True or waltz?

If the pop charts are to be believed, it's currently mid-December: at least two high profile Christmas waltzes are being released, to accompany your post-Queen's-speech traditional family ballroom antics.

What is the meaning of this annual love affair with the waltz? Why is everything suddenly slowed down, balladized and performed in 3/4 time? Is it because Christmas is a time for romance? For gentle swaying? For Strictly Come Dancing? I don't know.

Anyway, the leading contenders for Waltz of the Year are Robbie Williams and Pixie Lott. And here they are - here's hoping you don't die of boredom before the end of this blog post.



That was Pixie Lott. WAKE UP. Now this is Robbie:



I have to say, I prefer the Robbiewaltz, although it's a bit like choosing my preferred method of being slowly tortured and killed. Writing anything in 3/4 time inevitably makes it feel old and unoriginal, like something that ought to be performed on X Factor 'big band' week.

Having said that, there is something about McFly's 'She Left Me' that is adorable, in a self-aware kind of way. See, if you can write a waltz that knows how rubbish waltzes are (and contains a voicemail reference 'for the kids'), you're onto a winner. It's still a bit boring though.



Come on then, people: favourite waltzes in pop. You know you want to discuss this.

(PS I am pretty much just killing time so that I don't have to write about this week's X Factor until I've decided how I feel about it.)