ReJoyce: The Christmas Album | ||||
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Studio album by Jessica Simpson | ||||
Released | November 23, 2004 | |||
Recorded | 2004 | |||
Studio | ||||
Genre | ||||
Length | 38:53 | |||
Label | Columbia | |||
Producer | ||||
Jessica Simpson chronology | ||||
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Professional ratings | |
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Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
Allmusic | |
Entertainment Weekly | D+ |
A Special Limited Edition Christmas Collection | |
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EP by Jessica Simpson | |
Released | September 14, 2004 |
Recorded | 2004 |
Genre | |
Length | 25:53 |
Label | Columbia |
Producer | Billy Mann |
ReJoyce: The Christmas Album is the fourth studio album by American pop singer Jessica Simpson. It was released by Columbia Records on November 23, 2004. The album features cover versions of popular Christmas songs and includes a duet with her sister, Ashlee Simpson, on the song "Little Drummer Boy". Additionally, it also includes a duet with Nick Lachey, Simpson's husband at the time, on "Baby, It's Cold Outside". The cover of Amy Grant's "Breath of Heaven (Mary's Song)" was notable, as Simpson has said that Amy Grant is one of her favorite recording artists and her role model. Two singles were released from the album: "Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow" and "What Christmas Means to Me" (although no accompanying video was produced). Song "O Holy Night" had an accompanying music video.
ReJoyce: The Christmas Album was released after Simpson's most successful studio album of her career In This Skin (2003). The album has sold 669,000 copies in the United States, as of February 23, 2009, according to Nielsen SoundScan, and has been certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America in January 2005. ReJoyce: The Christmas Album has sold over two million copies worldwide.
The album garnered generally positive reviews from music critics. Stephen Thomas Erlewin editor of Allmusic, said: ReJoyce: The Christmas Album, never approaches the old-fashioned manners implied in the title and instead wallows in the big, brassy, over-the-top spectacle of show biz. Rejoyce is a Christmas album that sounds like it was recorded at a Las Vegas revue. It's filled with showstoppers and grandstanding, relying on the tried-and-true seasonal classics while offering a couple of new songs almost as an afterthought. It's bright and incessantly cheerful, always seeming loud even during its quietest moments because the music itself is bold and brassy. While she sounds a little too breathy on occasion, Simpson acquits herself well on the record, and the entire enterprise will surely please her fans, particularly those who like her persona just a little bit better than her singing.