Christmas every day...
Really, would that be a good thing? Musicians answer this and other vital questions
Time to bring the chaos again! After the fun of All I want for Christmas last year, I’ve asked some of my favourite musicians from 2025 some random, semi-festive questions. Here’s how it turned out (scroll to the end to find out more about the artists involved)…
How would you feel if it was Christmas every day?
Jodie Nicholson is not overly keen on the idea of a daily Christmas
Amber Saqladi: Probably a bit desensitised! I like Christmas being something special to look forward to when the days get colder and darker.
Bria Keely (better joy): Absolutely not, my social battery is not that good. I go into hibernation after Christmas for a week, which involves Harry Potter re-runs and walks with my dog, and it’s all because the whole build-up and day exhaust me. I’m cooked after Christmas Day, cooked for the rest of the year haha. I love the build-up to Christmas and the novelty of it all, I think if it was every day, it wouldn’t feel as special. I’m not sure I could sing Christmas music all year either, it would seriously grind my gears after a while ha!
I’m cooked after Christmas Day, cooked for the rest of the year
Drew Thomas: I’d be an emotional, nostalgic wreck! I love Christmas but the more people I lose in life, the more I realise that this time of year can be so difficult for so many. It can also be such a wonderful celebration and homage to the people who made you. One time a year is enough for my tear ducts I think - haha!
Jodie Nicholson: Overstimulated, craving a quick meal (as delicious as Christmas dinner is, it takes an age) and ready for a day that doesn’t involve gifting/opening presents. It would be great for a few days, but after that I’d be knackered and very ready for change!
Ella Clayton: Awful. I’m not a Christmas grinch but once a year is definitely enough!
Ria Rua: To quote the Simpsons, who explored a similar idea: “Please, kill me”
Roller Disco Death Party: It would be great, though I’d imagine be in some financial trouble very quickly haha.
If you could spend Christmas anywhere, where would you pick — and why?
Amber: I would absolutely love to spend Christmas in the snowy mountains somewhere — I’ve never been to a snowy mountain before. Maybe in the Alps! But my family coming too would be a must!
Bria: To be honest, I love Christmas at home in Cheshire with my family. I don’t like change so I am quite rigid with traditions, so I get a bit annoyed now that my siblings have to share Christmases (rightly so!) with their partners. But yeh, I just love being around the kitchen with my dog, Otis, my siblings and mum and dad and singing karaoke songs. Christmas at my house isn’t very formal or civilised, one year I ended up singing carols out of tune in the dog bed.
Drew: I love the idea of being one of those super celebrities who could whisk their family off to a hallmark-film esque snowy destinations but I think I’d just enjoy a family Christmas where everyone is happy and healthy. A lot of families probably wish for the same. Destination doesn’t mean as much to me nowadays
What’s the best gift you’ve ever given or been given?
Bria Keely has a car now but an electric scooter remains in her memories…
Amber: Not sure if this counts because I didn’t actually buy it but I helped pick it out! When I was 15 I helped my mum pick out some digital DJ decks for my dad. He used to DJ as a teenager and hadn’t done it since… Now even 8 years later you can’t rip him from them! It was extra rewarding because he’s usually really hard to buy for haha.
Bria: My godfather used to spoil me when I was a kid and one year he bought me an electric scooter. That was a pretty bangin’ present.
I made a huge batch of chilli jam one year
Drew: I have a drawing of the Nottingham Bodega professionally framed which my mum gave to me last Christmas. That place was my home as a teenager and still my favourite venue to play. The fact I have such a beautiful version of it framed on my wall is so cool!
The best I’ve ever given was a record player to one of my friends with a signed Chvrches vinyl. We don’t talk anymore but they loved it at the time.
Jodie: I made a huge batch of chilli jam one year and gifted a jar each to friends and family. It made the whole kitchen smell like cider vinegar for hours, but it was SO worth it! I highly recommend it if, like me, you love a home-made gift.
Ria Rua: Being a full time musician often means you’re broke, so you have to be creative with gifts. I have a very good friend that I recently made a song for, comprised of lots of the hilarious voice messages they’ve sent me over the years.
Secret Santa - yay or nay?
Jules from Fright Years is clearly happy with her Secret Santa gift
Amber: Yay, but only with groups I know well — otherwise the gift-buying sends me into an overthinking spiral!
Bria: Yay! Massive yay!! Love secret Santa! I do it with my pals and my family.
Ella Clayton: Yay! Love a secret Santa. But I’m terrible at keeping secrets.
Fright Years: Yay. We’re definitely a gift-giving band and love a Christmas night out each year.
Jodie: Absolutely yay, I quite enjoy the challenge of buying for a specific person and on a limited budget! My mum’s side of the family did a version of Secret Santa a few years ago (though the ‘secret’ part didn’t stay secret for very long!) and it was a really fun way of doing presents.
Roller Disco Death Party: Absolutely yay! The randomness of what you get, the sneakiness of trying to find out what a person would like without being caught out is so much fun.
What will be on your Christmas playlist this year?
Girl Scout are transfixed by Absolute Christmas 1994 (Photo credit: Lamia Karic)
Amber: Lots of oldies. Also Leona Lewis is a Christmas cult classic in my family, and Michael Buble of course. I also loveeee some Laufey at Christmas time!
Bria: The same Christmas music that I play every year, the classics! And to be honest, some years I throw Abba songs in there cause why not. Whatever I can sing a long to, it’s on my Christmas playlist.
