PG Roxette released his debut album, Pop-Up Dynamo! on 28th October and now less than a month later, one month before Christmas he releases a surprise single with two Xmas songs. Wish You The Best For Xmas and Wishing On The Same Christmas Star are already available from today, 18th November on all streaming services. Listen to the single that also includes the instrumental version of both songs on Spotify, Deezer, Apple Music or YouTube!
Physical release is on 25th November. You can order the ruby red 7” vinyl at Bengans, Ginza and some more Scandinavian online shops.
WISH YOU THE BEST FOR XMAS
Side A Wish You The Best For Xmas
Side B Wishing On The Same Christmas Star
Here is Per’s message upon the single release:
There’s a great tradition in pop music when it comes to christmas songs. My favourites remain the same; Wizzard’s “I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day” and Slade’s “Merry Xmas Everybody” are the stars on top of my christmas tree year after year. They’re hard to beat.
I wrote my very first christmas song in 1979 for my Swedish band, then I had another go in 1987 with Roxette. Maybe you know that one. It was called “It Must Have Been Love” and yes, the first version we released was actually a christmas song.
With PG Roxette I felt like keeping the tradition going. I wrote two songs, one uptempo and one ballad. They’re very different to each other.
First we have the uptempo one; “Wish You The Best For Xmas”. I thought it was a nice idea to do something a little bit more energetic than your ordinary christmas track. I came up with an idea this summer and the whole process went very fast.
I made a demo and sent it to Andreas Broberger who worked with Roxette on the “Good Karma” album as well as helping me out with some Mono Mind-tracks. His sounds and production style fit this song perfectly.
It felt like this song deserved a video so I got in touch with animator Mattias Gordon who did an amazing clip to it. I love the vibe he has created in the video.
Then we have the ballad. The melody to “Wishing On The Same Christmas Star” was born eight years ago in a song written for a musical that never happened.
It popped up in my head again when I thought of writing a christmas ballad.
It’s produced by Magnus Börjeson and Clarence Öfwerman who’s also responsible for the whole “Pop-Up Dynamo!” album. As you can hear it became a duet together with Helena Josefsson who is, as always, truly amazing to listen to.
There you go. Two christmas presents. From me to you.
Merry Christmas, folks!
/PG.
Mr. G shared this info related to the single in the RoxBlog interview:
I wrote the ballad first, eight years ago. It was called “Wishing On The Same Star” to begin with. It was written for a musical, but they didn’t use it. I liked the song and I thought maybe I should do a Christmas song. So I recorded a demo of it with a Christmas lyric. Then I didn’t use that either until now. Clarence and Magnus did the production and it sounded good, but it felt a little bit predictable to do this ballad Christmas thing. I felt like maybe I should write something really uptempo instead. So I wrote this really fast uptempo song. I did it in July this year. So the other song, “Wish You The Best For Xmas” is brand new. It’s produced by myself and Andreas Broberger, so it sounds a little different.
The video to it is cool too, but it’s different. It’s made by this guy Mattias Gordon, who did the “Being With You” video. It’s different style, but it’s animated and it’s a lot of Christmas people in it. He’s got this great technique. He is taking films of people and then he draws on the film, then just keeps the drawings and gets rid of the films. I’m in there and I’m playing the keyboards, but I’m just like… it’s just pencil. It’s funny and it’s cool.
Wish You The Best For Xmas
You
You’re sitting across the table having breakfast
Giving me that look that makes me smile
And I can’t hide it
We
We spend so many hours doing nothing
That’s the way I want it to stay for a while
And all the time
Hey
I’m missing you every day
I wish you were here with me
Keeping me company
Oh I wish you a very very merry merry merry xmas
I’m hoping you think of me
Dancing around the tree
Oh I wish you the best for xmas
I
I play that song you fancy without thinking
It’s silly and it’s simple but it’s true
I miss you
Yea
I’m missing you every day
I wish you were here with me
Keeping me company
Oh I wish you a very very merry merry merry xmas
I’m hoping you think of me
Dancing around the tree
Oh I wish you the best for xmas
Words + Music by Per Gessle
Published by Jimmy Fun Music
Produced by Andreas Broberger + Per Gessle
Recorded at Bridge & Mountain Paradise, Umeå + T&A Studio, Halmstad
Engineers: Andreas Broberger + M.P. Persson
Mixed by Andreas Broberger + Anton Ekström
Vocals: Per Gessle + Helena Josefsson
Programming + Synthesizers: Andreas Broberger
Guitars + Percussion: Per Gessle
Mandolin: M.P. Persson
Wishing On The Same Christmas Star
There’s a truth that’s been forever
It’s so clear, it’s in my heart
It makes the voices from the street
And that crazy christmas beat
Feel so near
It just feels so near
You and me we’re linked together
Like we were wishing on the same christmas star
Oh I hope until the end
You will always be my friend
So close
Like a whisper
I always knew this day eventually would come
I always knew this place is right where we belong
Oh I know we can climb higher
Yes, I know we’ve just begun
Let us both just seize the day
And let the beauty come our way
To celebrate
Christmas Day
This Christmas Day
Words + Music by Per Gessle
Published by Jimmy Fun Music
Produced by Magnus Börjeson + Clarence Öfwerman + Per Gessle
Co-produced by Christoffer Lundquist
Recorded at Farozon, Malmö + Aerosol Grey Machine, Vallarum + T&A Studio, Halmstad
Engineers: Magnus Börjeson + Christoffer Lundquist + M.P. Persson
Mixed by Ronny Lahti
Vocals: Per Gessle + Helena Josefsson
Programming + Synthesizers + Keyboards: Magnus Börjeson + Clarence Öfwerman
Synthesizers: Per Gessle
Guitars + Ondes Martenot: Christoffer Lundquist
Design by Pär Wickholm, Wickholm Formavd., Stockholm. Photo by Fredrik Etoall