“Naughty List” Proves Sydney Gordon Is Done Playing Nice This Holiday Season

Holiday music is usually unbearable. Too sweet, too sanitized, too "everything is perfect." But Sydney Gordon clearly didn't get the memo, because "Naughty List" pulls up like the holiday record for people who roll their eyes at matching pajamas and forced cheer. It's pop, but with teeth. A warm winter glow with a shot of tequila in it.

Gordon taps into the side of December nobody wants to admit out loud. The messy decisions. The flirty chaos. The nights you definitely shouldn't be out, but you go anyway. Her vocals are crisp and deliberate, cutting through dreamy synths with that signature New York bite she never hides. She doesn't sing like she's trying to be cute. She sings like she's telling on herself and daring you to relate.

The production leans into glossy holiday pop, but the attitude underneath is what sells it. The track sparkles, sure, but not in a Hallmark-movie way. More like walking into a party you absolutely weren't invited to, but somehow become the main character. The groove is subtle but addictive, and the hook sticks to your brain like peppermint lip gloss.

What makes "Naughty List" work is how grounded it feels. Holiday releases usually play pretend. Gordon refuses to. She captures the real December energy: wanting joy, craving connection, making questionable choices, and not apologizing for any of it. Her quote seals the deal. This isn't about rebellion for shock value. It's about owning the gap between how you're "supposed to act" and who you actually are.

For fans of her earlier releases like "Bad Habit" and "Good On Me," this is Gordon leveling up that emotional precision she's known for, but with a playful twist. She keeps the honesty and vocal polish but swaps the vulnerability for charisma and mischief. The result is a holiday track that feels alive rather than manufactured.

If you're tired of Christmas songs that sound like scented candle commercials, "Naughty List" is the antidote. It's cheeky, confident, relatable, and way too replayable for a song about being festive in all the wrong ways. Sydney Gordon just gave December its villain era, and honestly, we needed it.

When you were writing “Naughty List,” what was the exact moment you realized this song wasn’t going to be another cookie-cutter holiday track? The second we hit that pre-chorus. The song snapped into this little fantasy world of wanting everything oversized and over-the-top, and it stopped feeling like “a Christmas song” and started feeling like my Christmas song. 

You’ve carved out a reputation for emotional precision in your past work. What emotional truth were you trying to protect in this song, even while keeping it fun and chaotic? I wanted to keep that feeling of craving connection without making it heavy. Like underneath all the sparkle and the jokes, the song is really about wanting someone who feels like your safe place during the wildest time of the year. 

Holiday music usually plays it painfully safe. What was the riskiest creative decision you made on this track, and why did you double down on it? Probably the attitude. We let the vocal be a little sly, a little wink-wink, and we didn’t soften it. There’s this instinct in holiday music to round all the edges so it feels family-friendly but we did the exact opposite. 

If your fans could hear the first demo version of “Naughty List,” what would surprise them the most about how it sounded before it became this polished troublemaker? Actually, the demo had a totally different chorus, lyrics, and melody. And the post hook was the outro. We recorded the final vocals, and something just did not feel right. The concept was there, but the attitude wasn’t fully cooked yet. You’d hear it and be like, “Oh, she’s cute… but she needs a personality.”

You grew up in New York, a city that basically turns into both a snow globe and a survival test every December. How did NYC energy shape the attitude or aura of this track? New York is who I am. So I think every song I write has that grit to it. New York is a Christmas wonderland, and I wanted a track that you imagine playing as you’re walking down 5th Avenue as it’s snowing. It’s glossy and magical, but there’s a little bite to it… like a Christmas song that learned how to survive midtown at rush hour.