Spending Christmas Together

Mat and Savanna Shaw

Mathew Shaw (born July 26, 1980) and his daughter Savanna Shaw (born August 4, 2004) are an American musical duo based in Utah. They started releasing music videos at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The New York Times's music critic Jon Caramanica said the father and daughter duo "became a quarantine-era YouTube success story for their acoustic duets of religious-esque songs that were pinpoint precise, verging on stern".At the beginning of the pandemic, Savanna's choir practices were canceled. To remain connected with her friends, she created her first social media account, an Instagram account. For her first post on the account, she asked Mat, her father, to sing "The Prayer" with her since she was too shy to sing by herself. After recording it, they published it on Instagram in late February 2020 and then Facebook, where it went viral. They created a YouTube account on March 6, 2020. The Shaws were interviewed by Good Morning America, The Kelly Clarkson Show, and a show in Japan. On October 23, 2020, they released a 13-song album titled Picture This, which had an eponymous original song that told the story of how they shot to fame. After selling 12,000 copies, the album was ranked number one on Billboard's Emerging Artists and Classical Albums charts and 54th on the Billboard 200. On November 20, 2020, they released a seven-song extended play titled Merry Little Christmas. In his review of the album, The New York Times' Caramanica found that Mat "booms like a drill sergeant" and Savanna "sings with airy sweep". The Shaws released a third album, Stand By Me, on May 21, 2021, and a fourth album, The Joy of Christmas, on November 5, 2021.

Update this biography »