For more than 80 years, Bing Crosby’s name has been synonymous with the holiday season. Now, seven yuletide classics from the legendary singer, actor, and radio host have been reimagined by producer LOUALLDAY for ‘Christmas in Lofi,’ available to stream now. Featuring chilled out lofi remixes of songs like “White Christmas,” “The Little Drummer Boy,” and “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,” the EP marks the latest release for uChill, UMe’s popular lean-back content artist channel.
One of the most prolific and popular entertainers of the 20th century, Bing Crosby (1903-1977) recorded more than 1600 songs during his five-decade-long career. But the Grammy winner’s most beloved and enduring releases were those that revolved around the holiday season. In 1942, a year after debuting Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas” on his radio show, Crosby performed the song in the blockbuster film, Holiday Inn (in which he starred alongside Fred Astaire). The wistful title track was released, concurrently, as a single. Not only did the song become a breakout holiday hit, topping the U.S. charts three times throughout the decade and returning as a perennial favorite for years to come, but it inspired the modern trend of pop-forward (and largely secular) holiday recordings. Today, “White Christmas” remains the best-selling single of all time, with more than 50 million copies sold worldwide. Crosby, meanwhile, would go on to release a multitude of top-selling Christmas tunes over the next 15 years, many of which were compiled by Decca and released as albums during that era.
Now, a new generation of fans can discover Crosby’s best-loved holiday hits, thanks to the inspired work of LOUALLDAY. The multi-talented producer (real name Louis Bartolini) took seven of Crosby’s classic Decca and Capitol Christmas tracks and gave them a lofi spin – blending the cozy vintage cheer of “Do You Hear What I Hear,” “O Holy Night,” “Winter Wonderland,” and, of course, “White Christmas,” with chopped vocals, instrumental loops, and hard-hitting hip-hop beats. The result is a cohesive and vibey project that offers the perfect soundtrack for mellow holiday parties, studying for finals, or decorating the tree.
Christmas in LoFi follows several popular digital releases from uChill, including Lofi Holiday Mixtape Vols. 1 and 2 (released in 2020 and 2021, respectively) and last year’s Slowed + Christmas, Vol. 1 playlist — all of which paired some of the best names in the lofi scene (Mondo Loops, BLOND:ISH, Spoonbeats, L.Dre, and LOUALLDAY, among others) with UMe’s hallowed holiday catalog, including enduring cuts by Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, The Supremes, Brenda Lee, and Burl Ives.
November 2022 marks the 45th anniversary of Crosby’s legendary duet “Peace on Earth / Little Drummer Boy” with David Bowie, which premiered to a global audience on Crosby’s 1977 Christmas special. It’s one of the final recordings of Crosby’s career. In honor of the anniversary, Record Store Day will be releasing a limited number of candy cane swirl, 12-inch, 45 RPM vinyl records at participating indie record store days for RSD Black Friday. Visit the official Record Store Day website for more information.