THE PRETTY RECKLESS: STEALING BACK CHRISTMAS

DECEMBER 2025

Words by Vasili Papathanasopoulos

The Pretty Reckless have set their sights on a single mission this holiday season: delivering a jolt of Christmas spirit on their own terms. The New York City quartet - made up of Taylor Momsen, Ben Phillips, Mark Damon, and Jamie Perkins - unveil a festive release that threads the needle between nostalgia and reinvention with Taylor Momsen’s Pretty Reckless Christmas. When I caught up with Momsen over Zoom, we traced the winding creative road that brought the band to this unexpectedly historic moment, and celebrated the anniversary of their debut album.

Twenty five years ago, Momsen landed the breakout role that first introduced her to the world, starring as Cindy Lou Who alongside Jim Carrey in Ron Howard’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas. The holiday classic went on to develop a cult following and featured Momsen’s sweetly sung original number Where Are You Christmas?. Since shifting her focus to music and forming The Pretty Reckless in 2009, fans have continued to plead with her for a full re-recording of the song. Momsen tells me this was something “I never really thought I would do if I'm being honest.” When the world shut down in 2020, Momsen was still staggering under the weight of loss - the deaths of her longtime collaborator Kato Khandwala and Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell, both artistic anchors in her life and career. She remembers that period vividly. “Fast forward to 2020 - COVID. The world's in a really hard place. I was in a really bad place personally. We had gone through a lot of loss and trauma, and just a very dark place in my life. There was nothing to do because the world was shut down and we were on lockdown. The only thing that we could do to kind of spend our time in the days was rehearse.” Those heavy days were broken only by the ritual of meeting with bandmates who had all been cleared to gather within COVID restrictions. The rehearsal room became their only space of relief.

By the time the holidays approached, fans were more eager than ever to hear Momsen revisit Where Are You Christmas?, and for the first time she let herself truly consider it. “It's flooding my feeds and I kind of turn to the band and I go, 'should we, should we just try this? Is this something everyone really wants but like, I don't know, what do we have to lose? Let's play through it.’” Her curiosity soon turned into action. She began sketching out a new arrangement, puzzle-piecing the beloved one minute film version into something that could stand as a full-length track. “I put together a little arrangement, which was actually trickier than it sounds because to take a one minute song from a film and turn it into a three and a half minute full production band song - it's a little tricky. But I did, and I brought it into rehearsal and we played through it once.” What happened next surprised even her. “By the end of the song, we all had stupid grins on our faces. These four very miserable people - I can't express how down we were in life - suddenly we're happy and we all kind of turned to each other. I think that was just great. Like, am I insane? Are we insane, or was that something magical [that] just happened?” The shift in the room, she says, felt unmistakable. In that moment, the song that had followed her since childhood transformed into something restorative. “That was the moment where we all kind of looked at each other and went, 'I think the world needs this' and far be it from us to withhold that. So that was the deciding moment.” For Momsen, reclaiming Where Are You Christmas? was not just a nod to her past but a moment of renewed purpose, shared with the people who needed it alongside her.

From those early sparks in late 2020, The Pretty Reckless went on to release their fourth studio album Death by Rock and Roll and take it around the world, all while quietly assembling a slate of original Christmas songs behind the scenes. By the time the EP was finished, the twenty-fifth anniversary of How the Grinch Stole Christmas was approaching, a timing that aligned almost uncannily with the unveiling of Taylor Momsen’s Pretty Reckless Christmas.

Momsen began to bridge the gap between her past and present while developing When We Were Young, which emerged directly from that first session revisiting Where Are You Christmas?. Working on the new track prompted her to reconsider how her history with holiday music could inform something more expansive, nudging her to look beyond the familiar glow of Christmas nostalgia. “That's where I kind of honed in on 'this is deeper than just a Christmas song.' This is much more serious and much deeper and actually really means something to me.” she said, framing the moment as a shift in how she understood the emotional scope of the material. The EP opens with a slice of nostalgia: archival audio of Jay Leno introducing a young Momsen as she promotes How the Grinch Stole Christmas, which then leads into her original recording of Where Are You Christmas? from twenty-five years ago. From there, the updated version eases into focus, the transition gliding from the bright tone of her childhood voice into the depth and richness she commands as an adult. She tells me that bridging those two eras of herself became the project’s guiding spark. “When I came up with that idea, that was kind of the sealing of the deal. Once that idea came into play, it was like Christmas magic [laughs]. I went, 'oh, this is magical.' As far as I know, this has never been done before - singing with my 5-year-old self.” She speaks about it with the kind of wonder that affirms the apprehension that lingered for seventeen years has worn off.

