Amazon Music has announced its largest season of Christmas programming yet, with new music, artist merchandise, and podcast episodes available to stream throughout the festive season.
Brand-new exclusive Christmas music from artists across the globe, including Camila Cabello’s cover of I’ll Be Home for Christmas and George Ezra’s Come on Home for Christmas (a reworking of Charles Brown’s Please Come Home for Christmas), will be available to stream. More Amazon Original festive songs from artists such as Dan + Shay, Leon Bridges, Summer Walker, Alessia Cara, Norah Jones, She & Him, Needtobreathe, Switchfoot, Judah, Olivia Dean, La Oreja de Van Gogh, and Lang Lang will also be made available on Amazon Music.
In addition to new holiday songs, Amazon Music listeners will have access to hundreds of festive playlists and stations across artists from various decades, including Rediscover: Mariah Carey Christmas, Holiday Favourites, Christmas Past, and Christmas Present. Amazon Music will also present Fluent Holidays, a new playlist celebrating fans who move between cultures, featuring English, Spanish, and bilingual holiday tunes from artists such as Reik, Sebastián, Cabello, Katy Perry, and Sech, as well as Merry Mix, a global playlist featuring holiday classics alongside tomorrow’s holiday hits.
“This is one of our favourite times of the year, where we’re able to bring our customers around the world a collection of brand-new music and programming to celebrate the holiday season,” said Ryan Redington, VP of music industry, Amazon Music. “It’s always thrilling to see a spike in the charts for Christmas classics, and our Amazon Original songs for the holidays—from incredible artists like Camila Cabello, Summer Walker, and George Ezra—introduce a contemporary take on the familiar favourites that our customers love to stream. In fact, in the last three years, the top 25 most popular holiday Amazon Original songs, from artists such as Katy Perry, John Legend, and Justin Bieber, have surpassed 750 million streams globally.”
On her cover of I’ll Be Home for Christmas, Cabello commented: “I’ve been travelling a lot since I was 15 and started working so I chose to record this song as an Amazon Original because I’ve always looked forward to being home in Miami with my family for Christmas. I wanted to continue the world of my album Familia by having it be a Mariachi rendition because I’m half Mexican and I grew up listening to Mariachi music. I’m excited to be on people’s Christmas playlists because it’s such a magical time of the year and getting to be part of the soundtrack during such an intimate family and friend holiday season is a real honour. It’s truly special and really sacred.”
“When I first heard I was going to do an Amazon Original, I immediately thought of the Marvin Gaye version of Purple Snowflakes,” said Leon Bridges. “It’s one of my favourite Christmas songs and I love the classic stuff… but this one has a little bit more soul to it. There aren’t too many renditions of this song and I wanted to kind of put my own spin on it as far as figuring out the arrangement, and give it the Fort Worth, Texas approach.”
Dan + Shay also shared: “Writing original Christmas songs is difficult, because there’s already so many good songs that exist and... you feel like everything’s already been said. One day we sat down to write our song and it sort of poured out of us—it was just the soundtrack for folks going out, families, friends going to a Christmas tree farm, or going to a store down the street and picking out a Christmas tree. We’re so excited about it and hopefully it brings a little joy this holiday season.”
“Above all, it is important to give thanks! Music has given me everything, and I am grateful and humbled to use it to give back to my fans,” said Sech. “Carta Navideña is an original song inspired by the holiday spirit felt around the world. You can recognize the sounds often heard in the classics, but with my unique style and emotions. The lyrics express my fondest holiday memories and traditions. I hope it becomes a popular classic, too, resonating with fans and reminding them to create many happy memories and give thanks always.”
For a limited time, customers who do not use Amazon Music Unlimited will be able to try it for three months free, enabling listeners access to millions of podcast episodes and more than 75 million songs, without adverts.
