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Dec 21, 2020 Frances Lion By Caleb Campbell

UK singer/songwriter Frances Lion has debuted her latest release, a live version of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” premiering with Under the Radar. With her music Frances Lion combines the bluesy vocal tones of Janis Joplin with the towering guitar theatrics of The White Stripes and the anthemic range of Florence Welch. Following her 2018 EP Lion, she released a handful of 2019 singles and embarked on her first tours with Albert Hammond Jr. and The Vaccines.

Lion has largely spent 2020 sending out dispatches from her van during lockdown. Her Christmas cover is the latest in Lion’s series of “Van Session” live performances, a combination of covers, such as Dua Lipa’s “Break Your Heart” and originals, such as Lion’s 2019 single, “Wolf.”

With “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” Lion turns her bluesy, emotive voice towards Christmas music for the first time. However, the yearning holiday favorite is far from jolly Christmas cheer. Lion brings out even more of the underlying melancholy that runs beneath the song. It’s stripped back and honest, carrying all the trials and hardships of this year through Lion’s unadorned vocal performance. Lion’s wish that “Someday soon we’ll all be together/ If the fates allow,” feels all the more poignant as a missive from quarantine. The result is a beautiful interpretation of a Christmas standard filled with longing and quiet hope.

Lion says of the song, “I grew up listening to Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole every Christmas. It’s a bit of a family tradition so I knew when choosing a Christmas song I wanted it to be one from either of these greats. I love Frank Sinatra’s version of ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’ and I feel the lyrics in it really resonate more than ever with the weird year we’ve all had. I filmed it as part of my live ‘Van Session’ series.” Check out the song below.