Every year, scores of bands and artists cover Wham’s 1985 hit “Last Christmas”. It’s a bit of a new holiday tradition, and here in Boston, the track has been given new life by the likes of the Field Effect, Animal Talk, and Vary Lumar.
But as we stare down Thanksgiving 2015, Carly Rae Jepsen got a jump on the George and Andrew madness by offering her take, out now via School Boy/Interscope Records, raising the sax and adding extra sugar. Jepsen has beaten pretty much everyone to the “Last Christmas” punch this season, so maybe now we can all turn our attention to other jolly covers ripe for the taking, like King Diamond’s “No Presents For Christmas.”
Going all in on the pop brilliance of “Last Christmas” is a good look for Jepsen, if not a totally obvious choice; she’s still rising high off the success of this year’s Emotion LP, and the “Call Me Maybe” signer last dropped a Christmas-themed track, called “Mittens,” back in 2010.
Listen to Jepsen take on Wham! below, and read up on Daniel Brockman’s live review of the pop star’s recent appearance at the Paradise Rock Club in Boston.