Fantasia's first holiday album also marks her debut for the Concord label. Despite what the title implies,
Christmas After Midnight isn't designed strictly for early-morning listening. Prior to settling into a primarily slow, quieter numbers like "The Christmas Song," "Give Love on Christmas Day," and "Silent Night," it leads with high-spirited renditions of Donny Hathaway's "This Christmas" and James Brown's "Santa Claus Go Straight to the Ghetto." Additionally, Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" gets a big-production gospel makeover. The lone duet is with CeeLo Green on "Baby, It's Cold Outside" (actually the second time Green has recorded the song; the first time was with Christina Aguilera, as heard on his 2012 holiday album). Fantasia put forth the same high level effort here as she did with her J/RCA output.