When The Pretty Reckless emerged in 2009, you could note there was a stark divide between Momsen’s acting résumé and her ambitions as a singer and songwriter. Yet looking back to her childhood role in How the Grinch Stole Christmas reveals that music was never a later-in-life pivot. It was threaded through her creative identity from the beginning. Recording Where Are You Christmas? was not only her entry point into the industry but also her first encounter with the immersive world of the recording studio. She soon began writing her own songs, and a decade later the band delivered its breakout single Make Me Wanna Die. Their latest release feels like an act of synthesis, a project that circles back to the origins of Momsen’s artistic life. Even the title carries that intent. Momsen explains, “I mean, that was the point. It was like every year I'd see people put the connection together and I'm going, 'everyone doesn't know this already. Okay, let's tie it all in a nice Christmas present, like with a bow. Taylor Momsen - Cindy Lou. Taylor Momsen's Pretty Reckless - that's the band- Christmas.’ There you go, there's everything in one package." Her words underline a desire to reclaim the narrative surrounding her career and to make explicit what had long existed between the lines. By framing the project as a kind of neatly wrapped gift, she signals that the connections once interpreted as coincidence are in fact part of a continuous, deliberately acknowledged creative arc that is primarily fulfilled by her musical endeavours. 

As she reflects on the time of enforced stillness during the pandemic, the threads linking her past and present became impossible to ignore. “This whole project of coming to terms with my youth and bringing it into my present and full circling my life and reflecting on it and realising how, you know, impactful The Grinch actually was to me, and how it set me on this path of music without me even really noticing it or understanding it at the time because I was so young. It was my first experience in a recording studio. It was essentially my first music video. I fell in love with the recording studio at five years old because I had that experience. You don't think about those things as you grow up and when you're older, because you're living your life. But COVID did wonders [laughs] because you had too much time to sit alone with your own thoughts and reflect.” That reflection reframed her childhood experiences not as disconnected memories but as the foundation of her creative instincts. What once felt incidental now reads as formative, the origin story for music she had never been allowed the space to fully pause and examine. 

This period of looking inward also prompted a reconsideration of her relationship to the film and the way it has continued to resonate with audiences. “I suddenly started going, 'wait a second. This was really special. This still brings happiness and joy to millions of people around the world every year. Why am I the only one who can't see the light in this? Like, there's something wrong with me [laughs]. I came to terms with that by reflecting and doing all the thinking that I do. It became this very emotional kind of rollercoaster experience for me.” In recognising the film’s enduring impact, she found a way to reinterpret her own role within it, allowing it to become a source of connection rather than ambivalence.

Whilst the character of Cindy Lou undertakes her own journey within the film and must reckon with her relationship to Christmas and the wider world, Where Are You Christmas? reaches beyond that narrative arc. It invites listeners to forge their own understanding of the song through its poignant, relatable lyricism about growing up and redefining what truly matters. When I ask Momsen how the sentiments of the song have evolved for her, independent of the character she once played, she reflects on the shift that comes with age and experience. “I think with life experience and the older I've gotten, the song and the lyrics resonate on a deeper level. They mean something more now almost than they did then.” She explains that what was once a child’s simple longing has broadened into something more complicated. “Because, you know, a six-year-old singing those songs, it's coming from a very innocent perspective and it's coming from wide-eyed wonderment and longing for Christmas cheer and everyone to be together. It's simplistic.” Now, she hears the same lyrics as someone who has lived through far more of life’s weight. The contrast between childlike yearning and adult vulnerability gives new gravitas to lines she once delivered without a fuller grasp on them. “The older you get, you sing those words, and the line, I mean, it's every line [laughs], ‘you and I were so care-free, now nothing's easy. Did Christmas change, or just me.’ That resonates on such a deeper level now than it did as a five-year-old.” Her point lands with clarity: adulthood reframes every tender sentiment the song holds. “Because the world is hard and life is hard and growing up is hard. Being an adult is hard. No matter where you're from or where you're at in life, every day is hard.” Even so, Momsen emphasises that the heaviness of life has not eclipsed its brightness. The tension between struggle and joy, she suggests, is what gives the song its enduring emotional pulse. “That doesn't mean that there's not joy and wonderful things in life as well. But in order to realise the wonderful things, you have to live through the hardships.” She pauses on this idea, noting that her own experiences underscore it. “I think that's something that I've dealt with a lot of in my life. Like, I've lived through a lot of hard times and gotten to the other side of them, and it's a constant kind of fight and battle.” For Momsen, its resonance comes from the simple truth that life’s darkest moments often sharpen our sense of the light that follows.

