Kelly Clarkson and Brett Eldredge meet “Under the Mistletoe” in their new Christmas duet. The festive love song, penned by Clarkson and Aben Eubanks, arrived on Wednesday (Oct. 28), just under two months out from the year-end holiday.
A perfectly modern, Christmasy melody — with plenty of jingling bells, of course — accompanies Clarkson and Eldredge as they wonder if there could be something between them. They’re both a little apprehensive about making a move, it seems, but …
“When I close my eyes, it’s just you and I / Here under the mistletoe,” the pair sing in harmony in the song’s chorus. “Magic fills the air … Santa, hear my prayer / Here under the mistletoe.”
Clarkson first revealed the news of her Christmas duet with Eldredge during and interview with the Sunday Today With Willie Geist podcast. A second new holiday song from the singer will be a cover. Both follow her 2013 Christmas album Wrapped in Red.
“Fans are always asking, ‘Can you just drop anything?’ Everyone is sad. Everyone is feeling it,'” Clarkson says. “‘The world has gone to crap! Can you just release something?'”
Eldredge, of course, is one of country music’s go-to Christmas crooners, with a well-documented love of the holiday. His own holiday collection, Glow, was a big hit after its release in 2016 and, since then, has lent its name to the singer’s series of Christmas tours.
Clarkson also has non-Christmas music in the works, and describes her upcoming album as her “most personal one to date.” The project will delve into the stages of a relationship from start to finish, and the writing process was especially therapeutic in the wake of her recent divorce from her husband, Brandon Blackstock, with whom she has two children.
