Philip Springer: composer, lyricist * Tony Springer: composer, lyricist * Ivy Skoff: strings * Demonte Posey: strings *

Paul Boutin Paul Boutin (born December 11, 1961 in Lewiston, Maine) is an American magazine writer and editor who writes about technology in a pop-culture context. Boutin, who began writing for ''Wired'' in 1997, wrote for ''The New York Times'' from 2003 ...

: recording, mixing *

Tony Maserati Tony Maserati is an American record producer and audio engineer specializing in mixing. He was involved in the development of the New York R&B and hip-hop scene in the 1990s, working with Mary J. Blige, Notorious B.I.G., Puff Daddy, and Queen ...

: mixing * James Krausse: engineer * Jon Castelli: engineer * Justin Hergett: engineer

Charts

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2013 Christmas albums 2013 debut EPs Albums produced by Babyface (musician) Albums produced by Ilya Salmanzadeh Ariana Grande albums Christmas albums by American artists Christmas EPs Contemporary R&B Christmas albums Pop Christmas albums Republic Records EPs