Halloween hasn’t even happened yet, but some people are already thinking about Christmas — including Cher.
The 77-year-old living legend announced earlier this month that her first ever holiday album, Cher Christmas, is dropping later this year. “Are you spending Christmas with me?” she asked in an Instagram post revealing one of the LP’s three covers. (The correct answer is yes.)
Another cover showed Cher standing on an iceberg while wearing a glittering silver gown, as you do. “Christmas already?” she wrote. “But I’ve got nothing to wear.” This seems untrue, but who is Us Weekly to question Cher?
The third cover, exclusively available via Cher’s website, shows her wearing an all-white casual pantsuit and kicking water at the camera.
Pop stars release holiday albums all the time, of course, but this one is a bigger deal as Cher has never tackled the holiday genre despite having been in the business for 60 years. She’s won an Oscar, recorded an ABBA covers album and starred in the classic movie musical Burlesque, but a Christmas album has thus far eluded her. To say this is “long-awaited” would be an understatement.
“It’s a Cher Christmas album,” Cher teased during a recent interview with Good Morning Britain. “It’s not your mother’s Christmas album.”
She noted that the album will also feature guest vocalists, which Cher doesn’t normally use — because she’s Cher. “I’ve never had duets. I’ve never had people on any of my records. This was a last-minute thing,” she explained. “But they’re special: all of them.”
The track listing and official release date haven’t yet been announced, but the album is currently available for preorder on her website. Cher declined to confirm who any of her special guests are, but an Amazon listing for the album says Darlene Love, Michael Bublé, Tyga, Cyndi Lauper and Stevie Wonder are all part of the recording.
Cher Christmas is the singer’s first album in five years. Her last album was 2018’s Dancing Queen, the aforementioned ABBA covers album released in conjunction with the movie Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again.
During her Good Morning Britain interview, Cher said she doesn’t know whether there will be a third Mamma Mia film, but producer Judy Craymer “keeps threatening” to make one. “So far, I haven’t seen a script,” Cher added. “I can’t say. Can I tell you something? I never know exactly what I’m going to do until I do it.”
