One Wish: The Holiday Album

One Wish: The Holiday Album is the only Christmas album and sixth studio album by American singer Whitney Houston. It was released by Arista Records on November 18, 2003. Chiefly produced by Mervyn Warren, along with additional production from Troy Taylor, Gordon Chambers and Barry Eastmond, One Wish features a duet with Houston's daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown. The album also includes "Joy to the World" and "Who Would Imagine a King", both of which first appeared on The Preacher's Wife soundtrack.
The album earned a mixed reception by music critics, many of whom praised the production but were divided upon Houston's vocal performance. Upon its release, One Wish debuted at number 49 on the US Billboard 200, and at number 14 on Billboards Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. Its first and only single, a rendition of Freddie Jackson's "One Wish (for Christmas)", reached the top twenty on Billboards US Adult Contemporary chart. In January 2018, the album achieved a gold certification by the Recording Industry Association of America for shipping half a million copies, making Houston one of a few artists to have all of their albums in their lifetime get certified in the United States. The album sold over 2 million copies worldwide.

Promotion

In support of the album, Arista Records released Houston's rendition of Freddie Jackson's song "One Wish (for Christmas)" as a promotional single. Produced by Gordon Chambers and Barry Eastmond, both of whom had also overseen production on Jackson's 1994 original, it reached the top twenty on Billboards US Adult Contemporary chart in 2004. Houston also recorded a performance video for a shortened version of her cover of "Cantique de Noël (O Holy Night)," which served as an album commercial. A lyric video for "One Wish," created by filmmaker Katia Temkin showcasing performance footage as well as the song’s lyrics, was released by the catalog division of Sony Music Entertainment on December 11, 2020. On December 17, 2022, a lyric video for "The First Noël" was released.

Critical reception

New York Daily News editor David Hinckley felt that One Wish "reminds us why we liked her so much in the first place: her voice, for which holiday songs are a splendid vehicle." He noted "there's some elaborate production behind songs like "Joy to the World" and "O Come, O Come Emanuel," but also a stocking-full of lovely singing." AllMusic editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine remarked that "holiday records are the last place anybody would want to take a risk, since they're designed to be nice, pleasant mood music and, apart from a rather horrid version of "Little Drummer Boy" this suits the bill nicely. The clean, pristine production, heavy on synths, sounds as if it was cut in the late '80s, yet it's also strangely spare, often being no more than a synth and a drum machine. Still, it's a sound that's well suited for Whitney and her thoroughly predictable set of material." Moscow-Pullman Daily News wrote that Houston's "voice dazzles on as she soulfully interprets holiday classics. Her voice – though at times a bit raspy – captivates on every track." New York Times critic Jones Pareles noted the "lavish swoops, the sultry whispers, the gospelly asides and the meteoric crescendos" from Houston.
Richard Harrington from The Washington Post found that the "album feels like a contractual obligation-slash-holding action" and was "not particularly memorable." Caroline Sullivan, writing for The Guardian, noted that "stuff like this is so piddling for her that seems to have zoned out halfway through. Why put any elbow grease into the "project" when all she need do is set her larynx to "reverent," then doze off? Saying that, she gives "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" some a cappella welly, and the cocktail doo-wop of "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" is quite irresistible. Still, this is the Voice at its numbest." Slant critic Sal Cinquemani found that "one can't help but think that One Wish: The Holiday Album is nothing more than damage control Houston's voice just isn’t what it used to be – she warbles her way through an otherwise understated version of the contemporary classic and sings 'Tiny little tots with their eyes all aglow/Will find it hard to sleep tonight' on Mel Tormé's "The Christmas Song" like she wants to eat them." Rolling Stone described the album as a "lamentable Christmas collection." In 2014, Los Angeles Times critic Randy Lewis included One Wish on his listing of the "12 of the worst holiday albums of the last 20 years." He noted that "for this set, Houston seemed intent on shoehorning more notes into each syllable than Mariah Carey, resulting in an orgy of melismatics that often obliterates the spirit of these holiday tunes." In 2023, the website Black America Web ranked the album the 18th best black Christmas album of all time.