Interestingly, Where Are You Christmas? Is the only song Momsen has recorded that is not an original track. Yet due to its history, it’s hard to deny that the song belongs to her. “I don't look at it like a cover. It's the only song I've ever done and recorded that I didn't actually write, but because I was the first person to sing it, I look at it like it's my song [laughs]. I feel like it's my song. So I don't see it as a cover. It's more of a re-imagining.”

Across Taylor Momsen’s Pretty Reckless Christmas, the band bring their signature brand of rock and roll to the festive compositions, yet some of the collection’s most compelling moments come when they step outside their established palette. Tracks like I Wanna Be Your Christmas Tree and Blues On Christmas lean into jazz and blues traditions, leaning into the roots of music that sits just beneath the band’s usual grit. The former, in particular, channels the warm glow of a 1920’s holiday standard, its nostalgic pulse giving the impression of a song that has always existed. “I Wanna Be Your Christmas Tree was one of those magic moments where it just popped into my head,” she says, recalling singing the line out loud and when Phillips spun around, incredulous, asking, “did you just make that up? Did you just write that?” Moments like these underscore how the lyric struck both of them as something so natural it surely must already exist. Momsen admits she had written it a day earlier. “I was waiting to see if it was good,” she recalls, quietly sitting with the line before sharing it with her band mate, a hesitation that only makes Phillips’ reaction more vivid. His insistence that she “Google that right now. Has anyone ever said that before?” becomes a turning point in her retelling, a way of verifying whether they had stumbled onto an untouched phrase or accidentally echoed some long-forgotten lyric. “Lo and behold, no one had,” Momsen says, describing the discovery with the kind of startled delight that often marks creative breakthroughs. She goes on to compare the moment to the South Park documentary - noting she is a big fan of the series. She asks me if I’ve seen the documentary, before recalling the moment “where they're on the retreat and they go 'Google that right now.' It was a very similar situation.” She likens it to an artist’s surreal experience of creating something that feels “classically obvious in one way, but it hasn’t been done. It's a stroke of luck.”

From that spark came a song intentionally crafted to evoke the cozy rituals of the season. As Momsen explains, she wanted to create something you put on “when you’re decorating your tree,” something that “feels warm and it smells like cinnamon and Christmas in your house and, you know, all of the feels.” By weaving this sensory imagery into the music, the track leans fully into the nostalgic pull of holiday tradition, crafting a song that reflects not only the spontaneity of its creation but also the atmosphere they hoped listeners would inhabit.

I Wanna Be Your Christmas Tree and Blues On Christmas mark The Pretty Reckless’s first foray into new sonic territory, embracing jazz and blues in a way that feels both exploratory and true to their identity. When I asked her what inspired the shift, Momsen is candid: “Christmas prompted it. I mean, Christmas and rock and roll - those are the two things.” Her love for rock, she explains, is tied to its boundless freedom. “The thing I love about rock and roll is that - I mean, I love everything about rock and roll, so I could go on and on forever - but one of the things I love about rock and roll is that it's really the epitome of freedom as far as music goes, and life.” For her, rock is more than a genre; it is a philosophy. It is limitless in scope, capable of embracing any sound, style, or influence without being boxed in. “Because it encompasses everything. Like there are no boundaries or limits to rock and roll. That's the death of it in my opinion, as soon as you put a stipulation on it. The whole point is that it's free.” In Momsen’s view, freedom is the essence of rock and roll. If a song or style becomes constrained by rules or expectations, it loses the very quality that defines it.

