James Corden recruited a who’s who of pop music to ring in the holiday season on a special edition of his recurring Late Late Show segment, “Carpool Karaoke.” “It’s not even cold outside,” Cardi B tells the festively dressed host as the bells kick in for a rendition of “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home).”Joining him along the way are Paul McCartney, Christina Aguilera, Ariana Grande, Adam Levine, Shawn Mendes, Michael Buble and Barbra Streisand.
“Happy Chanukah, happy holidays, happy kwanza,” Streisand says midway through. Aguilera and Grande soulfully sing melismas, Migos dab and everyone — even Cardi B (“Happy Chrstimas, everybody,” she says in a faux-British accent) — gets into the spirit as they drive around belting the holiday hit.
Darlene Love, who was not present in the medley, made the song a hit when she sang it on the Phil Spector–produced compilation, A Christmas Gift for You. For 29 years, she sang it just before Christmas on Late Night With David Letterman and his subsequent Late Show. It’s been covered by U2, Joey Ramone and Mariah Carey — who returned it to the charts — in the years since it first came out.