Macklemore is getting in the Christmas spirit with his new song, “It’s Christmas Time,” which the rapper performed on The Ellen Show. The performance was done on a pile of fake snowdrifts with swirling flakes around Macklemore and his band.
The song features U.K. soul singer Dan Caplen and name drops all the holiday classics that have come before. “Listenin’ to Bing Crosby by the fire,” Macklemore raps. “Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Mariah/ Turn off that Michael Bublé/ Turn on that one movie about the kid who licked the telephone pole on the Blu-ray.” He also shouts out his dead dog, Toby.
“At some point every holiday season, while watching Home Alone and drinking hot chocolate, the same idea hits me,” Macklemore said in a statement about the song. “‘You are the second grown rap version of Kevin McCallister. Now act like it and make a Christmas song.’ So I did.”
He added that the song’s music video “has the holiday spirit in every frame. The true purpose and meaning of Christmas. To give, to celebrate and to take back that sweater and end up with store credit at Macy’s. We must not forget the magic and that in the end it’s all about giving.”
While “It’s Christmas Time” is a one-off single, Macklemore said earlier this year that he’s at work on an album about magic. That collection has yet to get an official announcement or release date, but the rapper asked fans for help picking the name in an Instagram post last month.