She also sees rock as a lineage, a musical umbrella that naturally incorporates other genres. “So it encompasses jazz and it encompasses blues. I mean, it stems from blues, obviously, and pop and hip hop and folk and country even. You know, all the genres, as long as it's played with organic instruments, a raw approach and an attitude - it is rock and roll.” In other words, experimenting with jazz and blues is not a departure but a return to rock’s roots, a way to explore and honour the many forms that inform the genre’s DNA. Momsen finds this openness creatively invigorating. “Getting to delve into and lean into other sides of music while still keeping it very us is always a fun place to be as a writer. It's part of why I love the genre so much, because the umbrella is massive, you know what I'm saying?” By embracing these diverse influences, The Pretty Reckless are able to explore new musical landscapes without losing the rawness, attitude, and identity that define their sound. The result is a holiday record that is adventurous, playful, and distinctly them, proving that even seasonal music can be boldly innovative.

Furthermore, thematically the band aren’t shying away from challenging the conventions of Christmas music. On Christmas Is Killing Me, Momsen captures a particularly downtrodden festive season, one she personally experienced, while also reflecting on the evolving perspective of Cindy Lou. “This whole record came from a very honest place. I started just kind of examining my thoughts and feelings about Christmas and how they've grown and changed throughout the years and how, you know, not every Christmas is the same,” she explains, highlighting that the holidays are far from uniformly joyful. “There's a lot of holidays where some years you just can't deal. Like it's just too much. As wonderful as this holiday season is, it can sometimes be very overwhelming and families are a lot and you love them, but it can be a lot.” Momsen recalls the sensory overload of the season with striking detail: “The presence and the commerciality of it and the whole thing. And that came around, it was during Christmas and I was getting very overwhelmed by the holiday season. I was walking around New York, the streets were packed. It was cold, it was slushy because there was snow everywhere, but it was melting and it was disgusting and it smelled bad. And just tons of people [laughs] and, you know, getting smacked in the face by bags as you're walking down the street because everyone has tons of shopping bags. It was just an overwhelming holiday for me.” The song is both intensely personal and a reflection on broader cultural pressures, tying Momsen’s grown-up experience to the themes of How the Grinch Stole Christmas. “But it's also a nod to Cindy's perspective in the film; you're losing the true meaning of Christmas, and the true meaning of Christmas is love and family and being together and everyone feeling like they have a home. It's not about the presents and the money you spend. That's not how you have to express your love. That's kind of what it turns into a lot of times. So it's a nod to the film and Cindy's perspective, but also from a grownup Taylor's perspective of it can be a lot.” By intertwining her personal holiday frustrations with Cindy’s message about love and family, Momsen creates a track that is both raw and resonant, reframing festive cheer through a lens of honesty and lived experience.

Throughout our conversation, Momsen and I seemed to slip through pockets of time. We had already revisited the year 2000 with How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and now we found ourselves landing in 2010, the year The Pretty Reckless released their debut album Light Me Up. I told her about buying the CD the week it came out and how, as it played through my car speakers, my father promptly earned himself a speeding ticket. Momsen lit up at the memory, even though it was mine rather than hers. “Oh that’s awesome,” she said, laughing at the image. She lingered on the idea for a moment, adding, “I love a good story around music though. It puts you in a time capsule and you'll always remember it.”

It is a fitting sentiment for an album written and recorded while she was only fourteen to fifteen years old, and one that marked its fifteenth anniversary this year. Light Me Up debuted at number one on the OCC UK Rock and Metal Chart and cracked the top ten on Billboard’s US Top Alternative Albums, a remarkable feat considering the schedule she was keeping at the time. Momsen spent her days filming the New York teen drama Gossip Girl in Manhattan, then crossed the river at night to write and record with the band in Jersey.

