Maybe it’s just my perception of Christmas songs, but to me, they’re a campy, performative symbol of the holidays. Usually sang by leading pop names, even in ones with bleaker themes, I’ve never considered them as a lush yearning.
Ellie Bleach is here to change that. Merry Christmas, Do You Ever Think of Me? Is the festive instalment to the stand-alone singles Ellie has released through 2023, a twist on seasonal nostalgia that blurs into the realm of ‘what ifs?’
The title alone is a question that can’t be answered. It’s a catch 22 of Christmas time: should you wish your ex a happy holiday, and be sad when they don’t respond, or pretend they never existed, and be sad that they’re doing the same?
With lines like ‘I tried to send you a card, but I figured you’d changed your home address’ we are reminded that we entirely revert to being seventeen upon going home for Christmas, but other people have moved on, leaving us with a memory that feels incredibly real – but is sure to disappoint. The act of changing while the world around you doesn’t particularly upon returning home, where it’s stuck in the year you left – is something so deeply felt in the holidays.
This song, along with other 2023 releases like CMAT’s Crazymad, For Me make this year stand out as the year of concept albums without a specific theme. Imagine if a concept album revolved around a feeling, rather than a solid idea – that’s how we’ve defined this year. Songs of breakups, days gone by left only by a memory we can’t tell is true or rendered false over time. Above all else, 2023 has become the year of nostalgia reverted to its true form: uncertainty.
This song, along with other 2023 releases like CMAT’s Crazymad, For Me make this year stand out as the year of concept albums without a specific theme. Imagine if a concept album revolved around a feeling, rather than a solid idea – that’s how we’ve defined this year. Songs of breakups, days gone by left only by a memory we can’t tell is true or rendered false over time. Above all else, 2023 has become the year of nostalgia reverted to its true form: uncertainty.
Our lives are so consistently made of these unanswered and often unasked questions, and tackling these at a time of year when you’re expected to be present and joyful makes for a difficult adjustment. In the three-minute track, Ellie resonates so deeply with the human experience that it’s hard to remember this is a Christmas song. It’s a song in the same category as A Wonderful Christmastime, Step Into Christmas … but also, a category that encompasses Last Christmas and Lonely This Christmas. For the cult status that radio-loved Christmas songs have gained, it’s easy to forget their deeper message: for as long as Christmas songs have been a thing, we’ve seen the depth of human sadness and loneliness in their lyrics, overshadowed by the joy that the season is supposed to bring.
It’s easy to fall into the trap that Christmas has to be consistently merry and bright, a time where no bad happens – it’s artists like Ellie Bleach and her rendering of the season that remind us of the heartbreak that often comes with big events.
You can listen to it now: