Christmas Kisses (EP)



Christmas Kisses is the first extended play (EP) and first Christmas EP by American singer Ariana Grande. It was released on December 13, 2013 in most countries, and on December 17, 2013 in the United States, as a collection of two covers of classic Christmas songs, and two original songs. On December 3, 2014, the Japanese special edition was released for CD and two days later for digital download. It peaked at number twenty-five on the Oricon chart. The Japanese edition included a new track, "Santa Tell Me", which was released on November 24, 2014 as the fifth and final single from the EP. The EP went on to sell over 405,000 copies worldwide & 68,871 copies in the US

Background and release
On 6 November 2013, Grande announced via Twitter she would be releasing new music each week leading up to Christmas, beginning with a cover of Wham!'s "Last Christmas": "I'm releasing new music for Christmas! New song every week as a countdown to the holidays starting Nov19. Beyond excited to share them w/ U! The 1st song #LastChristmas out Nov 19. I can't wait for u to hear our spin on it. There will be originals as well! Hope u love the music."

"Last Christmas" was released as the lead single, opening up to positive reviews and was critically acclaimed for its "R&B and Soul spin" on the Christmas classic. On the final week of November, Grande released an original Christmas song, titled "Love Is Everything", and it was also revealed Grande would be releasing Christmas Kisses later that month. In the first week of December, Grande released another original Christmas song "Snow in California" and was later followed by a cover of the 1953 classic "Santa Baby", which features Grande's former Victorious co-star Elizabeth Gillies.

In November 2014, Grande announced she would release the special edition of the EP exclusively in Japan. The special edition included a new track "Santa Tell Me", released on November 24, 2014, as the fifth and final single from Christmas Kisses. The song was written by Grande, Savan Kotecha and Ilya Salmanzadeh and peaked at number forty-two on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number sixty-eight on the UK Singles Chart.

On December 5, the Japanese special edition was released on Japanese iTunes. It was released physically on December 3, two days before the digital release. It peaked at number twenty-five on the Oricon Albums Chart, becoming her third album to peak on that chart, following Yours Truly (2013) and My Everything (2014).

Promotion
Preceding the release of her Christmas EP, she gave a series of performances, including at the 87th annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, NBC New York's Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree lighting broadcast,  the KIIS-FM Jingle Ball in Los Angeles' Staples Center and Z100's Jingle Ball event at Madison Square Garden in New York City. She also sang at Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve, with Big Sean and Mac Miller.

Personnel and credits
Credits adapted from Discogs (standard edition).


 * Ariana Grande: vocals
 * Liz Gillies: vocals
 * India Benet: background vocals
 * Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds: producer, composer, lyricist, guitar
 * Antonio Dixon: producer, composer, lyricist, programming
 * The Rascals: producers, programming
 * Khristopher Riddick-Tynes: composer, lyricist
 * Leon Thomas III: composer, lyricist
 * George Michael: composer, lyricist
 * Joan Javits: composer, lyricist


 * Philip Springer: composer, lyricist
 * Tony Springer: composer, lyricist
 * Ivy Skoff: strings
 * Demonte Posey: strings
 * Paul Boutin: recording, mixing
 * Tony Maserati: mixing
 * James Krausse: engineer
 * Jon Castelli: engineer
 * Justin Hergett: engineer