Look to the top of the pop charts and you\u2019ll see the usual suspects on high rotation: there\u2019s Mariah Carey\u2019s annual windfall, All I Want for Christmas is You<\/em>; there\u2019s Brenda Lee, rockin\u2019 around the Christmas tree. In a pleasant surprise, Ariana Grande has muscled her way into the action with her 2014 cut Santa Tell Me<\/em> becoming a generational favourite, while ol\u2019 Buble \u2013 also boasting a cover of that other staple, It\u2019s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas<\/em> \u2013 might as well replace his nose with a carrot at this point.<\/p>\n A very Cher Christmas: the 77-year-old performing at New York\u2019s Jingle Ball earlier this month.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Charles Sykes\/Invision\/AP<\/cite><\/p>\n We need something new! And new good, not new bad. Wheatus\u2019 Christmas Dirtbag<\/em> (an update on their 2000 smash) is goofy and nostalgic, but whoever\u2019s out here playing Travis (and brother Jason) Kelce\u2019s Philly-leaning twist on The Pogues\u2019 Fairytale of New York<\/em> deserves a visit from the Krampus. And as much as I can appreciate the jaunty northern soul-esque stylings of, um, Hannah Waddingham\u2019s Home For Christmas<\/em>, I don\u2019t need to be reminded about Ted Lasso<\/em> during the season\u2019s festivities.<\/p>\n But hark \u2013 2023 has a sleighful of new Christmas classics, and leading the charge is, oddly enough, Cher. Stop everything, head to your music streaming service of choice, and cue up DJ, Play a Christmas Song<\/em>. Like her \u201998 anthem Believe<\/em> but seasonal, the song is a dance-pop banger that\u2019ll turn your family Christmas party into a sweaty nightclub. Pour some vodkas and watch Grandma, crackers in hand, go off.<\/p>\n If that\u2019s not enough Christmas Cher for you, the 77-year-old\u2019s 27th studio album, released in October, also includes the intriguing Drop Top Sleigh Ride<\/em>, a Miami Bass-inflected track featuring a guest verse from rapper Tyga, who utters the line \u201cshake that thing like a snow globe\u201d. Again, Grandma.<\/p>\n Alanis Morissette has felt the Christmas spirit.<\/span><\/p>\n At a smoother pace comes Alanis Morissette\u2019s Last Christmas EP<\/em>, which is what I imagine Christmas sounds like at Lilith Fair. The standout here is What Child Is This<\/em>, a cover of William Chatterton Dix\u2019s 1865 carol, where Alanis comes across like a medieval maid (Caroline Polachek?) on what I\u2019m sure is a lute. It\u2019s new age-y and atmospheric, and you\u2019ll want to chug mead and joust afterwards.<\/p>\n Of course, Mariah has her Christmas acolytes. Brandy, possessor of one of the greatest voices in late \u201990s R&B, has produced the sort of Christmas album you could listen to in mid-April and relish. It\u2019s smooth and sultry \u2013 the fluttery Christmas Party for Two<\/em> is an almost uncomfortable seasonal sex jam \u2013 and, I\u2019ll admit, I found myself swaying my head and fluttering my fingers to her Deck the Halls<\/em> like I was Lauryn Hill in Sister Act 2<\/em>.<\/p>\n Sabrina Carpenter, arch-nemesis of pop star Olivia Rodrigo, has also gone the slick R&B route with her Fruitcake EP<\/em>, and it\u2019s playful in a post-Eartha Kitt kind of way. \u201cWhen you\u2019re comin\u2019 down the chimney, ooh, it feels so good, I need that Charles Dickens,\u201d she sings on opener A Nonsense Christmas<\/em>, which, come on, that\u2019s just a good Dickens reference. This tongue-in-cheek approach covers the whole project, so it\u2019s best suited to the Grinch in your life rather than the person who finished their gift shopping in November.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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