Light Up the World is the first Christmas album, and the fourth studio album, by British pop group Steps. The album was released on 12 November 2012 after it was announced on 24 September 2012. It is the band's first studio album since 2000's Buzz. It is also the first release on Steps' own label, Steps Recordings. Recording sessions began in August 2012, and took place over a period of two months, concluding in October 2012.
The album's promotion included a lead single release, "Light Up the World", an original song, as well as many performances of the single on TV shows including This Morning and QVC; the music video for the song was the performance from This Morning. The album was also supported by album signings across the UK and a 6-date UK tour entitled Christmas with Steps, which was a Christmas themed small theatre tour that used a real band to play many of their hits that they performed as well as songs that the band didn't perform on their Ultimate Tour.
Critical reception
The album has received mixed reviews, with most of the criticism to do with the album's departure from Steps' previous work and how it could alienate the group's fan base. Despite it not being particularly groundbreaking, the album has been highly praised for being technically proficient. The decision to include mostly covers has been questioned, and some of the individual song choices (which are depressing in nature) have baffled some critics, who criticised the new sound as neither reminiscent of Steps nor Christmas. The work is seen by some to mark a new era of the band, i.e. a form of reinvention.
Max Palmer-Geaves of The Courier Online gave the album a positive review, saying: "Steps' Christmas effort evokes classic fireside imagery associated with the festive period, moving away from the neo-disco clichés of their nineties records, the album has a choral feel, more akin to that of latter day Bublé". Palmer-Geaves remarked that the female harmonies left him "overjoyed" and "weak at the knees", and felt the album's "unexpected turn" toward "One Less Bell to Answer" "makes it clear [Steps] are a group with many strings to their bow". He said the title track "harks back to the...[group's] original sound, though it is a more mature take on their powerful ballads" but argued that "When She Loved Me" is "a poorly placed cover as the listener is instantly removed from the winter wonderland that they have been placed in and transported into Toy Story 2". Palmer-Geaves finished the review by saying: "Christmas album or not, Steps are still as relevant as they ever were".
Nick Haynes of Get to the Front said the album would "no doubt provide the soundtrack to many a giggly, pinot grigio-fuelled evening in the weeks leading up to Christmas". He argued the album's "intentions" are plainly stated from the album's opening track; "nice, safe, singalong, well produced, bland pop...there's nothing wrong it, but equally, nothing stands out about it". Haynes said that "vocally, the band have probably never sounded better", but felt that the songs do not provide the group much opportunity to use their voices to their full potential, lacking anything "punchy" for them to sing. Nevertheless, Haynes felt that the title track "is a stand-out highlight [with] lush instrumentation, a soaring chorus, decent lyrics and great vocals", and put this down to the fact that it is the only original song on the album. Reasoning that while the first two-thirds consist of "rather obscure covers", "the final third contains a trio of classic Christmas tracks", which while nice in their own right "really don't add anything to those songs and there have been far superior versions recorded over the years". Furthermore, he said that "for the success of the reunion to continue, the truth is the material has got to be so much better", feeling that covers were chosen "due to a lack of time to work on an album and a desire to get new material out [in 2013]" and by doing so, "they've done more harm than good". While commending "Light Up the World" as on par with the group's "best ballads", the series of covers "le[ft him] cold and...disappointed". In conclusion, Haynes stated that the new album should have been a "shameless return to the magic of their 90s pop sound" and described the new direction as a missed opportunity.