Pop-Culturalist.com

Marty Thomas and Marissa Rosen are delivering the cheers with The Award Winning Holiday Album. The eight-track collection features the iconic duo’s signature positivity and humor. We caught up with Marty and Marissa to chat about their longstanding friendship, this collaboration, and The Award Winning Holiday Album.

PC: You both have been long-time collaborators. How did you initially meet?
Marty: We sure have. Marissa is my favorite collaborator. We met late one night in a loud bar. We spotted each other across the pool table and we were doing the same silly dance move. We gravitated toward each other and exchanged information. Fate would have it, the next night we ran into each other once more in the lobby of a theater. Marissa was to start rehearsals to perform in the play that I was currently doing! The world is such a small place, and destiny speaks loudly when she wants to. We discovered we were neighbors, went to the same gym, and had a similar love for music. It was the beginning of a very deep friendship.

PC: Having been friends for so many years, what’s one fun fact about the other that fans would be surprised to learn?
Marissa: I could get in trouble with that question. [laughs] I feel like the thing that separates Marty and I from most people is that if you have seen us on stage or heard us speak together, we pretty much bare it all to our audience. We don’t really hold anything back or keep anything a secret. We are both huge binge-watchers of Netflix, Hulu, etc. and have seen every episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Jem and the Holograms more times than we care to talk about.

PC: You have a new album now. Tell us about The Award Winning Holiday Album and the inspiration behind it.
Marty: I’ve always wanted to do a holiday album, and the major triggering force behind this one was desperation to create during this pandemic. I needed something to focus on. When I was choosing material, I found a video of Marissa and I singing a song from the musical Elf at Joe’s Pub many years ago. I asked her if she would be a guest on the record, and my brain sparked. I had a vision of a duet album with a comic edge and couldn’t stop my brain from planning it. Marissa was immediately on board and excited to create, so it fueled the intention of the passion project. We got COVID tests and shacked up for a week over Halloween so that we could eat, sleep, and breathe this record. It made us laugh. It made us feel creative and productive. This album and its creation saved me this winter.

Marissa: I am a huge fan of holiday music. In school, my favorite time of year was when our choir would get to go caroling. I loved singing in choir. I loved harmonizing and I loved seeing people smiling when they heard us.

When Marty and I began doing our Diva show together, it was such an incredible way for us to challenge each other as musicians, and we quickly found out that we loved singing together. We had a language that only we understood. Marty wanted to put together a Christmas album for himself and had asked me to sing a duet that we had learned a few years back, and I immediately said yes.

Any chance I get to sing with Marty is an immediate yes from me! Once I agreed to that, about three hours later I had a full set list and an album idea in my inbox. He wastes no time, and all of a sudden, The Award Winning Holiday Album was born!

PC: You recorded the album while in quarantine. What was that experience like?
Marty: It was definitely a new experience. Normally, you would reach out to a team of artists and musicians and schedule rehearsals. Since that’s just not a possibility right now, I had to get resourceful. I found artists, literally, around the globe with home studios who are just as out of work as we are due to the pandemic.

I feel like a lot of Americans, including me, get very self-absorbed and forget that the rest of the world are on the struggle bus as well. Musicians and artists are out of work globally, which made it an advantageous time to work with people who would never have an open schedule otherwise. I sourced music from so many different instrumentalists and singers. We then mixed and mastered it all to make it sound like we were all in one place at one time. We had the good fortune of a mixing and mastering team of Yasuhiko Fukuoka, NYC, and Paul Kimsal, Nashville, to help polish it.

I produced the album and engineered all of the vocals out of my home studio. I had a ball with the arrangements and with coaching such an awesome vocal out of Marissa. She’s such an incredible musician, but she’s very humble. She doesn’t always see herself in the “star” role that I see her in. She shines recording choral parts and backup vocals and then tends to shy into the corner when lead-vocal recording begins. I had fun encouraging her and reminding her what’s special about her. We as artists need people in our corners cheering us on and reminding us that the process is special. I am always honored to be her cheerleader.

