Idina Menzel's album Holiday Wishes fulfills every Christmas wish [Review]
It's never frozen in Hong Kong, but Disney's snow queen Elsa is as loved here as anywhere else; Idina Menzel, who voiced her, shares the character's grip on winter with Holiday Wishes, her first studio album in six years.
As befits an award-winning Broadway star, the album is arranged almost like a musical - you need to listen to it in order.
Menzel's effortless vocals set the scene in Do You Hear What I Hear and The Christmas Song. Things turn playful with a duet of Baby It's Cold Outside with Michael Bublé, then the energy soars on the jazzy All I Want For Christmas Is You.
Menzel switches on the romance as she sings What Are You Doing New Year's Eve? to a flawless saxophone backing, then it's on to more serious stuff with the album's only original song, the empowering December Prayer. Together with a cover of Joni Mitchell's River, we're taken beyond the frills of the season's commercial side.
The only hiccup is the excess of syncopation in Silent Night; it just doesn't feel right. That, plus a lack of log fire and a cup of eggnog.