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Jennifer Hudson is no stranger to covering songs and making them her own, after getting her start on American Idol and continuing through her Emmy-nominated daytime talk show. So when she started work on her first-ever holiday album, The Gift of Love, Hudson understood the assignment: She would need to Jennifer-ize some of the most beloved Christmas classics of all time.
“Any time I do a classic — which I get to do a lot — I always want to stay true to the base but then allow space for my artistry to come through, which made making this album the most fun I have ever had recording an album,” the EGOT winner tells Katie & Keith on our special Christmas episode of the Billboard Pop Shop Podcast (listen below). “Whether it’s me lyrically or musically, my expression is there in some form, in my interpretation. … So it was fun to reimagine the classics, Jennifer Hudson-style. I call it ‘Jennifer-izing’ them.”

How did she choose which holiday hallmarks to tackle? “I picked what was most personal to me. Like ‘The Christmas Song,’ for instance, my grandmother used to love that song, so I recall hearing that as a little girl throughout each and every holiday of her playing that song — Nat King Cole with the satin voice — so that made me want to pay tribute to her in that way,” Hudson says. “Or ‘Go Tell It on the Mountain,’ I grew up singing that in church during the holiday season and ‘Carol of the Bells’ in high school. ‘Hallelujah,’ that’s my favorite song; that’s the heart of the album. And ‘O Holy Night’ is my favorite Christmas song.”

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She was also conscious of bringing a diversity of sounds, styles, genres and tempos to the project, because, according to Hudson: “There are different Christmases. Some years it’s a winter wonderland Christmas, it’s a big-band Christmas, it’s a North Pole Christmas with the reds and the greens and the candy canes for the kids, a ‘Jingle Bells’ type of Christmas. It can change through each year — which is why my album has a lot of variety in it, because it’s like: Is your Christmas the icicle Christmas? Is it a green Christmas? Is it a white Christmas? What type of Christmas do you want, baby?”

Hudson spoke with Katie & Keith from the set of The Jennifer Hudson Show, and she said it was her tightknit work family that was the original “inspiration towards why the time is now to do a holiday album. Our [show] theme is ‘Choose Joy.’ And on the Christmas album is the song ‘Let There Be Joy.’ So that’s what it’s all about, and that’s what I love to do. And the best gift and the best way I know to do it is through music. And it’s just a blessing to come in here every day and work with such beautiful people. And it’s like a party every day. We call it The Happy Place.”

The 15-song project also includes a half-dozen originals, all co-written by Hudson. Below, J-Hud breaks down the messages behind four of those brand-new holiday songs.

“Santa for Someone”

“My assistant inspired it because he he’s a scrooge. [Laughs] And I was like, ‘What is it about the holidays you don’t like?’ He’s like, ‘Getting gifts for everybody and trying to figure it out.’ So that’s where ‘Santa for Someone’ came from. Because we all can get frustrated looking for those gifts. Will we get it in enough time? Will we get them what they want? … I can’t think of too many men, like uncles and brothers, that are listening to ‘Jingle Bells,’ so how about I give them something to bop to throughout the holiday season? So I was trying to think of everyone, as we do during the holidays.”

“Find the Love”

“It meets the times that we’re in, and I feel like it’s a song that could be played throughout the year. … We’re in such a difficult time as a people, and it’s like, what unifies us? Music. We’re all human. We all have to go through a season no matter what — no matter if it’s the holiday season or life has seasons in itself. But that one thing that can bring us together on one accord is music, and that’s why the album is called The Gift of Love. And a song like ‘Find the Love’ is on there because it doesn’t just sit within the holiday season; it’s something you can carry throughout your life, and it can speak to you and it can speak to the times.”

“Make It to Christmas”

“‘Make It to Christmas’ is my son’s favorite song. It speaks to like, we all work all year, right? But we are waiting to get to the end of that tunnel, where the lights are red and green, to that holiday season, where we can go home at that one time of year and enjoy each other and our families.”

“Go Tell It on the Mountain”

“‘Go Tell It on the Mountain’ is for the mourners, those who may have lost. It’s kind of like a remake of that song, but from a personal perspective.”

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Also on the podcast, we’ve got chart news on how Taylor Swift spends a 17th week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart with The Tortured Poets Department; how Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” nets a 16th week at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart, tying “One Sweet Day” as her song with the most weeks atop the list; and how Sabrina Carpenter’s “Fruitcake” flies into the top 10 for the first time on the Billboard 200 with the single-largest sales week in the modern era for a holiday album on vinyl. Plus, Madonna announced new music with her longtime collaborator Stuart Price coming next year, and we’ll hear from the Queen of Pop’s biggest fan, Keith, about why this is especially exciting news.

The Billboard Pop Shop Podcast is your one-stop shop for all things pop on Billboard’s weekly charts. You can always count on a lively about the latest pop news, fun chart stats and stories, new music, and guest interviews with music stars and folks from the world of pop. Casual pop fans and chart junkies can hear Billboard’s executive digital director, West Coast, Katie Atkinson and Billboard’s managing director, charts and data operations, Keith Caulfield every week on the podcast, which can be streamed on Billboard.com or downloaded in Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast provider. (Click here to listen to the previous edition of the show on Billboard.com.)