Ed Sheeran and Elton John have already opened the presents, well before Christmas.
Sheeran’s latest album = (equals) dropped in late October and blasted to No. 1 on the both sides of the Atlantic. Two songs from it, “Bad Habits” and “Shivers,” have monstered charts around the globe throughout 2021.
Elton has had his own thing going with The Lockdown Sessions, his all-star collaboration album. The set went to No. 1 in his homeland, as did the lead single “Cold Heart” with Dua Lipa, expertly mashed-up by Pnau.
With all those good spirits buzzing around, the British pop juggernauts joined forces for a yuletide number, “Merry Christmas,” which promises to appear on December playlists for years to come.
“Merry Christmas” is one of three holiday songs Ed and Elton wrote together. Last month, Sheeran spilled the beans when he stopped by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
The “Shape Of You” singer reckons he found a glitch in the system. “So get this,” he told Fallon, “we write it and I title it, ‘Merry Christmas,’ but we’re probably going to need to change that title because there’ll be loads of songs called ‘Merry Christmas’. I went on Spotify, typed in ‘Merry Christmas,’ nothing. There’s ‘Merry Christmas Everyone,’ there’s ‘Happy Xmas’, there’s ‘Merry Xmas’…there’s not a song called ‘Merry Christmas.’”
There is now.
The music video dropped in the wee hours and features the pair doing Christmas-ey things. The tree is up, and decorated. The fire is roaring, Elton belts it out on a grand piano, Ed takes flight with a snowman, and there’s a big finale with an army of Santa’s little helpers.
“Merry Christmas” appears on the “Christmas Edition” of =, with all profits from this year’s Christmas period going to the Ed Sheeran Suffolk Music Foundation and the Elton John AIDS Foundation.
Stream it below.
