The time has FINALLY come. Baby faced songbird Stanley Ray dropped his debut Christmas album on November 4, 2024 titled ‘A Stanley Ray Christmas‘. Real fans recognised the date because it’s his birthday and yes, he’s confirmed that was intentional. “From day one I already had my mind made up that I wanted to drop my very first Christmas album on my birthday,” he says. “Being born in November, the month before Christmas, I have that privilege. I wanted, from here on out, to be able to say I now forever share my birthday with my debut Christmas album. I’m very proud of that.”
Writing for the album began back in 2020 when Stanley Ray was a brand new indie artist promoting his debut album ‘BabyBoy’. Not only that but he also recorded the entire album in just 1 month. His long time fans and listeners know about the “streaks” he does with every album he’s ever released, which is him having 1 song that’s titled a word or phrase he made up, as well as the snowflake “Easter egg” on every single one of his album covers. “From the very beginning, I made a vow to always include a Snowflake on every single one of my album covers to show my true love for Christmas,” he explains. “In terms of songwriting, I decided that on every album I make I’ll include at least 1 song that’s titled after a word or phrase that I made up. I call it a streak since it’s something I’ll always continue to do. I think that’s one thing that makes me a unique song writer. However, I decided that my Christmas album would be the only exception where I won’t have a song titled after a word I made up. Why? Because I just felt the need to stick to the concept of Christmas and to not do anything fancy or not out of Christmas context.”
Ray goes on to explain that he hopes people view his Christmas album as unique since every song is an original, no cover songs are included like all other Christmas albums that exist. However, he says that wasn’t completely the case originally. There was one song he had heavy on his heart to cover and include as the closing final track on the album but he wasn’t able to get it cleared in time. “I always loved ‘When Christmas Comes To Town’ from the movie ‘The Polar Express’ and I reached out to both songwriters of the song on Instagram and through email but I had no luck in getting responses from either one of them.” Ray layed down vocals to the song but as of right now it’s unreleased and sitting in an archive in his vault with all of his other unreleased songs. “From the beginning, I wanted 9 tracks on my Christmas album and that song was gonna be the final track. I spoke with someone from the site ‘Easy Song Licensing’ and was able to get advice, tips, and help with releasing it as a single legally but separate from my Christmas album. So maybe here in the next couple weeks I’ll decide to drop it or maybe a few years from now but I really wanted that song on my album. It’s one song I’ve never heard anyone cover, which is another thing that would’ve made my Christmas album unique. I didn’t cover all the other classics like most others do. I chose that song as a cover and all the rest are originals written by me.”
The albums first and lead single is ‘Why I Love Christmas So Much’. This song, like all the other songs on the album, is a passionate, intimate, and sweetly written song about why he loves the holiday so much. This song, along with ‘Christmas and Me’, and the albums interlude ‘Dear Christmas…’ are all written from the perspective that the holiday Christmas is a person and someone Ray can talk to and spend time with. “When writing some of the songs for this album I really wanted to get intimate and the only way I knew how to do that was to write and sing about Christmas as if it’s a person in my life that I love very much and someone I physically spend a lot of time with. I don’t sing about Christmas like it’s just a holiday. I wanted a different approach and I honestly really love how beautifully I wrote those songs. I feel it’s definitely some of my best work lyrically.” The other songs ‘Little Snowflake’, a song about going outside while it’s actively snowing and staring up at the sky as the snow falls all over and around you and basking in your admiration for each unique individual Snowflake that lands on you, and ‘Snow For Breakfast’, a quirky but sweet and innocent song about going outside and scooping some snow into a bowl and eating it for breakfast, eventually leading to the experience of a brain freeze after so many bites. ‘Make A Wish (for Christmas)’ sounds a bit more like a spiritual take on the holiday of Christmas, with Ray singing about calling on the spirit of Christmas to grant your every desired wish and when in doubt to call on Christmas for answers to help you through. The song ‘Little Boy Christmas’ is a sweet song about Ray in his youth dreaming of one day having the perfect Christmas, hoping Santa receives his wish list and can make it a reality for him. “Christmas was always fun for me as a kid growing up but I still had a few in my childhood that I don’t consider fun or magical, being that my family has always been dysfunctional and you just didn’t know when something was gonna pop off,” he explains. “Sometimes I still feel like that little boy, even right now at 26, so in a way I feel that song in particular is healing to my younger self and that’s very wholesome for me.”
Ray also says the Number 4 played a big role during the conception of the album, as well as the release of the album. “I dropped it on my birthday November 4th and the year is 2024. This is my 4th album overall that I’ve released and the album has 8 tracks in total. What number plus itself equals 8? ‘4 + 4’. So I definitely intentionally used numerology for good luck when making this album and after releasing it.” The music video for the song ‘Why I Love Christmas So Much’ is currently being edited and is set to be released Christmas day. “I pray I can one day be apart of Christmas history,” Ray says. “That would be my ultimate Christmas wish. For people to think of me and see my face when they think of Christmas and for my songs to be added to everyone’s Christmas playlists every year. For my songs to become national treasures during the Christmas season and of course, I still have my desire to play the lead role in a classic Christmas movie someday.”
Considering he’s been a background actor for a while now we’d definitely love to see him as the main character in a movie and when that wish is granted for him we’ll be right here ready to tune in and watch.
