Liz Chan’s pursuit to make her Christmas song world famous … this fall

During the time I was editor for TV Squad and we were reporting to AOL TV, there were a few AOL editors I worked with. Though I never met then-editor Elizabeth Chan in person, we participated in the weekly team calls together and frequently worked on — or maybe it was squabbled about — content shared between AOL TV and TV Squad. Possible squabbling aside, we exchanged Facebook followings, where I’d see her updated on what she was up to from time to time.

Some months ago, Liz had an update in her timeline that I honestly thought was a joke. In it, she shared a link to a new website she’d created, which centered on only one thing: her very serious desire to create a world famous Christmas song. Out of all the great ambitions of the world, I thought, could someone really have one that specific and … well, unusually unique. As it turns out, it was no joke; far from it, in fact.

“Ever since I was a little kid, I’ve always wanted to write a famous Christmas song. I love Christmas music like a crazy person. I’ve always been a song writer of sorts, but I’ve never taken it to the level of it being a profession.

“Last September I had a really terrible situation at work. I was presenting this project with Conde Nast in front of a hundred colleagues at a national sales meeting. My boss berated me. She took over the lectern and started kicking my leg under the lectern like I was a child, telling when to talk and when not to talk, completely embarrassing me in front of my colleagues. So later that night, after the sales meeting, my colleagues took me out for dinner and drinks and got me shitfaced wasted! I got home and I said, ‘fuck this shit! I’m going on MediaBistro and find a new job!’ So I was on MediaBistro, and there was a link there that said, ‘Have you ever had a dream that you were too afraid to try?’ So I clicked on the link and replied, ‘Yes, I work for Self Magazine where I tell other women to be their best selves, and I’m so full of shit because I’m not my best self. I’m going to write a famous Christmas song AND I’m going to learn to play guitar!’ Send!”

It turns out the ad Liz responded to was for a project Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me) was doing for Yahoo!, called Failure Club. In it, Spurlock has taken several New Yorkers under his wing to mentor them toward their lifelong dreams, following and filming their lives along the way. Spurlock met with each Failure Club member every week, then every other week for an entire year. In fact, the show’s still going on now, on Yahoo!, every Monday and Wednesday, concluding in November.

For her part in Failure Club, Chan has put her former editing career on hold — perhaps for good — to write, perform and record what she believes can become a world famous Christmas song. Though her website doesn’t highlight the “World Famous” part anymore, it’s still a target she has her sights set on. The question is: what makes a song “world famous” anyway?

As part of her song work, Liz filmed a music video for the first track on her EP, Naughty & Nice, called A Christmas Song. Initially she thought having that video receive one million YouTube views, but Spurlock thought that was too easy and wanted to take it a step further: a top ten iTunes spot before the end of Failure Club; a likely impossible task, since this is Christmas music we’re talking about — nobody wants to listen to Christmas music in October! With Failure Club ending in November, she certainly has her work cut out for herself.

Liz hasn’t received any monetary assistance from Spurlock’s camp, having to finance the production of the album and music video herself. She literally spent every dollar she had. And now she’s looking for everyone’s help to push her first track — A Christmas Song — into the top ten iTunes downloads by sometime in November. Every download counts.

And what if her song doesn’t get heralded as world famous this time around?

“If I don’t hit it this year, I’m set up to try again for next year!”

I’ve listened to the EP, and I’ve got to say I’m pleasantly surprised at what she’s been able to do. As I told her, she should be proud of what she’s been able to accomplish in only a year. The music’s well produced and at times catchy, even though we’re months away from the holidays.

Download Liz’s album, Naughty & Nice, starting today, on iTunes. Liz’s music video for A Christmas Song can also be viewed over on DailyMotion later today (we’ll post a link here when it’s available).

‘A Christmas Song’ by Elizabeth Chan from… by lizchanchristmas