Joy to the World needs to be joyous. It needs to be grand. It needs to have soul. You'd think that'd be obvious, but the problem is that if you just perform the music as is, it's sort of repetitive.

The words are by Isaac Watts but adapted from the Bible; the music is by Lowell Mason but based on a melody by Handel. Fun fact: this was, at the some point, the most published hymn in North America. It's unclear if it still is.



My favorite renditions, in no particular order:

It should go without saying by now that I'm a big fan of Natalie Cole's version. I can't help it, her Christmas albums are just awesome. I love how she uses violins go create that down south soul feeling.





I searched for a clip from Preacher's Wife of the scene where the Georgia Mass Choir and Whitney Houston sing Joy to the World. See this is what it's all about, this is a party. The picture at the beginning of the post is from this movie.





And finally, Mariah Carey also gets it, that this is a party. Plus, look at her rocking that 90s hairstyle.


I love these three versions so much that when I made my mixed CD of Christmas songs, I just put all three of them back to back. What's your favorite version?