“Christmas Drillings” by Sidemen (ft. Jme)
‘Tis holiday season in the United Kingdom, meaning that the British public is set to be subject to, let’s say a diverse variety of Christmas songs. It would appear that in the UK, this is the most notable time of year to have a track top the pop chart.
That reality is so pronounced that there are even standardized betting odds as to who will hold down the number one spot on Christmas day. And one of the songs near the top of the list in 2022 is “Christmas Drillings” by Sidemen.
Christmas Drillings
Apparently, the reason this song is titled so is because it falls into the subgenre of drill rap. So basically, what we are met with here is along the lines of your traditional posse cut, albeit sporting a holiday theme.
So the way all of that is manifested for instance is via JME, in the first verse, complaining about the rising cost of energy, which by the way is a very real thing in the UK.
Tobi, who holds down the second verse, most notably puts forth a desire to “tap”, i.e. have sex with, “Mrs. Claus” because she “got a fat back”.
And Santa proceeds to be referenced in the third verse also, where the main vocalist of that passage, Vikkstar, seems to express some type of fantasy revolving around murdering Father Christmas.
The fourth verse, which is led by KSI, is all over the place. But amongst his assertions is the vocalist’s Christmastime desire to “grab your mum” as opposed to receiving presents. And in general, his verse can be deemed the most braggadocious.
The Chorus
KSI, who’s the most-notable member of Sidemen, is also responsible for rendering the chorus. This segment of the song is highlighted by the phrase “ain’t no presents till your birthday”. Going out on a limb, what he may be getting at is once again the UK being in some type of less-than-enviable economic state.
But all lyrics of the chorus considered, what it rather reads like KSI is saying is something like he and cohorts have murdered or kidnapped Santa Claus. Therefore, the reason there “ain’t no presents” is because he’s not around to deliver them.
And whereas of course this is supposed to be some type of artistic statement pointing to their gangsta, it is still one which, to some degree, is aimed at “children”, since they’re the only ones who tend to actually believe in Santa Claus.
In Conclusion
It would be interesting to see if this track proves to be the Christmas number one in the UK. Traditionally, the songs which achieve that standing are along the lines of traditional yuletide tunes, if not in presentation then at least in sentiment. But as for “Christmas Drillings”, all things considered, this can be classified as an anti-holiday song.
Sidemen and JME
Sidemen are a group of popular English YouTubers which, as of this writing, is seven members’ deep. The three Sidemen who participated on this track are KSI, TBJZL (aka Tobi) and Vikkstar123.
The featured vocalist, JME, is an actual fulltime musician who’s also from England. And to note, he participated on a prior Sidemen holiday track, that being 2019’s “Merry Merry Christmas”.
Credits for “Christmas Drillings”
All four of the abovementioned vocalists are credited with writing this song. And its producer is a British hip-hop artist known as Nyge.
Sidemen reportedly dedicated £100,000 (which concurrently equals about $122,000) to put this song together. At the same time the other members of the crew assembled another track called “This or That”, with a budget of £100.
Release of “Christmas Drillings”
“Christmas Drillings” was officially dropped on 4 December 2022 via Boy Better Know, a label co-led by JME, in addition to KSI’s own Beerus Limited.
