[1] The album prominently featured the use of Christmas music includes songs by R. Kelly, Jordin Sparks, Mary J. Blige, Monica, Ne-Yo, Marsha Ambrosius, John Legend, Emeli Sandé, and more.

[2][3] It was made accessible to stream exclusively on ITunes on October 16, 2013,[2][4] even before the film's album was issued to digital music streamers and was later received a physical release on November 1.

Lee believed that "music is essential to the entirety of a film going experience [...] The songs listed here not only make up the fabric of the movie, but many served as inspiration to the creation of the screenplay".

He then made a deal with RCA Records, which assembled "a roster of artists that are just fantastic and really would do a great job helping to be the fabric of the movie".

[6] Stephen Farber of The Hollywood Reporter wrote "There’s a lot of effective music in the film, though the Christmas standards on the soundtrack are overused.