Jacob Chacko’s new single “Over The Top” hits with the specific intensity of a crowded escalator on December 23rd, but thankfully minus the existential dread. While Chacko is known as “Indie Music’s Champion of Positivity,” this track feels less like a polite championing and more like a jubilant shout across a crowded room.
Musically, the track delivers on its promise of Organic Pop-Rock infused with Big-band swagger. It creates a fascinating textural clash. Listening to Chacko (Lead) trade energies with Thomas Monaco (Singer/Guitarist) and Talya Gelfand (Vocalist) gave me a sudden, inexplicable flashback to a kaleidoscope I owned as a child—specifically the moment I shook it too hard, fracturing the symmetry into something messy but undeniably brighter. That’s what this song does to the standard holiday formula.
The lyrical narrative here is arguably the most surprising element. We are accustomed to winter ballads pleading for silence and snow-gazing. Chacko, however, throws his arms around the chaos. He isn’t fleeing the “shop till we drop” mentality; he is sanctifying it. There is something strangely noble in how the track reframes the commercial bustle of the mall not as a symptom of greed, but as a high-octane ritual of affection. It validates the sweat on your brow as you hunt for a deal, suggesting that the adrenaline of the hunt is just another language of love.
The blend of big-band brassiness and pop hooks creates a soundscape that refuses to sit still. It invites you to run, not walk, toward the nearest department store.
Is it possible that the true spirit of the season isn’t found in the silent nights, but in the noisy, frenetic collision of people trying desperately to make each other happy?