Commercial performance

One Wish: The Holiday Album debuted and peaked at number 49 on the US Billboard 200, the lowest chart position of her albums during her lifetime and her only album to miss the top 40 of the Billboard 200. On Billboards component charts, it reached number 14 on Billboards Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, becoming the first and only album in her career to miss the top ten there. It was more successful on the Top Holiday Albums chart, where it peaked at number five and would spend 30 cumulative weeks on the chart; on the two former charts, it spent 13 and 6 weeks respectively on those charts.
The album produced four Billboard chart singles: "One Wish (for Christmas)" reached number 20 on the Billboard adult contemporary chart on January 3, 2004. The same song in later years made the Billboard gospel charts, peaking at number 13 on its Gospel Digital Song Sales chart in January 2021. "The First Noel" reached number 99 on the Holiday 100 chart on December 30, 2017, with the same song peaking at numbers 12 and 1 respectively on the Gospel Digital Song Sales and Gospel Streaming Songs charts, with the song spending five weeks atop the latter chart. "Cantique De Noel " peaked at number five on the Gospel Streaming Songs chart in January 2014, while "Little Drummer Boy" reached number 12 on the same chart in January 2018. In December 2012, the album returned to the Billboard 200 during the Christmas season following Houston's death early that February.
In January 2018, One Wish achieved a gold certification by the Recording Industry Association of America for domestic shipments figures in excess of 500,000 units, making Houston one of a very few artists to have all of their lifetime albums receive an RIAA certification in the United States. In 2021, the album was re-released as a deluxe edition vinyl LP and featured her posthumous Billboard AC hit duet with Pentatonix, on a remade version of Houston's 1987 Christmas hit, "Do You Hear What I Hear?", which later was certified gold by the RIAA in January 2023. According to Spotify, the album has accumulated more than 107 million streams.

Personnel

Credits adapted from AllMusic.

Joey Arbagey – A&R
Julien Barber – viola
Ray Bardani – [Audio Audio mixing (recorded music)|mixing (recorded music)|mixing]
Sandra Billingslea – violin
Ralph Blane –
Edie Lehmann Boddicker – background vocals
Joseph Bongiorno – upright bass
Alfred Brown – viola
Ray Brown Trio – primary artist
Carmen Carter – background vocals
Gordon Chambers – producer, vocal arrangement, background vocals
Bernard Davis – drums
John Dexter – viola
Sante d'Orazio – photography
Earl Dumler – oboe
Barry J. Eastmond – conductor, engineer, keyboards, producer, string arrangements
Max Ellen – violin
Steve Fisher – assistant
Roxanna Floy – make-Up
Scott Frankfurt – drum programming, percussion programming
Ian Freebairn-Smith – background vocals
Roger Freeland – background vocals
Michelle George – A&R
Georgia Mass Choir – primary artist
Sharlotte Gibson – background vocals
Sandi Hall – background vocals
Phil Hamilton – acoustic guitar, electric guitar
Reggie Hamilton – bass
John Holmes – assistant
Ashley Horne – violin
Gary Houston – background vocals
Whitney Houston – lead vocals, producer, vocal arrangement
Regis Iandiorio – violin
Paul Jackson Jr. – guitar
Ronald Jenkins – bass
Richard Thomas Jennings – art direction, design
Bashiri Johnson – percussion
Thom "TK" Kidd – engineer
Olivia Koppell – viola
Gail Kruvand – bass
David Kutch – mastering
Ellin La Var – hair stylist
Leonid Levin – violin
Jesse Levy – cello
Ezekiel Lewis – vocal arrangement, background vocals
Jason Locklin – assistant
Stephen Mackey – background vocals
Joseph Magee – engineer
Margaret Magill – violin
Phil Magnotti – string engineer
Nick Marshall – assistant
Myrna Matthews – background vocals
Roger Moody – assistant
Kermit Moore – cello
Michael Morton – flute
Jeff Moses – assistant
Eugene J. Moye – cello
Jack Odom – assistant
Zack Odom – assistant
Dean Parks – guitar
Carol Pool – violin
Dave Reitzas – mixing
Alex Reverberi – assistant
Marnie Riley – assistant
Maxine Roach – viola
Anthony Ruotolo – assistant
Matthew Schwartz – a&r
Tony Shepperd – engineer, mixing
Rob Skipworth – assistant
Ivy Skoff – production coordination
Matt Snedecor – assistant
Timothy Snell – stylist
Andy Stein – violin
Katherine LiVolsi Stern – violin
Sally Stevens – vocal contractor, background vocals
Marti Sweet – violin
Gerald Tarack – concert master, violin
Craig "Niteman" Taylor – assistant
Troy Taylor – arranger, bass, drums, keyboards, producer, programming, vocal arrangement, background vocals
Shelene Thomas – background vocals
Carmen Twillie – background vocals
Mervyn Warren – arranger, choir arrangement, conductor, drum programming, keyboards, percussion, percussion programming, piano, producer, string arrangements, vocals, background vocals
Oren Waters – background vocals
John West – background vocals
Gerald White – background vocals
Michael White – engineer
Belinda Whitney – violin
Frank Wolf – engineer
Harry Zaratzian – viola

Charts

Chart	Peak position
US Billboard 200	90