For months, Ed Sheeran has been teasing a new Christmas song with Elton John, and now, their holiday tune, succinctly titled “Merry Christmas,” has arrived. The two were clearly going after the classic Christmas vibe, as the song has plenty of bells and cheery hooks. At the same time, though, it addresses hardship, as Sheeran sings on the chorus, “So just keep kissin’ me under the mistletoe / Pour out the wine, let’s toast and pray for December snow / I know there’s been pain this year, but it’s time to let it go / Next year, you never know.”
Sheeran recently explained that the song came about after John noticed his his 1973 track “Step Into Christmas” on the charts in 2020. Sheeran said, “He rung me on Christmas Day and he said, ”Step Into Christmas’ is No. 6 on the charts, and I’m 74, and I’m still having f*cking chart hits, this is great! I want to do another Christmas song, will you do it with me?’”
Sheeran later noted he couldn’t believe the song’s simple title wasn’t already taken by another song, saying, “We write it and I title it ‘Merry Christmas,’ and I’m like, ‘We’re going to have to change that title because there’s probably loads of songs called ‘Merry Christmas.” I went on Spotify and I typed in ‘Merry Christmas’: nothing. There’s ‘Merry Christmas, Everyone,’ there’s ‘Happy Xmas,’ there’s ‘Merry Xmas,’ there’s ‘War Is Over.’ There was not a song called ‘Merry Christmas.’ And then I went on YouTube and checked it out and it baffled me. It’s kind of like this glitch in a video game where no one’s thought to… yeah.”
Watch the “Merry Christmas” video above.
Ed Sheeran is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.