SEATTLE — Starbucks is back in the holiday music business for the first time in more than a decade, releasing a new album called “Holiday Blend” on Wednesday, Billboard reported.
The album arrives on streaming services and in Starbucks coffeehouse playlists through Interscope Records and Universal Music Group. It features Christmas covers by Brandi Carlile, Leon Thomas, Coco Jones, Magnus Ferrell, TRÍADA and The Womack Sisters, plus an original song from the boy band JYT, according to Billboard.
The company’s last holiday album was 2012’s “Holidays Rule,” which included The Shins, Fun. and Paul McCartney.
Carlile covers Joni Mitchell’s “River,” and Thomas takes on James Brown’s “Soulful Christmas.” Jones sings “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” and Ferrell covers the Andy Williams medley “Happy Holiday / The Holiday Season.”
Argentine trio TRÍADA contributes the album’s only Spanish-language song, a cover of Luis Miguel’s “Llegó La Navidad.” The Womack Sisters cover Stevie Wonder’s 1967 hit “What Christmas Means to Me.”
JYT’s new song is called “This Christmas.” “The idea that someone could be ordering a Refresher and hear our song playing is actually crazy,” the group said in a statement, according to Billboard.
The project includes a $500,000 donation to World Central Kitchen, Billboard reported.
“Music has always been part of the Starbucks experience, and we are building on that legacy in a way that feels fresh for today,” said Erin Silvoy, Starbucks’ senior vice president of global marketing and channel development.
Sources: Billboard. Thee Arizona Times uses AI-assisted reporting reviewed against the sources listed.
Photo: Alisa Anton alisaanton / CC0 via Wikimedia Commons.
