Jschlatt's Full Unironic Musical Debut: It's Actually Very Good.

"What started as a joke spiraled into something I could never even imagine." - Jschlatt.

Jschatt, a popular gaming and commentary YouTuber made famous from Minecraft and known for his outlandishly comedic caricature of a New Yorker persona, released a very unironic cover album of classic Christmas tunes this past Sunday, December 1st.

At the time of writing, on December 2nd, one day after release, all tracks have collectively gained almost 2 million streams total, with the most popular being "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town," originally written by J. Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie.

Fans are amused by just how professional-sounding the album is, as well as Jschlatt's genuine vocal talent, comparing his voice to the likes of Seth McFarlane and Frank Sinatra. Previously, he had released a gag cover of "My Way" by Frank Sinatra in response to fans generating AI covers of him singing it, which was when viewers began to realize his voice was surprisingly well suited for the genre and began requesting a Christmas album.

In his YouTube video "I made a Christmas album" uploaded on December 1st, he describes that he thought it was "kind of funny" that people thought he was unironically a good singer since he has "zero aspiration for anything outside of YouTube," which, I think, makes this all even better. He later goes on to say that he spent a full year and "hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars to making it happen" because "if people liked it, that would be f*cking hilarious." Jschlatt clearly had no intentions of this being a serious attempt at musical stardom; it was a funny idea turned passion project, claiming, "I hate modern Christmas music ... I care about the classics, baby... The vibe I wanted was strictly old-school", attributing inspiration to Frank Sinatra, Andy Williams, and Dean Martin. And thus, A Very 1999 Christmas was born.

As a long-time viewer of Jschlatt, vocalist, and music business student myself, it does make sense that he would be a decent singer with some practice. His speaking voice is very expressive and dynamic with a smooth and rich quality, and this translates very well to the album (especially in the context of jazzy Christmas songs). He's revealed in previous YouTube videos that he took professional voice lessons to prepare for this project, and describes some struggles he faced with singing as a non-singer. The album's success is also not unsurprising, as he has a loyal fanbase that has grown to not just enjoy his comedic character, but respect genuine aspects of his personality. In his video, he details his experiences with the ins and outs of the recording industry: purchasing licenses for the original melodies and lyrics, hiring composers to make new arrangements, hiring studio musicians, and finally, recording the vocals to his favorite classics in the Studio Factory in Hollywood, California.

To hear Jschlatt's recount of the story behind the album, watch his video here: