French pop music
In general, "I Hate December" has a darker theme that is rarely heard in Christmas music. Durand talks about her fears of death, singing: "All I know is what I dream / But lately dreams have been such scary things / Of suicide and frozen ice over my pale body". "Trouser Press" editor Ira A. Robbins joked that with "Lately", Ivy was attempting to bring French pop music back into the American music industry. In his book "The Trouser Press Guide to '90s Rock", Robbins and Vickie Gilmer summarized it as an "original [...] wah-wahing" song recorded in the "City of Lights". On an episode of the MTV2 music program "120 Minutes", Schlesinger described the message behind "I Hate December" as "anti-Christian". In response, host Matt Pinfield compared the lyrics and inspiration behind "I Hate December" to "that Fear single [released] years ago" (referring to that band's 1982 single "Fuck Christmas").