I have exactly zero expertise in Christmas songs. There is one that I could sing all the way through, Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You,” and all the rest I can maybe fumble through on the chorus. “Have a holly jolly Christmas” and … uhhhhh … “May all your Christmases be white” and … ehhhhh … “Have yourself a merry little Christmas” and … yeah, that’s all I’ve got. This is all to say that at first I had no idea why the YouTube algorithm decided this week to serve me this: Jason and Travis Kelce doing their spin on The Pogues’ “Fairytale of New York.”
The algorithm was right, because I love this song. Any celebrity or athlete can release a Christmas song, but it takes some gumption to take on the most infamously depressing song the genre has to offer. The back-and-forth between the brothers is adorable. There’s a jabroni reference, a South Philly reference, and an entire series of videos you can watch on TikTok about the making of this song. It’s all charming in a “Super Bowl Shuffle” kind of way. I have already listened at least five times and wondered why more offensive linemen don’t sing.
Thank you for your continued support of Defector. Onward.