Nigeria’s Pheelz joins Global Artists as Apple Music Releases New Exclusive Carols Covers Collection For The Holidays

Apple Music’s latest Carols Covered collection features a fresh selection of beloved Christmas and holiday songs, all reimagined with a distinctive twist. These incredible new tracks were recorded by a specially curated group of artists, hand-selected by Apple Music’s world class editors, and are all available to listeners worldwide in immersive Spatial Audio. This year’s seasonal songs include selections from Pheelz, Alice Merton, BOYNEXTDOOR, Ditonellapiaga, Lights, Luisa Almaguer, MaKenzie, MENTISSA, Lizzy McAlpine, Pheelz, Tade Dust, Tones and I, Rachel Chinouriri, Rachel Platten, Ruel, The Linda Lindas, and Zach Top.

Apple Music’s global Classical Carols Covered playlist is also back with a new line-up of exclusive to Apple Music holiday songs featuring beautiful new versions of carols and festive songs performed by top classical artists. The full Classical Carols Covered playlist will also be available to subscribers on the Apple Music Classical app. This year’s collection features whimsical arrangements from Anastasia Kobekina, Daniil Trifonov, Hayato Sumino and SANSARA as they perform well-known Christmas music alongside a couple of lesser-known gems and bring their incredible musicianship to these carols.

This year Apple Music is also debuting seven new holiday playlists. From chill to romance, your holiday mood is covered with new collections like Holiday Piano, Cozy Christmas, Christmas Chill, New in Holiday, A Very Gospel Christmas, A LoFi Holiday, and Mistletoe. Stream the full Apple Music holiday collection here.

And listen to the full Carols Covered set in immersive Spatial Audio, only on Apple Music.

Carols Covered playlist link: apple.co/carolscovered
Classical Carols Covered playlist link: https://apple.co/ClassicalCarols

2024 Carols Covered Tracks
Pheelz, “The Twelve Days of Christmas”
Rachel Platten, “Jingle Bell Rock”
Lizzy McAlpine, “Celebrate Me Home”
Zach Top, “Blue Christmas”
MaKenzie, “Let It Snow”
The Linda Lindas, “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree”
Ruel, “santa doesn’t know you like i do”
Tones and I, “Hallelujah
Lights, “Last Christmas”
MENTISSA, “Shake Up Christmas”
Alice Merton, “Sleigh Ride”
Ditonellapiaga, “(Everybody’s Waitin’ For) The Man With The Bag”
Tade Dust, “I Saw Three Ships”
Luisa Almaguer, “Amarga Navidad”
BOYNEXTDOOR, “It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas”
Rachel Chinouriri, “Christmas Lights”

2024 Classical Carols Covered Tracks
Anastasia Kobekina, “The Coventry Carol”
Daniil Trifonov, “Man of the House”
Hayato Sumino, “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year”
SANSARA, “Peace on Earth”

Apple Music’s 2024 Carols Covered Artists Tell Apple Music About the Songs They Selected…

Pheelz, “The Twelve Days of Christmas”
“I chose to cover “The Twelve Days of Christmas” because it captures that festive spirit and joy, which resonates with me deeply,” the Nigerian artist tells Apple Music. “The original has a beautiful blend of celebration and love, and as an artist, I strive to bring those same vibes through my music. Also, I just really wanted to give it my own twist.”

Rachel Platten, “Jingle Bell Rock”
“This song just always makes me happy,” the “Fight Song” singer tells Apple Music. “Maybe it’s that guitar riff at the beginning, or maybe it’s because it makes me think about that incredible scene in Mean Girls—it’s just such a classic song.”

Lizzy McAlpine, “Celebrate Me Home”
“My guitarist and producer, Mason, suggested this song, and I had never heard it before,” the artist and producer tells Apple Music. “I listened, and it just felt like an outside-of-the-box Christmas song to do instead of the normal ones you hear all the time. And it’s his mom’s favorite song.”

Zach Top, “Blue Christmas”
“I always loved this song, and I feel like a lot of the covers mimic the Elvis original, so I wanted to put my own spin on it and come at it with a little different perspective,” the newly minted country star tells Apple Music. “I remember my poppa (my mom’s dad) always loving Elvis before he passed. He always had Elvis playing in his truck. This was one of his favorite Christmas songs for sure, and it’s special to me for that reason.”

MaKenzie, “Let It Snow”
“I decided to cover this song because I’ve always been a big Boyz II Men fan. I remember seeing Shawn Stockman when he was a judge on The Sing-Off and being obsessed with the advice he was giving,” the Kentucky-born singer tells Apple Music. “It was just a logical decision. I’m a harmony girl; I love stacks, heavy harmonies, texture, and all of that. Boyz II Men, vocally, I feel like they’re very much about that, so it was super fun to be able to get in and play with all the things that I love, because they love those things too.”

Tones and I, “Hallelujah”
“I decided to cover this song because I think it’s a beautiful song and my choir sing it every year for a Christmas festival that I host,” said the Australian singer- songwriter. “It’s one of the most beautiful covers I’ve heard them sing so it was a no brainer to cover this song myself and get those choir members on the track.”

Lights, “Last Christmas”
“The music I’ve been working on lately has taken a real shift to darkwave/newwave influences, both sonically and lyrically,” the Juno Award–winning musician tells Apple Music. “I’ve always thought “Last Christmas” would sound good in that style, double time drums and fast dreamy guitar would pair well with its sad boy lyrics.”

MENTISSA, “Shake Up Christmas”
“The song “Shake Up Christmas” has a fresh pop vibe,” the Belgian artist tells Apple Music. “Me being a fan of pop, the song resonates with me. It’s not the type of music I usually do, but I like the idea of trying something different!”

Alice Merton, “Sleigh Ride”
“I think it’s such an iconic song for the Christmas feeling and I wanted to try and give it a unique spin on it,” the German singer- songwriter tells Apple Music. “Not too upbeat but kind of melancholic.”

Ditonellapiaga, “(Everybody’s Waitin’ For) The Man With The Bag”
“I think this is a pretty much underrated Christmas song, that’s why I chose it,” the Italian singer-songwriter tells Apple Music.”Probably the first time I heard this song was in the Glee show, I was a huge fan. Then I fell in love with Key Starr’s version.

Tade Dust, “I Saw Three Ships”
“I wish to make a song that’s timeless like this,” the Japanese artist tells Apple Music. “It’s a really catchy song, so I thought I could make a good song by sampling this song.”

BOYNEXTDOOR, “It’s Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas”
“Recording the cover together was a memorable experience,” TAESAN of K-Pop’s BOYNEXTDOOR tells Apple Music. LEEHAN adds: “We decided to cover this song because it best resembles the image of BOYNEXTDOOR among all the classical carol music.”

Rachel Chinouriri, “Christmas Lights”
“Well, I don’t like Christmas at all but I love Coldplay and I remember hearing this song for the first time and realising maybe I do like Christmas actually?,” the UK singer reveals to Apple Music. “I think Christmas becomes really overwhelming for me as I have quite a big family, but I enjoy the stillness and quiet moments you get on Christmas day, and I wanted this version to resemble someone singing alone in an empty chapel.”