Dan + Shay’s ‘Christmas Isn’t Christmas’ Video Is Set in a Breathtaking Winter Wonderland
"Christmas Isn't Christmas" is the second original holiday song that Dan + Shay have offered up this season, a poignant piano ballad to follow up their uptempo "Take Me Home for Christmas."
For their "Take Me Home for Christmas" music video, which came out in November, the duo enlisted their wives, children and dogs as guest stars to highlight the song's themes of festive family fun.
And though "Christmas Isn't Christmas" was equally inspired by the bandmates' families and how they spend the holidays together, the newest music video is more of a solo, stripped down affair. Dan + Shay take the stage alone, surrounded by a wintery nighttime landscape dotted with pine trees. While the scene is breathtakingly beautiful, it's also a little bit sad and lonely — a nod to the song's lyrics about how difficult the holidays can be when spent apart from loved ones.
"This year has been tough on us all, and not being able to connect with others (especially our fans) in person has really taken an emotional toll," they explain, " But out of darkness always comes light, and we feel music has a magical way of bringing us together, even when we are far apart."
There's a hopeful message in the "Christmas Isn't Christmas" video, too. While the clip starts with Dan + Shay performing against a dark, wooded backdrop, things get progressively more festive as the song continues, with strings of holiday lights around each pine tree flicking on, one by one.
For Dan + Shay the holiday cheer is just getting started: They performed their new songs on Monday night (Nov. 30) on the annual CMA Country Christmas special, and on Wednesday (Dec. 2), they'll be a part of the annual Christmas in Rockefeller Center celebration and tree lighting, set for broadcast on NBC.