One Wish: The Holiday Album

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, 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 (for Christmas)," 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." 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 [Houston] 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." 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. "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 (O Holy Night)" 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. ==Track listing==

• Katherine Davis • Henry Onorati • Harry Simeone }} • Gordon Chambers • Barry Eastmond • Freddie Jackson }} • Chambers • Eastmond }} • Kim Gannon • Walter Kent • Buck Ram }} • Ralph Blane • Hugh Martin }} • Warren • Hallerin Hilton Hill }} • Warren • Whitney Houston }} • Warren • Houston }} }} ==Personnel==

Credits adapted from AllMusic. • Joey Arbagey – A&R • Julien Barber – viola • Ray Bardani – 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==