8 Days of Christmas

Performer: Destiny's Child
Artist: Solange; Beyonce Knowles; Kelly Rowland; Michelle Williams
Distributor: Sony Music Distribution (

Notes: Destiny's Child: Beyonce Knowles, Kelly Rowland, Michelle Williams. Additional personnel includes: Solange. Producers include: Beyonce Knowles, Matthew Knowles, Rob Fusari, Alan Foyd, Erron Williams. Engineers include: Marius Perron III, James Hoover, John Naslen. This is a DualDisc, which contains a CD on one side of the disc and a DVD on the other. Destiny's Child: Kelly Rowland, Michelle Williams, Solange, Beyonc� Knowles (vocals). Destiny's Child's holiday album, 8 Days of Christmas, is pretty much what you'd expect -- divided equally between strained hip-hop-soul and smooth adult contemporary pop directly targeted at a crossover paradise. Since holiday albums have to have a hook, or at least one novelty to draw in an audience, there's the title track that recasts "12 Days of Christmas" as a modern, commercialistic, sub-hip-hop rant. Things get better than that, as the tailor-made "Winter Paradise" works much better, as does "A 'DC' Christmas Medley," which may be a little formulaic, but appealing. Then, there's a huge stretch that features the individual members of Destiny's Child singing a carol apiece (plus "Little Drummer Boy," which features Solange, who isn't in the group) -- good way of prepping for the inevitable solo careers, I suppose. Then, the album pretty much runs out with ballads and songs that emphasize some of the more irritating aspects of Destiny's Child (the skittering verses of "Spread a Little Love on Christmas Day," for instance, complete with its chorus of "I got your back on Christmas Day"), as well as their crossover attempts, including a version of "Opera of the Bells." So, yes, this is uneven, as much as any holiday album is uneven, and even if it lacks anything distinctive, it's still Destiny enough to please many hardcore fans. Ultimately, it doesn't really feel all that distinctive one way or another, which may be worse than being really bad or really great. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine Doesn't it feel like Christmas? Well, it will after even a cursory listen to this seasonal offering from Destiny's Child, which mixes hardy favorites with newly minted holiday-oriented originals, all complete with the group's trademark luscious harmonies set to deft urban R&B orchestrations. The group kicks off with "8 Days of Christmas" (the other four presumably victims of some kind of Yuletide recession), with the traditional Christmas gifts replaced by diamond belly rings, back rubs, and "the keys to a CLK Mercedes." Other highlights include "A DC Christmas Medley" which combines such beloved chestnuts as "Jingle Bells," "Deck the Halls," and "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" in a hip-hop Christmas wonderland melange. Beyonce Knowles's scintillating version of "Silent Night" featured here (though, oddly, it's exclusively credited to the singer) should melt the hearts of even the Grinchiest DC haters.

Entertainment Weekly (11/30/01, p.89) - "...Silky originals...and a cornucopia of chestnuts, all vocally arranged to within an inch of their lives..." - Rating: B+

Videos and albums are not always the preferred formats for gaining success as a recording artist--it was an appearance in the hit Will Smith movie MEN IN BLACK that gave Destiny's Child a major boost to their recording career. From there, the all-female pop/R&B band from Houston continued its hit streak until taking a break in the early 2000s to work on individual projects (most notably Beyonce's mega-selling DANGEROUSLY IN LOVE). The group reunited in 2005 to release their last album, #1s, and to tour to support it, splitting amicably afterwards to pursue solo careers.

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