For Samuel Evanson, 2025 has been a year defined by risk, reinvention, and remarkable momentum. The Welsh singer-songwriter broke through with We Are Meant To Break The Rules, a debut album that painted him as a master of emotionally charged indie-pop—an artist reaching for honesty rather than artifice. As the year winds toward its final chapter, he offers ‘Christmas Bells’, a festive track that doubles as a quiet reflection on love, vulnerability, and the promise of a new beginning.
At its core, the song is a modern reimagining of the classic holiday single, pushing beyond nostalgia while still honoring it. Evanson draws heavily from the synth-pop universe of the 1980s, building a sonic landscape of glassy keys and warm, lifted harmonies. But the emotional center is unmistakably contemporary. Rather than relying on the typical holiday cheer, he instead uses the season’s ambience to explore early-stage romance—the tension, the thrill, the fragile hope.
That balance is no accident. Evanson began writing the track at the beginning of his current relationship, capturing that liminal space between excitement and uncertainty. “There’s something magic in the air but you don’t know if it will stick,” he has said, and the track reflects that sentiment with startling clarity. The percussion pulses like a heartbeat, the synths billow like winter breath, and his vocals sit front and center, textured with a soft ache.
In many ways, ‘Christmas Bells’ acts as a companion piece to Evanson’s breakout year. His music has always carried a cinematic quality, but this release brings out a different dimension: playful, festive, and yet unmistakably sincere. Comparisons to WHAM! feel inevitable, but there’s a touch of Sabrina Carpenter’s buoyancy and Chappell Roan’s sharp pop sensibility woven throughout, placing Evanson comfortably in the lineage of pop’s most emotionally articulate storytellers.
As Evanson steps into the next phase of his career, ‘Christmas Bells’ feels like both a celebration and a promise. It’s a holiday single with heart, but also a marker of an artist increasingly in command of his craft. If 2025 was his breakout, 2026 may very well be the year he takes full flight.
