7 New Holiday Songs Released This Week

Miley Cyrus and Mark Ronson

The holidays are upon us, and whether you’re feeling festive or not, musicians are climbing aboard the holiday bandwagon with new songs for the season. We offer to you a week’s worth of them, nestled in one place, like gifts under a tree.

MILEY CYRUS AND MARK RONSON (FEAT. SEAN ONO LENNON) – “HAPPY XMAS (WAR IS OVER)” (JOHN LENNON AND YOKO ONO COVER)

Miley Cyrus recently teamed up with producer Mark Ronson for a collaborative single “Nothing Breaks Like A Heart,” and they’ve collaborated again for this cover of the John Lennon/Yoko Ono holiday classic. For an air of credibility, John and Yoko’s son, Sean Ono Lennon, makes an appearance on backing vocals.

GERARD WAY – “DASHER” (FEAT. LYDIA NIGHT)

The former My Chemical Romance frontman (who dropped a few other singles this year) released this Christmas track, featuring Lydia Night of the Regrettes. The song dates back several years, as Gerard performed it at several live shows before it finally going into the studio. It’s the tale of a girl who falls in love with a reindeer, and sounds just like a more atmospheric MCR track.

03 GREEDO – “DEAR WINTER”

Rapper 03 Greedo was sentenced to 20 years in prison earlier this summer for drug and gun possession but, before then, he reportedly worked on tons of unreleased material, including this new Christmas track “Dear Winter.” The song is apparently taken from Greedo’s unreleased holiday album Boot Season, and mixes imagery of cold weather with an ethereal instrumental.

GREG DULLI – “HAVE YOURSELF A MERRY LITTLE CHRISTMAS”

The Afghan Whigs frontman recently shared his very first ever holiday song, a cover of the classic “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” which features Greg’s rough, chilling vocal delivery over spacious piano backing. It’s a departure from the warm sentimentality of the original, and it works out in his favor.

PRIESTS – “CHRISTMAS WRAPPING” (WAITRESSES COVER)

The Waitresses’ “Christmas Wrapping” is definitely up there in terms of rocking Christmas songs, so it makes sense that post-punkers Priests decided to cover it during a live performance at NYC’s Baby’s All Right earlier this month. It’s a more raw take than the Waitresses’ classic, but retains the original’s sax riff.

NIGHT FLOWERS – “2000 MILES” (PRETENDERS COVER)

Indie pop band Night Flowers recently took on the beloved Pretenders holiday classic “2000 Miles,” and their version’s gentle vocals and jangling guitar lines have a lot in common with the original. The cover serves as a tribute to a fan of the band who recently passed away, with all proceeds from the track going towards CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably). You can read more about the band’s story on the song’s Bandcamp page, where they asked listeners to “be excellent to each other.”

THE CHRIS CAMPISI LIFESTYLE BAND – “WET CHRISTMAS” (FEAT. ADAM GREEN AND DELICATE STEVE)

In the tradition of “Blue Christmas” comes this original from the Chris Campisi Lifestyle Band. “This December, I’ll be drinking for two.” The chorus who joins him includes Adam Green, Delicate Steve, Jared Van Fleet (ex-Beirut), and Michael Tapper (We Are Scientists) who also directed the video where Chris does indeed get pretty wet.

BUBBLE & SQUEAK – “THE CHRISTMAS STICK” (VIDEO)

We included this great holiday song from Bubble & Squeak — aka Girl Ray’s Poppy Harrington and The Boy Least Likely To’s Jof Owen — last week, but they’ve since released a video for it which is a lot of fun too, and features the rest of Girl Ray and…break dancing?

Looking for even more new songs? Browse the ‘New Songs’ archive and our “Holiday Music” category.