"Santa Tell Me" by Ariana Grande // 10 Year Anniversary Song Review & Amazon exclusive gold 7" vinyl

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✴⭑"Santa, tell me if you're really there"⭑✴

"Santa Tell Me" by Ariana Grande perfectly captures the heart of holiday the season! I love that so much of her personality and personal influences shine through in this song to create this Christmas classic. This song is such a perfect example of how great modern holiday music can be and her influence has been heard throughout so much that has been released in the past decade. 

"Santa Tell Me" went on to be one of the highest streamed songs in her entire discography, surpassing over a billion streams on Spotify. As of 2024, it is the third highest streamed Christmas song on the platform too! It's very rare for there to be great original holiday music released like this, but Ari completely dominates that category in every regard. "Santa Tell Me" went on to be the defining Christmas song of the 2010's and continues to rise in popularity every single year. It quickly went on to become an annual classic for good reason. Ariana worked with her frequent collaborators Ilya and Savan Koetcha to create this song that is a perfect blend of her R&B and pop influences. It is so fun and catchy, of course her vocal performance is so amazing too. 

It was originally released a decade ago to close off a massive breakthrough year following the success of her sophomore album My Everything. I have been such a big fan of her since her Victorious days, but that was the year that fully solidified her as the superstar we know her as today. She released so much great music that year and "Santa Tell Me" was such a great way to top off 2014. 

If Mariah Carey is considered the queen of Christmas, then Ariana is definitely the princess of Christmas then! Much like Mariah, Ari specifically released some of the best original holiday music of all time. Ariana is the only artist that even comes close to Mariah in that regard. It is very rare to create a definitive Christmas classic in the way that they both have time and time again. "Santa Tell Me" is absolutely at the top of my list of favorite Christmas songs - right up there with "Last Christmas" and "All I Want For Christmas Is You".

In late 2015, Ariana released a full holiday EP called Christmas n Chill, which I absolutely love too and find myself listening to year-round. It completely transcends any other Christmas album for me. "Santa Tell Me" isn't featured on the standard version of that EP, but it definitely did pave the way for how amazing every song on it is, along with all of the holiday music she went on to make in the years since.

Alongside the ten-year anniversary, Ari recorded a special live version of the song for her eternal sunshine studio sessions and released it just in time for Christmas. That performance encapsulates all of the reasons why "Santa Tell Me" is one of the most enduring holiday songs of the past decade and what makes her such a once-in-a-generation talent!

In 2024, "Santa Tell Me" was released for the first time as a 7" vinyl single go celebrate the ten-year anniversary of this Christmas classic. This variant is available exclusively on Amazon, but other pressings are available on Ariana's webstore and at Urban Outfitters. I absolutely love the gold pressing, it has such a gorgeous metallic shift to it. It looks like actual molten gold! The cover is also so pretty with the pink and gold details too. The simple design of this vinyl captures the beauty of the song so beautifully. I love it so much and am so happy to add it to my collection! 

Side A features the standard edition of "Santa Tell Me", which is the first time this version of the song is pressed on vinyl. I do have an alternate "Santa Tell Me" on the Christmas n Chill vinyl, which is sort of a hidden track at the end of the LP. It's actually the previously unreleased "naughty version" which she has since released on streaming too, but it was such a surprise when I first played that vinyl years ago to hear the alternate lyrics! 

While I was hoping the B side would be one of her Christmas songs that was never pressed on vinyl before, "True Love" is such a perfect pair for "Santa Tell Me". The lyric, "But it's hard to tell if this is just a fling, or if it's true love that he thinks of, so next Christmas I'm not all alone", from "Santa Tell Me" flows right into the theme of "True Love" so beautifully. That is actually one of my favorite holiday songs Ari ever released, I love the way she puts an R&B twist on a classic Christmas carol. This song was originally released in 2015 apart of her Christmas n Chill EP and is such a sweet moment of that record. It fits really well with the rest of her discography and isn't only to be listened to just for the holiday season - at least that's the way I have always thought of it!

Stylistically, it feels very linked to the music she was making at the time of the Dangerous Woman era, as it was the record she was working on alongside Christmas n Chill in late 2015. "After six days in your arms I got that tattoo on my heart 'cause I'm your moonlight, you're my star, ain't nothin' shinin' more than you, boy," is one of my favorite lyrics from this song. 




I'm so happy that "Santa Tell Me" finally received a widespread physical release and I hope that some of her other holiday music does in the future too! There is an EP that Ariana released in 2013 called Christmas Kisses, which is lesser known than the second she made, Christmas n Chill, but has also never been pressed on vinyl and I'm hoping one day it is! Ari's Christmas music is some of my favorite ever and I always look forward to hearing more from her!

Thanks for reading! This post is a part of a new series on my blog focusing on a few of my favorite holiday vinyl records, I'd love for you to read about more of them here. If you are interested, I have also written extensively about all of Ariana Grande's music in the past, which are linked here and below. I have so much more exciting new music content to come, I hope you'll come back soon to check it out!

I hope you are having a wonderful holiday season! Merry Christmas! 🎄

-Melissa ♡



All photos are my own!



Related Posts:

My Everything by Ariana Grande // 10 Year Anniversary Album Review

eternal sunshine by Ariana Grande Album Review
















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