Cher’s ‘DJ Play a Christmas Song’ single review: ‘A pop-dance banger that rejects festive cliches’
"It's cold outside but it's warm in here!" the star sings with a full-throated belt, describing not a cosy domestic scene, but... the club, writes Attitude's Jamie Tabberer
Forget children’s choirs, the tinkle of a piano and diabolical cover choices. (Remember when Little Mix did Damien Rice?) The new MO in festive music, according to Cher and her new single ‘DJ Play a Christmas Song‘, is to release it in October and for it to be as daringly un-Christmassy as possible. Save for some subtle sleigh bells here and there, that is. And you know what? It’s refreshing.
This is a cut-glass powerhouse pop-dance banger that would work just as well in the height of summer at a beach party, or year-round at circuit parties. Fire will be blasting it through the speakers come Christmas Eve, that’s for sure, and maybe through to Boxing Day.
The lyrics are enjoyably simple but notable for doing away with Christmas cliches. “It’s cold outside but it’s warm in here!” the star insists with a full-throated belt, describing not a cosy domestic scene, but… the club. “The green lights are hitting me just right!” she rejoices. You’d think Christmas trees had strobe lighting.
Cher’s trademark vocoder trickery reaches new extremes on the verses; in the age of AI, it ought to sound uncanny, but the Cher-bot, some 25 years later, sounds more like an old friend who instantly puts a smile on your face. The choral vocal, meanwhile, is straightforward and magisterial: few people can pronounce the ‘d’ of “DJ” with the robustness of Cher, and when singing at full throttle with all those fabulous pronunciations – no one else has Cher’s accent, have you noticed? It’s beyond cheering.
After so many desperate attempts by modern artists to tap into the commercial viability of Mariah Carey’s ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ – when even Chris Brown is dropping cringe-inducing festive fare, you know all bets are off – Cher outshines them all with this cool, chill cut from upcoming album Christmas, which the icon promises is “not your mother’s Christmas album.” We don’t doubt it. Just call her Mother Christmas!
‘DJ Play a Christmas Song’ is out now. The album Christmas is out 20 October.