The holidays are upon us, and whether you’re feeling festive or not, musicians are climbing aboard the tinsel bandwagon with new songs for the season. We offer to you a week’s worth of them, nestled in one place, like gifts under a tree. In this case, as its our first roundup of the season, we'll be going back a little further than a week.
SPOON - "CHRISTMAS TIME (IS HERE AGAIN)" (BEATLES COVER)
Spoon have covered The Beatles' "Christmas Time (Is Here Again)," which was originally released as a Fan Club single in 1967. They don't mess with it too much. Says Britt Daniel, "Recording ‘Christmas Time Is Here Again’ was a group effort that pulled us away from rehearsals and sent us speeding down a path fueled by what you might call the Christmas spirit. And it’s our song with the most band members doing vocals ever - pretty sure you can count four. THE WAR ON CHRISTMAS IS OVER."
--
ABBA - "THE LITTLE THINGS"
ABBA just released their first album in four decades and it includes a new Christmas song, "The Little Things," complete with a Children's choir.
--
BLONDIE & FAB 5 FREDDY - "YULETIDE THROWDOWN" (CUT CHEMIST REMIX)
Blondie and Fab 5 Freddy are giving their rare 1981 holiday song "Yuletide Thrown" its first-ever 180 gram vinyl reissue, and it comes with a new remix by Cut Chemist. Read more about it here.
--
PETROL GIRLS - "I'LL GIVE YOU MOTHERFUCKERS CHRISTMAS"
UK indie/post-hardcore band Petrol Girls have released a new Christmas song and video, "I'll Give You Motherfuckers Christmas." It's an acoustic jazz-pop song that the band calls an "extremely serious piece of musical political commentary," and they're also selling a Christmas sweater to benefit The Unity Centre, Calais Food Collective and No Borders Team, which "[provides] material solidarity to people stuck at the Poland-Belarus border."
--
THE AQUABATS - I WANT A HIPPOPOTAMUS FOR CHRISTMAS TOO! EP
Superhero ska/punk/pop weirdos The Aquabats have put out a holiday EP, and it's as silly and ridiculous as you'd hope.
--
JXDN - "HAPPY HOLIDAYS, YOU BASTARD" (BLINK-182 COVER)
There is like a 0% chance anyone needed Travis Barker signee jxdn to do a faithful cover of blink-182's "Happy Holidays, You Bastard," but, 'tis the season I suppose.
--
DOUGIE POOLE - "CANCUN CHRISTMAS MORNING"
Dougie Pool mixes holiday cheer with classic country tequila songs with weepy ode. "This Christmas party’s over / All my friends are heading home / But I’m not calling it a night til everybody’s gone."
--
KYTES - "HELLO (AND IT'S CHRISTMAS)"
German band Kytes have delivered a retro-feel holliday track that tips its hat to the '60s.
--
NAO - "THIS CHRISTMAS"
Nao's contribution to the Spotify Singles Holiday playlist is this bit of ethereal R&B yuletide cheer.
--
DAVE HAUSE - "HAVE YOURSELF A MERRY LITTLE CHRISTMAS"
The holiday music keeps coming, and here's a lovely rendition of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" by punk veteran and singer/songwriter Dave Hause.
--
MXPX - 'HOLD YOUR TONGUE AND SAY APPLE"
Pop punk vets MxPx's new Christmas song is all about being nice for the holidays. "'Hold Your Tongue and Say Apple' accidentally has immaturity and wisdom all baked into one happy messed up message," says frontman Mike Herrera, "but it’s coming from a fun place. A song my kids won’t hear because I don’t want to have to tell them what an asshole is and that no, even though Dad says it, A- hole is not really a nice name to call your teacher! In case you missed it, the A-hole can be all of us -- but mainly, it was me.”
--
PISTOL ANNIES - "SNOW GLOBE"
Pistol Annies, the country supergroup of Miranda Lambert, Ashley Monroe, and Angaleena Presley, will release a Christmas album, Hell Of A Holiday, on October 22 via Sony. The first single is the swaggering "Snow Globe."
--
JOSE JAMES - "CHRISTMAS IN NEW YORK"
José James just released his first holiday album, Merry Christmas from José James, that recalls the jazzy classics of the '50s and '60s. “I hope that people can feel a little bit of the joy and the wonder, year round, that 8-year-old José felt, not only about Christmas and all the obvious things—the ornaments, the tree, the holiday season—but also the music," says José.
--
AUGUST BURNS RED - "SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN"
Happy holidays! Here's an instrumental metalcore cover of "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town."
--
AMANDA SHIRES - I
Amanda Shires just released her first-ever Christmas album, For Christmas. It has nine originals and two covers (one of Frank Loesser’s “What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?” and one of "Silent Night").
--
JOHN MARK NELSON, TANCRED & JENNY OWEN YOUNGS - "SILVER BELLS" & "FIRESIDE"
John Mark Nelson, Tancred, and Jenny Owen Youngs collaborated on a pair of holiday songs, a rendition of the classic "Silver Bells" and an original song, "Fireside." "Jess, John Mark, and I came together to make two holiday recordings,” Youngs says, "inspired largely by an arrangement of 'Silver Bells' Jess had come up with last Christmas. She flipped the chords in the final chorus to make the refrain wrap around itself, leaning minor, in a way that made the song somber without feeling sad. We decided to accompany this take on Silver Bells with an original holiday song in similar emotional territory: joyful, but contemplative; secular, but reverent. What we found while writing 'Fireside' together was a crisp homage to indoor rumination in December, and keeping warm with loved ones when daylight is brief and winter nights are long."
--
SHE & HIM - "IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS"
It's most certainly not beginning to look a lot like Christmas, but we just have to accept that Christmas music comes out before Halloween now, so here's She & Him's lovely rendition of the classic "It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas" from the A Very She & Him Christmas 10th anniversary edition.
--
DEBBIE GIBSON - "CHRISTMAS STAR"
'80s survivor Debbie Gibson, who released her first album in 20 years earlier in 2020, just released this new holiday single and video which features her very cute dogs Joey, Trouper and Levi.
--
Looking for even more new songs? Browse the ‘New Songs’ archive and our “Holiday Music” category.