Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Given the way 2020 has gone, a suppose some holiday cheer a little early can’t be a bad thing.

Some former Voice contestants certainly seem to think that’s the case.

This week’s new post-Voice music include a holiday album from Kat Robichaud and Christmas singles from MJ Songstress, Caitlin Caporale, Cody Belew and Danielle Bradberry.

And with the exception of Danielle, these are all new songs.

A bit about each release follows. The links take you to the songs on Apple Music. Or you can check out Spotify snippets below.

* Kat Robichaud, a Season 5 standout, released “A Darling Misfit Christmas” on Friday. It’s a six-song project that includes the absolutely delightful “The Gremlins Song,” my all-time favorite original holiday tune from a former Voice contestant. After The Voice, Kat relocated to San Francisco and started a variety show called Misfit Cabaret. Most of the songs here were, in fact, written for Misfit Cabaret’s Christmas show. Oh, and guess what? Misfit Cabaret is making a movie. The Kickstarter to help fund that is going so well, a third stretch goal was just announced. And here’s Kat performing “The Gremlins Song” live.

* MJ Songstress from Season 6 has released what appears to be her first holiday single ever, “Fa La La La La.” She appeared on the show as Melissa Jimenez, made it to the Top 20 and certainly has something to celebrate this year. Her Latin-flavored single Dame La Noche has racked up more than 500,000 streams on Spotify.

* Caitlin Caporale from Season 8 also released her first holiday single Friday. It’s called “Hear Me Santa” and also marks Caitlin’s first release this year. A Top 20 finishers on the show, Caitlin followed up with an EP called “Canvas” in 2016.

* Cody Belew from Season 3 has released a fun new country Christmas single called “Hang Your Hat on My Christmas Tree.” Writes Cody on social media: “I’ve never had this much fun writing a song, and I MUST thank @jakehelgren for the inspiration.”

* Danielle Bradbery, the Season 4 champ, has released a cover of one of her favorite holiday songs, “O Holy Night.” It’s part of the Stairwell Sessions from the Grand Ole Opry and there’s a music video of the performance too.