Ed Sheeran and Elton John are each heralded and creative musicians in their own right — and now they’ve come together for a brand-new Christmas song that might find its way into holiday lore.
They debuted their new song Merry Christmas via YouTube on Friday for public consumption. The recording, clocking in at just under three and a half minutes, touches on the darkness of the last few years and begins with Sheeran’s vocals before shifting to John.
“Dance in the kitchen while embers glow,” the legendary British piano man sings as part of the holiday canto. “We’ve both known love, but this love we got is the best of all. I wish you could see it through my eyes, then you would know.”
The video features Sheeran flying through the air with a figure in a terrifying-looking snowman costume, and there’s also a set that seems to nod to the now-classic Christmas film Love Actually.
The YouTube video was closing in one the two-million view mark just 10 hours after going up, with nearly 160,000 fans giving it a thumbs up.
If the comments are any indication, the love is genuine and not just the product of bots or boosters, too.
“Thanks Ed and Elton for the beautiful music,” Ingrid Barros wrote. “That’s exactly what we were looking for this Christmas after so much bad things over the past two years. Merry Christmas. May the coming year be blessed.”
“Hands down the best Christmas song of the last few years by some of the best songwriters of all time,” Dan Jason added. “Man don’t realize Elton John helped get Ed Sheeran first signed, love all the nods to other Christmas videos.”
Certainly, the last few Christmas seasons haven’t been easy, but with luck, a little bit of hope, and some faith, I believe we can turn things around in 2022. Maybe we’ve got a song that embodies that.