Tag: Jose Mari Chan

Get in the Holiday Spirit with Dolly Parton, Jose Mari Chan, Black Pumas, and More

November 18, 2020

In a year that’s brought unprecedented challenges, Spotify data suggests that listeners may be seeking comfort from holiday music earlier than usual in 2020. While festive playlists usually snowball in December, we’re seeing our most popular holiday playlist, Christmas Hits, streamed at a higher rate in September and October compared to previous years. Many think it’s never too early to crank yuletide tunes, and it shows: Listeners have already streamed more than 6.5 billion minutes of Christmas tracks this year.

In this episode of our podcast, Spotify: For the Record, we look at which songs are making it to the top of our listeners’ Christmas lists. One favorite is “Last Christmas,” which was originally released in 1984 by Wham! To date, there are about 1,200 covers of the hit on Spotify.

In addition to digging into the data, we also get in the spirit by chatting with some iconic artists about their holiday hits, including Dolly Parton, who recently released her first Christmas album in 30 years. In the episode, the country legend joins us to talk about the inspiration behind A Holly Dolly Christmas and what it was like to duet with Michael Bublé in the song “Cuddle Up, Cozy Down Christmas.”

Aside from Parton, we also chat with beloved Filipino artist Jose Mari Chan. Known as “The Father of Christmas Music” in the Philippines, Chan shares the inspiration behind his iconic holiday tunes, which have been a staple of festive celebration in the country for the last three decades.

 

This episode is no longer available as of November 2021, however you can get more great stories and news delivered audibly by following our podcasts, Spotify: For the Record, Spotify: Mic Check, and Spotify: Discover This.

Liam Payne, Tori Kelly, Jose Mari Chan and More Record New Takes on Festive Favorites in Spotify Singles: Holiday Playlist

November 25, 2019

Spotify listeners love streaming festive music this time of year—and who can blame them? Whether they’re searching for holiday classics or new wintertime hits, our playlists have a little bit of something for everyone.  One holiday favorite is our Spotify Singles: Holiday Collection, which includes new spins on the songs they know and love from artists we invite to Spotify Studios around the globe. 

We’re excited to announce the 2019 additions to our ever-growing Spotify Singles: Christmas Collection: 13 freshly-recorded tracks from artists of all ages and genres, including Liam Payne, The Lumineers, Tori Kelly, Reik, and Adam Lambert. 

While Payne has carved out a successful solo career with EDM-inflected bops, when he arrived at the studio in New York City in September, he brought a very different vibe. The xx-year-old “Strip That Down” singer channelled Dean Martin for his own version of the crooner’s classic “Let it Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!”  

American singer-songwriter Tori Kelly may have decided on a song ahead of time, but she chose to come up with the arrangement on the fly while in New York’s Electric Lady studio. 

“I’ve always loved the song ‘Angels We Have Heard on High’ but I’ve never actually done my own version of it,” she said. “I thought it would be fun to play around with the chords and use live musicians to bring my version to life.”