Sufjan Stevens’ Christmas catalog has become large enough to need an entry point. Asthmatic Kitty released Worst Christmas Ever! on November 6, bringing 15 selections from his earlier holiday recordings together with one new original song.
The 16-track collection draws from Songs for Christmas and Silver & Gold. Its new addition is “On This Christmas (It Only Gets Better),” which the label identifies as Stevens’ first newly written, produced and performed Christmas song in nearly 15 years.
A new song about forgiveness
The song arrived ahead of the album on November 2. In the label’s announcement, Stevens described the idea of a Christmas apology, connecting the exchange of presents with the possibility of asking for and offering forgiveness.
The accompanying video was directed and edited by Stevens, with filming and creation credited to Stevens, Michael O’Neal and Cubby Graham. The label says its animation process involved 6,000 stills that were printed, painted by hand and scanned again.
Leesa Allmond’s mixed-media animation is credited as an inspiration. Hannah Cohen joined Stevens, O’Neal and Graham in painting the images, according to the announcement.
Where the older recordings came from
Stevens’ official Christmas site traces the project to 2001, when he made a seven-song recording as a gift for friends and family. More volumes followed, eventually becoming the box sets released in 2006 and 2012.
Those collections mix familiar Christmas songs with originals. The new album selects from that larger body of work instead of presenting 16 newly recorded songs.
Its track list includes “Sister Winter,” “Christmas in the Room,” “Only at Christmas Time” and “That Was the Worst Christmas Ever!” Two versions of “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear” appear, drawn from different installments of the earlier series.
The label lists the new compilation on LP, CD and cassette, with listening links on its release page. For someone deciding where to begin, the practical distinction is straightforward: this is a shorter route through the existing Christmas recordings, with one new song opening the next part of the catalog.
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