Khalia sings ‘Hallelujah’ for Christmas - Pairs Leonard Cohen classic with holiday altruism

Nothing about Leonard Cohen’s 1984 classic Hallelujah speaks to Christmas; however, Jamaican singer and songwriter Khalia said it became a popular tune for the holiday season in the United Kingdom, where she was raised for the major part of her life.

There are several renditions of the song floating around the airwaves — rewritten, rerecorded and reinterpreted by everyone from Welsh composer John Cale, American rock band Bon Jovi and hitmaker Bob Dylan to Texas-based a cappella group Pentatonix, who featured the song on one of their many Christmas albums. Alexandra Burke also released her cover after winning the fifth series of the British television series, The X Factor.

The latter is the version that the Island Girl artiste said she became most familiar with.

“I heard it exactly 10 years ago; I would have been 15 years old. I later learnt that she (Burke) was not the original singer, and that it was Leonard Cohen’s song,” she told The Gleaner.

Khalia would be surprised to know that Cohen, in several interviews with international media, the same year of Burke’s release, said that while it is a good song, too many people sing Hallelujah — most of whom don’t even realise it’s not a religious song, but about love and loss. Nonetheless, it can be said that the Canadian hitmaker has not heard any version quite like Khalia’s cover, which is produced by Maurice Gregory and Tony ‘CD’ Kelly.

Khalia said, “I sing it all the time while carrying out my regular chores around the house, and often wondered how I could put it on a reggae beat. I was so excited that Maurice and Tony could create the skeleton rhythm and that I could deliver the vocals. My initial reaction was, ‘Wow, this is crazy beautiful’, I can’t even explain it.”

MAKE AN IMPACT

While Hallelujah is not part of Christmas playlists in Jamaica, the singer said she wanted to make an impact on her Jamaican audience and give it as a gift to people who had done the same for her this past year.

For the visuals, Khalia and her team conceptualised the actual act of giving gifts. The artiste handed out envelopes of cash and other items to unknowing recipients.

“I chose the General Food Supermarket, where I do my shopping and have received remarkable customer service. The staff didn’t even recognise me the day I went with my videographer as I [am] usually [very casual when I go there], sometimes in a head-tie,” she said, followed by a loud laugh.

“It was a collaboration with the management and my team, as we pretended it was a documentary on customer service. One person in the video was Subrina Dooley. She always helps me with sending off packages at the post office.” And the young girl in the video she became close to while doing her mini-docuseries Island Girl Diaries in 2019.

“She had expressed that she needed a tablet and other school supplies, so I got in touch with her dad and surprised her,” Khalia shared.

The singer — who is signed to Kelly’s independent label K-Licious Music — said she felt awkward at first recording the act of altruism on camera, but eventually focused on the message she wanted to send.

“The video was not for promotion, but it is my way of contributing positive content into the realm of social media, where there are so many videos of people arguing or fighting circulating. People watch those and laugh at them. I want to urge persons to spread more positive things because it is such a warm feeling watching someone do good, and persons should not be afraid to show people they are doing good, because it’s not self-praise or being selfish — it is to inspire others to do the same,” she said.

stephanie.lyew@gleanerjm.com