What qualities make a truly great Christmas pop song? Is it the masterful execution of recognizable symphonic triggers, prompting a listener’s nostalgic and rose-tinted return to the magic of childhood? Is it lyrics that cut through the contrived sentimentality and consumerism of the modern holiday season and restore focus to the true meaning of Christmas? Is it the ability to capture, condense, and preserve the emotional weight of a period in time, providing an enduring, sonic time capsule we can share with our families for generations to come? Or is it really nothing more than the formulaic combination of sleigh bells, backing choirs and references to chestnuts and mistletoe?  According to YouTube musician Brett Domino, the ladder is surprisingly more important than any of the formers.

In the latest holiday installment in his entertainingly unenthusiastic series of “how to make pop songs” videos, Brett Domino systematically tears away the shiny wrapping off our winter radio mainstays, revealing the simple and repetitive patterns to all the Mariah Carey and Barry Manilow tracks that populate the airwaves this time of year. Domino is like the Neo of pop music, seeing past the genre’s charming veneer and through to the Matrix of scrolling green and red code within.

But Brett is not here just to tear it all down and walk away. He also wants to share just how easy it can be to make a catchy, pop holiday track of your own. After some very minimal brainstorming, he presents the music video for his own ultimate holiday pop song, “Everybody Needs To Know Its Christmas.” Watch the video below, and have “a very festal Christmas!”

[Source: The Awesomer]