(L-R, Top-Bottom) Dan + Shay, Khalid, Mariah Carey, Kirk Franklin, John Legend and Meghan Trainor.
Photos: Warner Music Nashville, Columbia, Epic)

There aren’t too many full holiday album releases this year, but there are many new songs!  Quite a few artists have re-released their Christmas records with bonus tracks too, and there were some new singles and music videos of old favorites that dropped here, which have us boppin’ around our Christmas tree!

We have compiled a list of some stand-out tracks that we wanted to share with you all! Each song is also available to either stream and/or buy on Apple Music, Amazon Music and Spotify.

Photos and Key Art: NBCUniversal

NBC will air a special “The Voice” holiday event hosted by Carson Daly. This festive special will include appearances from an array of “Voice” coaches, past and present, along with performances from music superstars like Dolly Parton, Michael Bublé and Sia, as well as past contestants of the reality singing competition.

You can expect to hear a lot of holiday classics and popular modern favorites!

Photo: NBCUniversal

The holidays are filled with tradition, and one of the biggest annual events during the season is when the giant Christmas tree lights up for the first time at Rockefeller Center in New York City! NBC revealed a star-studded slate of celebs that will take part in the beloved “Christmas in Rockefeller Center” special this year, and I have the scoop for you below!

Legend and Clarkson pose together at her talk show, THE KELLY CLARKSON SHOW. | Photo: NBC

Last year, Natasha Rothwell released his first Christmas album, A Legendary Christmas, which became an instant holiday classic–at least in my household–and now, the award-winning singer is prepping to re-release it as a special deluxe edition!

Not only will you find all of the tracks originally featured on the record, but Legend has added four more: “This Christmas”, “My Favorite Things”, “Christmas in New Orleans”, and “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” — a collaboration with his fellow The Voice coach, Kelly Clarkson.

Legend and comedian Natasha Rothwell put a spin on the controversial classic duet by changing up the lyrics a bit in light of the #MeToo movement.

The new lyrics are featured below:

Logo via Netflix

Here’s a little movie update news for everyone who remembers when Deadline exclusively reported last October that Academy Award winner Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story) would be starring in David E. Talbert‘s new holiday film for Netflix.

The musical movie, “Jingle Jangle” follows Jeronicus Jangle (Whitaker), a once-great inventor and toy maker who has lost his belief in himself and his inventions, but stumbles upon a second chance and a magical invention, when his granddaughter comes to town for the holidays. If he can get the thing to work in time for the holidays, it will change their lives forever.

It’s been the plan for months to begin filming this year with a Netflix 2020 premiere date in mind, but now the Talbert written-and-directed film has added a slew of talented actors to the cast list!

Yesterday afternoon Netflix’s Strong Black Lead Twitter account announced that Phylicia Rashad (The Cosby Show, Creed, This Is Us), Keegan-Michael Key (Key & Peele, Toy Story 4, The Lion King), Anika Noni Rose (The Princess and the Frog, Dreamgirls), and Madalen Mills (Broadway’s School of Rock: The Musical), who will star as Whitaker’s granddaughter, have joined the film.

Update 07/11/19: As of now, Hugh Bonneville has also signed onto the film!

“Jingle Jangle” will be produced by Mike Jackson, John Legend, David E. Talbert, Lyn Sisson-Talbert, and David McIlvain with Ty Stiklorius stepped in as executive producer.

Stay merry!

Pictured: (l-r) Chrissy Teigen, John Legend — (Photo by: F. Scott Schafer/Columbia Records/NBC)

John Legend is following in the festive footsteps of Michael Bublé, Pentatonix and Gwen Stefani …he’s getting his own NBC Christmas special!

The network announced today that the recent EGOT winner and his wife, Chrissy Teigen (model, author of “Cravings by Chrissy Teigen” and co-host of “Lip Sync Battle”) would be getting us into the holiday spirit this season with NBC’s “A Legendary Christmas with John and Chrissy”.

In the hour-long special, Legend will perform songs from his upcoming Christmas album, “A Legendary Christmas,” as the beloved duo is joined by friends and family, as well as other well-known personalities who will be announced at a later date.

“A Legendary Christmas with John and Chrissy” airs Wednesday, November 28 at 10 p.m. ET/PT.

 
Stay merry!

Photos: John Legend Music, Inc/Columbia

A few weeks ago I told you about John Legend working on an upcoming Christmas album, and today he officially announced it this morning–along with a tour and a sneak peek one of the songs!

The recent EGOT winner (that stands for Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony, btw!) took to social media to give us the scoop on his new holiday record, A Legendary Christmas. The video included a behind-the-scenes peek at the album art photoshoot with his family as a snippet of “Bring Me Love”, one of six original tracks on the album plays over the montage.

Photo Courtesy of John Legend

It may be August, but I’d say ‘we need a little Christmas…right this very minute’ — how about you?! I guess John Legend agrees because, as it turns out, Refinery29 reports that the multi award-winning musician has been spending his spare time–as if he actually has any–making a Christmas album!

Now, if you’re a hardcore John Legend fan and/or a true Christmas music aficionado, you’d know that several years ago he did a duet with Mariah Carey, “When Christmas Comes” and in 2006 NBC released a special John Legend edition of their “Sounds of the Season” music collection. There were 6 holiday songs included on that record, which has provided a soothing vibe to my season each year, but that doesn’t mean I’m not eager to get a full-fledged Christmas album from Mr. Legend!