Meghan Trainor always had a bit of old-fashioned showbiz razzle-dazzle to her style, so it's no surprise that she approaches a holiday album with gusto.
A Very Trainor Christmas is filled with baubles, good cheer, and just a hint of camp and flirtation, enough to keep the album from sounding a little bit too comfy. The original material naturally are the moments that sound the most vivacious; "I Believe in Santa" rolls along to a bass thump that's surprisingly heavy for a holiday, while "My Kind of Present" is delivered with a wink. Sometimes
Trainor veers a little bit too far away from standard fare -- apart from its title, nothing on "Naughty List" conveys Christmas, which is also true of the
Earth, Wind & Fire collaboration "Holidays," which works hard to bring the spirit of "September" to December -- but most of the record is firmly within the realm of spirited seasonal soundtrack. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
