Gwen Stefani’s Christmas Album Deep Cut That Gets the True Meaning of Christmas
By Mary Rose Somarriba
One of the most popular singers today for her role on The Voice, Gwen Stefani can be found each year in glamorous attire singing cheeky holiday tunes at the tree lighting of Rockefeller Center.
But getting much less airtime is a quieter Christmas song of longing she wrote herself called “Christmas Eve,” which appears as the last track of her 2017 Christmas album, You Make It Feel Like Christmas. Stefani begins the song with lyrics that speak like a desperate prayer to the divine:
“I can’t see in this darkness / So in need of forgiveness / Before all of my faith dies / Show me the way like a northern light,” the song begins. At the time of the album, Stefani was coming off a divorce with longtime husband Gavin Rossdale, father of their three children, and, with reports of his infidelity, it was no secret that she was suffering amid the breakup. “Don’t know how I got where I am / Hurting so much I need healing,” she sings.
But then the song turns to an appeal: “Come find me ‘cause I can’t find myself / I’m looking for you on Christmas Eve.”
Who is she looking for? A sweetheart? A family member she hopes can make the visit this Christmas? Given how many holiday songs (some of Gwen’s other Christmas tracks included) are about finding someone under the mistletoe, at first glance, one might wonder if “Christmas Eve” is a song about reaching out toward a loved one.
But as the song progresses, it becomes clear this is actually a Christmas song about God.
“I’m feeling lost; can you save me,” she sings at one point. “All I have is what I can pray /
Send me your mercy; I need your grace,” she sings at another.
It’s a prayer of yearning for someone to come on Christmas Eve, and that person, it turns out, is the Savior who was born in the wee hours of a silent night that the world celebrates on December 25.
In an interview on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon when the album was released, Stefani explained that the song came to her when she was praying.
It’s a “Christmas miracle song,” Stefani told Fallon. She was going on a run for physical exercise but she said she decided also to do her “spiritual exercise” along the way: “I’m gonna jog and I’m gonna pray,” she said. Then, before she knew it she decided to sing out loud, and the whole chorus came out. She was so surprised she ran back to where she was staying and shared it with her parents, meanwhile wondering if the song was actually something she’d heard before. “Did I just steal this,” she asked her parents; “is this from church?”
It turns out, no; it was an original song Stefani was inspired to write, which helped set the stage for the entire album. With such a backstory, it’s hard not to be fascinated by the quiet yearning of “Christmas Eve.”
Still, the song is not the most played of her Christmas songs, and some people have never even heard of it. But I would submit it’s a gem that points toward the real meaning of Christmas like few other modern tunes can.
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