With the song ’This Christmas’ I wanted to do something that was kind of different. I mean, Donny Hathaway is an amazing artist. So I wanted to bring my flavor to the song so when people over the age of 45 or 50 hear it they’ll be like ’OK, he did his thing with that record.’ It’s like I can appeal to everybody and not just a younger demographic.

Chris Brown frames his cover/remake of Donny Hathaway’s “This Christmas” as an exercise in balancing reverence with self-definition. He acknowledges Hathaway’s canonical status while insisting that a successful reinterpretation must bear the new performer’s “flavor,” not merely replicate the original. The remark also reveals a strategic awareness of audience segmentation: he wants older listeners—those with stronger cultural memory of Hathaway’s version—to recognize both the homage and the individuality, while still keeping the track accessible to younger fans. In this sense, the quote is about artistic lineage and the commercial-cultural challenge of crossing generations without seeming derivative or inauthentic.