As we enter December, I find myself once again returning to Phoebe Bridgers’ collection of holiday covers. From 2017 to 2022, Bridgers released a new winter single each year, donating all royalties to various nonprofit organizations. Of the six singles, my personal favorite is her 2022 cover of The Handsome Family’s nontraditional Christmas song, “So Much Wine.”
The song stands in stark contrast to the usual joyous feel of Christmas music, telling the story of a narrator leaving their drunken partner on Christmas Day. Bridgers’ famously melancholic voice, along with Paul Mescal’s backing vocals, painfully heighten sorrowful lyrics like, “There’s only so much wine / That you can drink in one life / And it will never be enough / To save you from the bottom of your glass.” Acoustic guitar, organ, violin, and fiddle string together into a uniquely eerie sound, complemented by this cover’s much slower and more vulnerable production.
Despite the song’s gloomy preface, the narrator’s escape from a destructive relationship ultimately instills in her a hope for the future. “So Much Wine” shines like a comforting light in this cold, dark season — a faint promise of something better as we step into the new year.
Listen to the rest of the playlist here!