Marissa: It was an incredible whirlwind. A beautiful thing that this pandemic brought us was time. It allowed us to really focus on what we wanted and take the time to execute it properly, all while not having to worry about studio time or rushing things to get them done super quickly. We spent our entire Halloween and a few days after recording, but we did it in Marty’s home studio. We were comfortable, we were happy, and we were able to just bounce things off of each other, which is where our strength really lies.

PC: There are a lot of holiday albums out now. What makes The Award Winning Holiday Album different?
Marty: Well, it’s award winning, obviously! I kid. I kid. The award-winning holiday album concept was definitely a joke that hopefully, listeners will understand after listening to track one. I think what’s unique about this album is its humor and heart. This album captures the light and positivity of a very special friendship and dares to be silly. As much as the album is musical, its intention is joy and fun. It also is meant to capture the 2020 holiday experience. I’ve always been drawn to old-school albums that are meant to be listened to from beginning to end, not track by track. I love an album that tells a story and takes the listener on a trip. I truly feel that this album does just that.

Marissa: Well for starters, it already won an award before even coming out! When Marty and I were discussing the set list, it was very important for us to make sure that this album was inclusive all around. We wanted to celebrate both of our faiths, which is why we have both Christmas music and a fantastic Hanukkah bop on there, but to also make sure that we weren’t singing the same music that you hear on every Christmas album. Marty and Marissa as a brand are a silly, fun, cartoon-like duo. We call ourselves the Donny and Marie of NYC! We wanted to make sure that the album properly portrayed us in all of our glory: comedy and heart sprinkled with fabulous and fun vocals and lots of background singing! We truly hope we are able to make people smile with this album.

Pop Culturalist Speed Round

PC: A band or artist that fans would be surprised to learn is on your playlist?
Marty: My taste is so wide and varied that I don’t think any of it would surprise people, but I do get drawn to unique independent artists. I’m in a deep love affair with Yva, Yebba, and Erin & the Wildfire right now.

Marissa: Blink-182, Meat Loaf, and Michael Bublé.

PC: First album you bought?
Marty: Mariah Carey—the self-titled debut cassette.

Marissa: Debbie Gibson—Electric Youth.

PC: First concert you attended?
Marty: Brooks & Dunn.

Marissa: Debbie Gibson! Then Backstreet Boys’ Millenium tour.

PC: An album that changed your life and why?
Marty: Paula Cole—This Fire. It was the first time I ever reacted so viscerally to a lyric and a style of musicality. I had never dug that deep into the meaning of a song before, and it forever changed me.

Marissa: Meat Loaf’s Bat Out Of Hell. I have a bizarre obsession with Meat Loaf, and anyone who knows me knows this fact. There is just something about the passion in his voice and the lyrics of his songs that make the hair on my arms stand up! I also got to go to his concert with my dad, and we both share a love of Meat Loaf, so it is just so special to me.

The next album is Rent. I know it might seem cliché, but I was obsessed with this cast recording. I knew every single word to every single song before I ever saw the show. There was something so magical about feeling like you knew these characters inside and out before I was ever really old enough to even understand what I was singing about.

PC: Favorite play or musical?
Marty: Bring It On: The Musical

Marissa: My favorite movie growing up was The Rocky Horror Picture Show. I probably saw it much earlier than I ever should have in my life, but it also became such a fun obsession. When the show opened on Broadway, my friends and I would go in every weekend to get rush tickets to try to see the show. I made some of my best friends, still to this day, on that rush line. We were such groupies, but the cast always treated us like family. It taught me how to treat people that now come see me in shows, and I will never forget that. Marty and I also have an unhealthy obsession with Bring It On: The Musical.

PC: A must-have when you’re on tour?
Marty: My hard drive of movies.

Marissa: A comfy sweatshirt, my hot pink squishy pillow that I love sleeping with, and my clothing steamer.

Make sure to follow Marty (Twitter/Instagram) and Marissa (Twitter/Instagram) on social media. Pick up or stream The Award Winning Holiday Album today.