“Let It Go?†Honey, Lea Michele doesn’t know the meaning of the term. More like “Hold Onto Everything With an Osprey-Like Vice Grip,†she always says! And so, not to be outdone by the new Christmas release by Mama Who Bore Her (on Glee) Idina Menzel, Michele has dropped the music video for her new holiday classic, “Christmas in New York.†The track has the sort of Broadway-ready rhythm that makes you want to throw up jazz hands like Harry Styles backing Baby Faye, and has beautiful lyrics like “Rockettes are warming up their kicks / Radio City sold out all of their tick-ets.†The video starts out like a Macy’s commercial, with extras toting shopping bags, and Michele literally singing about Macy’s, until she feels her Carrie Bradshaw fantasy, hailing a yellow taxi “straight to Central Park!†in a big festive party dress. Michele may not be on Broadway — based on the video’s liberal use of stock footage, she may not even be within 200 miles of the NYC metro area — but it’s festive, peppy, and not nearly as uncomfortable as her breathy, sensual rendition of “Do You Want to Build a Snowman?â€
P.S. Are we as a society just going to let Idina Menzel get away with passing “Seasons of Love†off as a Christmas carol on her new album, Christmas: A Season of Love? That’s a carol for (a) graduations, (b) memorial services, and (c) my bat mitzvah slideshow only!