Ella: Yuletide on the Pony Express is a brilliant cowboy Christmas song by the band Motor Show, and I had the pleasure of contributing a cameo vocal part as the cowboy’s horse. There’s also a song my Mum plays every year, which is Jesus’ Blood Never Failed me Yet by Gavin Bryers ft. Tom Waits. It’s a sample of a homeless man singing and it just repeats and repeats while the instrumentation builds and swells underneath. And then Tom Waits joins in and manages to be both heart breaking and hilarious. It always makes us cry.
Fright Years: Obviously there has to be Fairytale of New York on there — I love Driving Home for Christmas and Nat King Cole’s The Christmas Song, too. I’d also add Christmas Lights by Coldplay purely for the ending, I love that. Then I’d throw in some indie-Christmas tunes like Bleachers’ Merry Christmas Please Don’t Call to bring some much needed Xmas melancholy.
Girl Scout: There’s this Christmas compilation album that every Swedish household grew up with, Absolute Christmas 1994. It’s a really weird mix of songs, there’s Last Christmas and John & Yokos Xmas song, and then there’s weird Swedish classical mixed in. Really very odd but that CD is Christmas to me. [There are copies available on Discogs…]
India Arkin: Driving Home for Christmas. All day. Everyday. And maybe a cheeky bit of Wham, aha!
POV: You’re Ria Rua’s TV at Christmas
Ria Rua: I tend to go traditional...by which I mean the Sinatra and Jimmy Stewart movies. It’s all just been diminishing returns since then.
Roller Disco Death Party: Julian Casablancas - I Wish It Was Christmas Today. On repeat.
Who would you nominate to be Santa at your perfect Christmas party?
Santa’s at the door! (According to Bria Keely)
Amber: Someone rich and generous. Probably Taylor Swift in the most ideal fantasy world lol! Maybe she’d bring her infamous cookies too as a bonus.
Bria: Jacob from Wunderhorse.
Drew: The owner of Spotify, Daniel Ek. I’m sure he has big enough pockets to help me, my friends and my fellow independent artists with the money they’re probably morally due… ha.
Girl Scout: Jack Black.
Roll on 2026, right..? What’s your biggest plan?
Ella Clayton contemplates her next album
Amber: Why, world domination of course!
Bria: A headline tour in March, supporting Amy MacDonald across Europe in February...and then maybe some new music ;) ;)
Drew: The music world always used to make me feel like a kid in a candy store. I love being in it, I get overwhelmed by how much there is in front of me, and I wanted it all. Next year I’m releasing a bunch of songs that are really honest and cathartic for me. Honestly, I just want to put them out. We spend so much time trying to make everything perfect, I just wanted to share music I love. It’s not about the idea of fame anymore. I just want to share my art with the world. Oh, and play it live as many times as possible. That’s a certain x
Ella: My second album ‘Could it be you?’ is coming out!! So that’s the North Star, and then many other plans are weaving themselves around it: UK headline tour, album launch in London, vinyls, music videos — exciting times!
Fright Years: New music but we also have our UK headline tour — it’s our biggest run of shows to date. We can’t wait to come back to some of our favourite cities like Nottingham, Manchester, Norwich and London, and it’ll be our first time playing in Bristol and North Shields. We’ve also just announced Aberdeen and a special hometown show at Cabaret Voltaire in Edinburgh which will be loads of fun.
Girl Scout: Our debut album Brink comes out March 20th, and we’re touring all over! It’s gonna be a good year for Girl Scout.
India: I’ve moved to Bristol for the first time in 2025, created a new live band, and have probably experienced some of the biggest life changes I’ve had in years: so you best believe 2026 is gonna be the year of great releases, with so many new songs on the horizon, that cut deeper than any of my material ever has before...I’m so excited ahhh!
Jodie: My partner and I got a puppy in November and the first day we can take him out for a walk is actually Christmas Day(!), so booking a few days away somewhere where we can go on a little adventure together/explore somewhere new with him would be wicked. Career-wise, write another album(!!!) and honestly take some time to figure out what I want to say next as an artist/producer. It’s probably the first time where I’ve not known what the next chapter looks/feels like for me, so my plan is to write and explore until something slots into place!
Ria Rua: Releasing my debut record SCAPEG.O.A.T., playing as many gigs as possible, and recording an acoustic album. And the same thing I do every year: try and take over the world (peacefully)!
Roller Disco Death Party: We’ve got some great shows coming up next year, just announced Stockton Calling and Deer Shed Festival. And we can’t wait to get going.
About the artists
Amber Saqladi is an independent singer-songwriter from Leicester, now based in London; she melds Americana-influenced tunes with pop rock rage. Manchester-born Bria Keely is best known for her better joy project, which mixes intensely personal songwriting with rich, sparky melodies. Grit pop artist Drew Thomas was raised in Nottingham and is now based in London; his powerful songs never fail to tackle life head on. Fright Years are a sparky yet thoughtful alt-rock band based in Edinburgh, vocally led by Jules Kelly. Ella Clayton uses her soulful voice to great effect as she walks the boundaries of folk songwriting.
Fronted by Emma Jansson, Girl Scout are one of Sweden’s leading alternative rock bands, always producing spot-on riffs and tons of energy. Singer-songwriter India Arkin was the first signing for HMV’s 1921 Records and just keeps on getting stronger, expressing herself through irresistible, riffy alt-rock songs. Jodie Nicholson possesses a remarkable, delicate vocal touch and creates ethereal, communicative music which transcends genres. Hailing from Ireland, Ria Rua is an artist, producer, songwriter and drummer with a refreshingly unique approach to life and music. Roller Disco Death Party are a Glasgow duo combining big beats, electro sounds and live drums.