Ellen: Cee Lo Green “What Christmas Means to Me” Performance

Ellen: Cee Lo Green “What Christmas Means to Me” Performance

“Forget You” singer and The Voice judge Cee Lo Green dropped by Ellen to perform “What Christmas Means to Me,” one of two singles off his new Christmas album, Cee Lo’s Magic Moment.

There’s something about holiday music that just warms the soul. I think it’s more than just association with the holidays around this time of year. It seems like every time a new artist covers a holiday song, there’s quite a lot of excitement. It’s also almost like a rite of passage for a lot of musicians. Once you’re at the point where you’re releasing a Christmas album, you’ve pretty much established yourself as an artist.

Ellen: Cee Lo Green’s “What Christmas Means to Me” Interpretation

Cee Lo was dressed simply in a white t-shirt, black pants and sunglasses. He stood in the center of the stage and belted out the song. His voice was occasionally supplemented by background singers who complimented his voice well.

Cee Lo Green seemed not to take any risks with the song. He brought his own soulful rock charm to the song and had plenty of passion in his voice as he performed, but there weren’t many of the figurative whistles and bells you’d expect from such an accomplished singer as Cee Lo Green.

Ellen: Cee Lo Green Christmas Album

It seems like if a musician is going to cover a song, he or she should do something different with it. The Voice’s own Melanie Martinez completely re-interpreted the White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army” back in November to great effect. It wasn’t enough for her to just sing the words, she brought her own unique style to the song – and, in my opinion, came very near to outdoing the original.

This isn’t to say that Cee Lo Green didn’t bring his own unique flavor to “What Christmas Means to Me.” He certainly did. But was it enough of a spin to make people reach for his version over another? The song has been covered at least 25 times, by a variety of artists including Stevie Wonder, Jessica Simpson and Paul Young.

Still, it was a good performance, if a bit straightforward. It does make me want to see what else Cee Lo might have brought to the other Christmas songs on the album. But as far as this song goes, nothing in particular stood out about it.