Carly Rae Jepsen is here to make you glad you’re not seeing your whole family for the holidays this year.
The Canadian pop star just released a video for her newest song, “It’s Not Christmas Till Somebody Cries.” The video is a satisfyingly wacky and often literal accompaniment to the song, about the kind of familial strife that often breaks out at the Christmas dinner table.
We’ve all experienced the kind of Christmas conflict the song describes: fights about politics, stress over dietary restrictions, somebody drinking too much and taking offence to an innocuous comment.
“The secret is to sing a little song to survive,” Jepsen sings. “It’s not Christmas till somebody cries.”
The video captures the song’s optimistic but melancholy spirit with the humour, excellent outfits, and dash of camp that we come to expect from a Carly Rae joint.
While the title makes it sound like the perfect 2020 Christmas jam, the highly specific scenario it explores — going home and fighting with your family — is one many people aren’t going to experience this year. It’s a great antidote for those of us who are sad that the pandemic is keeping us from going home. And next year, when with any luck we’re reunited with our families again, for better or worse, we’ll appreciate the song all the more.
Now, if you excuse me, I’m off to figure out where I can get that red dress with the dramatic white lace collar.