Fa La La
Elizabeth Chan Lyrics

I was scared to admit that I had failed again. During this time I struck up a friendship with a record producer that I had met networking, and connected with on Facebook, Steve Lillywhite. For those who don't know Steve, he actually has his own Christmas standard called Fairytale of New York, which is really popular in the UK. And he's also been the record producer for some massive bands like U2 and Dave Matthews. I DM'd him about what happened and how I was now ready to throw in the towel. He says, you know Elizabeth, A&R's don't know what they're talking about and I've heard your songs and they're quite good. You know what, why don't you just record them? You could sing them. You could be the artist. There's something called Kickstarter that helps people fund their recording projects. You could do it. You could just start one.
Wait, what? Me as the artist?! Me? I was already told that Asian women can't be artists in the music business! Ask people for money?! That's not me! But I knew that if I didn't have help, my dream was dead.
So I made a list of maybe 400 people. I called. I texted. I emailed them one by one, and I explained to them, Hi, how are you? I know we haven't talked in a while, but here's what's going on with me. I have this really crazy dream. I just, I want to write Christmas music. And, um, I'm thinking about putting up a Kickstarter, but I was wondering maybe would you support me?
It felt good to put my pride aside for a moment because I was able to reconnect with friends. I had been living my dreams alone in a vacuum. It felt really cathartic to explain to people just how much I put on the line for my dream and people really related to it. The process was the support group I was looking for. The surprising thing I learned is that the friends I thought for sure would support me to this day, never have. And the people that I never thought of asking were the ones that have supported me the most and have stayed friends with me to this day.
Andy helped design t-shirts and ornaments, and he also helped me put up the Kickstarter site. I offered custom stick figure drawings on Facebook for anyone who donated to the campaign and they were pretty popular. On the very last day, after all the phone calls, the emails, the texts, the drawings, the campaign was fully funded. I had raised a little over $10,000 to record and produce my very first album. I titled it everyday holidays. It was a nod to the fact that every day in my world is about Christmas and I took all of the songs, all of the songs that I offered to Kelly Clarkson and I started working on my first album.
I did ask Steve, if he could help me produce it. Even though I knew I couldn't afford him. He told me that he could sense that I knew how I wanted to hear the records in my mind. He encouraged me to work through the sounds in my head. So in the classic definition of fake it until you make it, I went into the studio, hired musicians who knew how to play the instruments I heard in my mind and just sang the parts I wanted to hear. I would take the music files back to Steve at the end of the day. And he would ask me what I thought and what I wanted to improve on my demos. It was his graciousness and belief in me that helped me to find the courage to become the very artist and record producer that I am today.
And very long story short after producing these songs and with the album in hand, just like I did with the Kickstarter. I emailed hundreds of radio programmers around the country and I got the attention of one radio programmer. Charlie Cook based in Morgantown, West Virginia, who loved my album and loved me as an artist and gave my first single a true shot at radio. A few months later, it would become my first billboard hit. And I was right there right next to Kelly Clarkson. The song that Kelly's team told me, wasn't quite there yet ended up establishing me as a Christmas artist. The song is Fa La La.
It's poignant to me and my history that this was my first radio hit as an American girl who grew up watching American Christmas movies. My father loved a Christmas story. We watched several times as a family, every Christmas. Except when I got older, I started to feel very uncomfortable with the last scene in the Chinese restaurant. How I felt about the movie change. When I started my career writing Christmas music, I felt a personal responsibility to reclaim Fa La La for every Asian American. I remember once someone had left a comment on social media, what does an Asian woman know about Christmas? This is my contribution towards a cultural correction. If you listen to my earliest records, you'll find Fa La La Easter eggs in all my songs.

Hear the silver bells?
Hear them ring ring ring
And the carolers?
Hear them sing sing sing
All around the world, we are gathering
To greet a family that we've surely missed
Every boy and girl starts a brand new page
Now's the time to make a Christmas list


Fa la la la la! Fa la la la la
Celebrate the holidays for all!
Fa la la la la! Fa, la la la la
Celebrate the holidays for all!

Watch the dreidels spin.
Children win win win!
Tales of miracles keep the tradition
And tho' the days are short
We celebrate the nights
Menorah's show a festival of nights

Every boy and girl Count the candy gelt
Love the eight but wonder why not twelve
Fa la la la la! Fa la la la la
Celebrate the holidays for all!
Fa la la la la! Fa, la la la la
Celebrate the holidays for all!

All the ornaments (Fa la la la la la)
All the presents sent
All the Christmas lights
Celebrate the nights
Smiles on Family Trees (Fa la la la la la)
Joyous Revelries
We all share the way in our holidays

Fa la la la la! Fa la la la la
Celebrate the holidays for all!
Fa la la la la! Fa, la la la la
Celebrate the holidays for all!

We share our ways in the holidays
We share our ways in the holidays




We share our ways in the holidays
We share our ways in the holidays