| The Gift of Love | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | October 18, 2024 | |||
| Recorded | 2024 | |||
| Genre | Gospel | |||
| Length | 52:33 | |||
| Label | Interscope | |||
| Producer |
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| Jennifer Hudson chronology | ||||
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The Gift of Love is the fourth studio album by American singer Jennifer Hudson. It was released on October 18, 2024, by Interscope Records. [1] Her first album since JHUD (2014), it features four original songs and ten covers of Christmas standards and carols, two are collaborations with The Joy and Common. [2] [3]
After her third studio album JHUD , published in September 2014 through RCA Records, Hudson signed a record deal with Epic Records in June 2016. [4] It was announced a new record project for the singer, under Clive Davis executive production, publishing the single. [5] [6] Despite the record deal, between 2016 and 2020 Hudson did not published an album, focusing on television and films. [7] In December 2020 she collaborated on Mariah Carey single "Oh Santa!" with Ariana Grande. In 2021 she recorded Respect: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack through Epic Records and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Music, as the soundtrack album to the 2021 biographical film Respect in which Hudson acted as Aretha Franklin. [8]
In August 2023, Hudson announced she was working on a new album during her talk show. [9] In September 2024 Hudson announced her departure from Epic Records and subsequently announced she had signed a new deal with Interscope Records. [10] Hudson began recording the album after her talk show went on hiatus for the summer. [11] [12] In an interview Hudson explained the decision to recorded a Christmas song album: [11]
"I feel like it hasn’t been [a decade] because I sing through everything I do. Through films, commercials, different things, I have never stopped singing. So I didn’t notice that I hadn’t had an official Jennifer Hudson album. But time flies, especially when you’re busy and I’ve been a busy girl. [...] What better way to come back than a Christmas album? It’s been a dream of mine my whole career. I’m a holiday fanatic, so it just makes sense. [...] Holiday music, at least to me, is sentimental. So, like, "The Christmas Song", my grandmother loved this song, so it reminds me of my upbringing and the songs that my grandmother loved or that I used to hear around the house during the holidays"
The Gift of Love: An Intimate Live Experience, a tour in the United States which will begin November 24, 2024 in Brooklyn, New York City, and will end in Las Vegas on December 22, 2024. [13] [14]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [15] |
Andy Kellman of AllMusic wrote that the album "has all the trimmings that are to be expected from a holiday recording by a prominent powerhouse" with "tastefully ornate framework with lavish strings and brass, plus robust gospel choirs". Kellman appreciated both her performance in the classic Christmas songs and in the new co-written songs, highlighting "Almost Christmas" where there are "Common with Hudson enhancing the sentiments with graceful and romantic punctuation". [15]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Hallelujah" | Leonard Cohen | 6:45 | |
| 2. | "Winter Wonderland" |
| 2:21 | |
| 3. | "Carol of the Bells" (featuring The Joy) |
| 2:33 | |
| 4. | "Find the Love" |
|
| 2:56 |
| 5. | "O Holy Night" |
| 4:24 | |
| 6. | "Make It to Christmas" |
|
| 3:38 |
| 7. | "Santa for Someone" |
| Vindver | 3:23 |
| 8. | "My Favorite Things" |
| 3:36 | |
| 9. | "Little Drummer Boy" |
|
| 3:31 |
| 10. | "Go Tell It on the Mountain" |
|
| 3:57 |
| 11. | "Almost Christmas" (featuring Common) |
| Poyser | 3:29 |
| 12. | "Jingle Bells (Prelude)" | James Lord Pierpont | Poyser | 1:01 |
| 13. | "Jingle Bells" | Pierpont | Poyser | 2:09 |
| 14. | "The Christmas Song" |
| Foster | 4:04 |
| 15. | "Auld Lang Syne" | Robert Burns | Greg Phillinganes | 4:38 |
| Chart (2024) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| US Billboard 200 [16] | 160 |
| US Top Holiday Albums (Billboard) [17] | 10 |