Reflecting on the whirlwind, she becomes nostalgic in real time. “Light Me Up was such a special time in my life and in the band's life,” she says. “When I look back on it, it was so fun. That's the first thing that comes to mind. Everything about making that record and getting to do it with the people I love, like all the pieces were falling into place. I love when the universe aligns. I'm a big believer in the universe and a lot of the time it's not aligned and that's when you're struggling and sometimes it all just clicks.” She expands on that sense of cosmic luck, recounting how the band found each other: “Forming The Pretty Reckless is one of those times where everything just worked. I met Ben and Kato [Khandwala]. Kato produced the records. Ben knew Mark and Jamie. Everything just fell into place in this really kismet way. Everything I'd been searching for just clicked, and they became my best friends in the world. We're an inseparable group of people.” The memory clearly still energises her. “Making that record was so much fun,” she adds, breaking into a laugh. “[Laughs] It was just this boys' club at the studio in Jersey. I was there till two, three in the morning every night. I was working on the television show [Gossip Girl] during the day and then going straight to the studio. So I was working my balls off. But making the record was just the greatest experience ever.”

The sessions spent working on the album opened up a clear view for Momsen, giving her a sense of what lay ahead. For the first time, she felt her ambitions not as distant fantasies but as something vividly attainable. As she recalls it, “I could see my future of what I'd always wanted, and what I'd been striving towards my whole life, coming to fruition. I was actually making it happen. It was just such an exciting time. I think every band feels that with your first record, it's like the world is your oyster.” She speaks about that period with awe. That early clarity also sharpened her appreciation for the particular magic of a debut. She describes the unburdened thrill of being a new artist, saying, “Anything's possible, nothing's been tainted yet because no one's heard it yet. There's been no reviews, the industry hasn't gotten involved. You're just making music with the people you love. It's so much fun.” For her, that innocence is not nostalgia; it is a reference point, a reminder of what creative freedom actually feels like.

It is why she sees an emotional through-line between the making of Light Me Up and their most recent holiday project. Those sessions, she explains, unexpectedly revived the same spirit that fuelled their earliest work. “To bring it back to Christmas, the Christmas record was the start of the recording sessions for everything you're about to hear soon [laughs]. We always have fun making, like I love making music. We always have fun. But the Christmas record was the first time that we felt that kind of youthful, innocent, hopeful, it just was really, really fun. We had a really fun time making the record where everything felt light and joyous and it wasn't tainted with the weight of life. The intention was so pure, and I think that the intention was similar to Light Me Up in that way. It was just very fun. So really, the Christmas record kind of really reinvigorated us in a lot of ways. The Christmas record did a lot for us that we weren't expecting. It's kind of amazing [laughs]. It really reinvigorated us as a band and just made us really excited for the future. Some of the most fun recording sessions we've had in our career was making this past record and Light Me Up.”

The album ultimately cemented The Pretty Reckless within the modern rock landscape, its razor edged guitars and boldly intimate lyricism forming a sonic backbone that was given real authority by Momsen’s voice. Her vocals didn’t just lead the record, they defined its tone and its urgency, a testament to the band’s commitment to craft. Having been thirteen when Light Me Up arrived, it became one of those formative records I kept returning to, a touchstone that still feels as sharp and immediate now as it did fifteen years ago. That longevity is rooted in the songwriting of Momsen, Phillips and Khandwala, a process Momsen herself describes with a level of meticulousness that mirrors the album’s lasting impact. 

Reflecting on the making the record, she emphasised the sheer intention behind every detail: "The amazing thing about music is, you know, I take songwriting extraordinarily seriously. I do not take it lightly. I take a really long time to write a record and I write a lot of songs that don't make the cut. Because the goal is always to make something that is timeless and that will last the test of time and that can grow with you and age with you. I examine it from every perspective possible. So by the time it comes out, there's nothing someone can say about it that I haven't already said or thought of and dismissed or whatever." Within the context of Light Me Up, that seriousness becomes the unseen scaffolding holding the album together. She recalls how deliberate the process was, adding, "So to me, Light Me Up, I spent a really long time checking all the boxes and making sure it did what I wanted it to do, knowing that you only get one first impression. Like, I'm not stupid [laughs]. Making sure it was something that I would wanna sing and play for a really, really long time to come, and the cool thing is I still do.”

