Christmas songs. Lots of Christmas songs. That’s pretty much what December in K-pop entails – especially this year. Usually, the month will open with a few big-name releases before devolving into wintery fare, but I think the World Cup has pushed most new comebacks to next year. SM Entertainment seems particularly festive this December, blitzing the market with three holiday releases in a row. This holly jolly assault opens with Beautiful Christmas, which brings together Red Velvet and aespa.
Red Velvet and aespa, you say? That’s a lethal combination. When these two teams meet, we’re sure to get big vocals and quirky production. And with SM’s strong track record of Christmas music (this Red Velvet song has become a seasonal classic for me), it feels like Beautiful Christmas can’t miss.
The song is certainly energetic. Like NMIXX’s Funky Glitter Christmas last month, Beautiful Christmas takes a more freeform approach. It’s big and bold and feels like it should be performed on the stage at the Macy’s parade. It’s a little too exclamatory for my taste – way too much nursery rhyme-esque sing-talk without a melody I can really sink my teeth into. It’s hard not to compare the track to Girls’ Generation TTS’s Dear Santa mini album, which married this energy to stronger songs. Beautiful Christmas is at its best when it references past holiday tracks and swerves into jazzier territory. This lets the ladies showcase their powerhouse vocals while adding theatrical flair to the festive sound. But overall, the song is likely to miss my “top tier K-pop Holiday” playlist.
| Hooks | 7 |
| Production | 7 |
| Longevity | 7 |
| Bias | 7 |
| RATING | 7 |
Grade: C-
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
I honestly only remember Ningning’s high note and the I Love Winter part… I expected more because they’re from the same company who gave their girl groups Dear Santa, Diamond, and Wish List
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pretty basic christmas song. I was expectig higher, but I guess I’ll settle with this for now
solid 7 for me.
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I’ll have to give it another listen when I get home. Too bad they couldn’t find room for some f(x) members, to have a proper 3 generation union.
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No f(x) members are with SM anymore. Amber and Luna left in 2019, Krystal in 2020, and Victoria in 2021. Though given this was a big year for SNSD and Taeyeon, I’m a little surprised they didn’t add any of the Oh! GG members in (the members of SNSD that are still under SM).
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I know I’m still being charmed right now by hearing and seeing these groups share a song, but I found this to be super sweet! I agree it has too much sing-talking though.
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Might be the visuals, but man do I love this song!
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I think this is part of the issue when you have to give every single person lines. It would be a pretty vocal forward song if they didn’t need to fit in some easier sections for others. This might have worked a bit better if they had just called this a GOT vocal subunit…. the problem there is they already wasted their best vocalists in a performance forward unit. So maybe dividing the girls into two mixed groups and delivering two separate songs would have tightened this one up (just how TTS did) and still given the other members room to shine on their own track.
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No matter how I stan Red Velvet and aespa these days, f(x) always finds a special place in my heart. Wishlist is definitely top tier. But this song is growing on me. There is really something in SM’s Christmas songs that it always makes my heart flutter especially for an SM Stan like me
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I think it’s super fun and catchy and SM idols don’t usually do anything for me. they’re so pretty!
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This song hasn’t grown on me yet, only listened to it about 2 times. Decent, nothing very special though. Maybe this rating will improve over time, but 7 for me.
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