Song Review:: FIFTY FIFTY: Winter Glow- When You Say My Name

• Release date: 2024 December 09

• Album tracklist: When You Say My Name, Naughty or Nice

• Album runtime: 6 minutes

 The Ship of Theseus has returned to port for a brief time for a seasonal celebration before heading back out to sea. 'Tis the season, everyone. Let's see what the offering from them is.

I know there are people out there who don't like ballads. And that's fine. But I think I'm building a mental stock of the ballads to support me when the songs start straying into places I'm not particularly fond of. In this case, I genuinely don't think you can go wrong with the piano/strings combo. It's a one-two punch, except it's more of a caress with a soft smile. There's nothing here to distract from the vocals, although the rhythm of the instrumentals does go at odds with the members' voices in places. 

Flex those pipes, girls! Flex them! Ship of Theseus this may be, but the new parts are not temporary replacement parts. They're the kinds of vocals that say "We're singers. This is our job," and because this is a full-fat ballad, they won't need to worry too much about extensive, difficult choreography, at least in theory. A song like this only requires a mic stand and an empty, darkened stage with singular spotlights on the members. Genuinely, this is an excellent song for them to showcase versatility. As far as this being a Christmas song, it feels more like those elements are a little more lip service than they are essential elements of the song. This is a love song first and foremost more than it is a holiday song, because if you removed those references, you'd still have essentially the same song. It's nothing against the song, as I'm absolutely adding it to several playlists that I'll be listening to throughout the year. 

But, oh, I absolutely adore Naughty or Nice. Almost everything I want in a song is right there. I wish that one had been the title track. 

The music video makes up for what the song lacks in Christmas vibes. I would call it a slice of life music video, if it weren't obviously not. Still, it's just as calm and cheerful as one of that genre, so I'm not overly perturbed by this. It's also practically ephemeral. The stylists did a great job as did the set designers and builders.