Her attachment to the material has only deepened over time. Momsen explains that even after hundreds of performances, the songs continue evolving alongside her: "I look forward to playing Make Me Wanna Die every night. Still one of my favourite songs. I'm not sick of it, I'm not bored of it. It continually evolves with me as I evolve as a person, and I think that that's so cool. As time goes on, the songs transform as you do as a person because I wrote it. So it's always coming from me." That duality, the way a song can remain fixed in time while its meaning shifts with lived experience, underscores her relationship to the album. "My perspective might change, and my life might change and, you know, things that happen in your life change you as a person. The song does that with you, and that's what's so cool about music is that when I listen to the record, it takes me right back to being fifteen because I sound fifteen. I remember everything that happened in the studio that day, all that stuff. But when I play the song live, I'm now singing it as a thirty two year old and it means something different but equally as important. I think that's so cool.” In that reflection lies the enduring power of Light Me Up: a record built to last, not because it is frozen in its original moment, but because it continues to breathe with the person who made it.

Of course, their festive offering is not the only taste of new music The Pretty Reckless delivered this year. For I Am Death arrived in August, offering the first glimpse into a new era that is, by all accounts, fast approaching. Momsen frames this moment with a playful hint at what is to come, telling me, “It is the near future. 2026 is gonna be a very exciting year for us, I'll just say that [laughs].” Her remark lands with the confidence of an artist who knows more than she is ready to share, and it places For I Am Death firmly as a signpost pointing toward something larger on the horizon. The track went on to become the band’s eighth number one on rock radio, a milestone that reinforces its weight, while its lyrics resist easy explanation and instead invite listeners to decide for themselves what the song is saying.

As the band edge closer to their fifth studio album, Momsen reflects on how she and her bandmates have evolved both individually and collectively. She expands on that growth with an earnestness that underscores just how intertwined their creative lives have become. “We've grown so much as people, but the cool thing about being in a band is that we grow together. Like it really is this unit. So while life takes its toll, it's taking its toll kind of equally on all of us at the same time. So we're constantly evolving together.” That sense of shared development folds directly into her approach to making records, something she emphasizes with equal clarity. “What I try to do with records is take what I did the last time and expound upon it, and it's why there's a break between records. I can't rush out record after record because writing takes time. You have to live life in between to have something to say.”

Even as she remains careful not to reveal too much about the still-unheard material, Momsen offers a glimpse of her enthusiasm. “So I don't wanna get too detailed into it because it's hard to talk about music people haven't heard, but yeah it's very us and it's very authentic and it's a record that I'm really looking forward to playing live [laughs], let me put it that way,” she teases. That excitement builds as she adds, “I’m really psyched on it. We're putting the final touches on it right now and it's the next step in The Pretty Reckless evolution.”

Thirteen years have passed since The Pretty Reckless last set foot on Australian stages on their debut tour, a brief but memorable run that included headline shows in Sydney and Melbourne and a national run with Soundwave Festival. As someone who attended their intimate yet electric show at The Bald Faced Stag (now known as Crowbar), the question inevitably lingers among Australian fans: what will it take to bring the band back? When I put that question to Momsen, she does not hesitate. “Well, we are definitely gonna come back to Australia,” she responds, leaning into the certainty of the promise. She recalls the energy of those shows with the kind of fondness that makes the distance between tours feel even longer. “I swear we had so much fun and it's been a long time. I know [laughs].” Momsen is quick to clarify that there has been no hidden barrier keeping the band away, only timing. She explains that their return is tied to the rollout of their yet-to-be-announced fifth studio album, and plans to return to Australia off the back of their forthcoming album. “I’m sure on the new record we'll make it there. We will make it back to Australia and we can't wait, because you guys are just so much fun to play to. You really appreciate music in a way that other parts of the world don't. We can't wait to come back.”

As the festive season hits full stride, Taylor Momsen’s Pretty Reckless Christmas is shaping up to be the hopeful moment the band envisioned. Momsen has already showcased Where Are You Christmas? at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and released a charmingly nostalgic, Whoville-styled video to match. As our time together ends, I ask her what she hopes the release will provide listeners with this holiday season. “Honestly, I just hope it brings people joy. I hope it makes people happy and it's kind of cool to have a record that its only intent really is to put a smile on people's faces. I can't say that that's the intent with all of our music [laughs]. Most of it is, well, it's made for me and it's me expressing something that I need to get out to keep myself sane - and I hope people like it, of course. But this record is completely bringing Christmas cheer, and I hope that it does that. That's the intention… I’m really proud of this. It's a Christmas record, but I think it's so much more than that.”

MILKY EXCLUSIVE COVER STORY ©

Taylor Momsen’s Pretty Reckless Christmas is out now.