The weather outside is frightful, but James Corden and Kacey Musgraves’ 14-song Christmas rom-com medley is delightful. So take a shot or two of egg nog to warm up those vocal cords, and get ready to sing along.
Musgraves, the Grammy Award winning country singer fronting an Amazon Prime holiday special, The Kacey Musgraves Christmas Show, swung by The Late Late Show on Thursday. Host James Corden quickly put her to work, crafting a romantic comedy based on Christmas songs. “Everybody loves Christmas songs, no one more than I, so we thought it might be fun to imagine a classic holiday rom-com using just Christmas music,” the Corden explains. “We’ve got 14 songs, nine sets, one take and zero pressure — this is Kacey Musgraves in Soundtrack to a Christmas Love Story.”
Needless to say, the medley hit all the right Christmas notes. Like so many timeless love stories, the story opens with Musgraves as a sad, Santa hat-wearing retail employee singing “Jingle Bell Rock. When sparks start to fly after a chance encounter with Corden, so does a rendition of Justin Bieber’s “Mistletoe.” There are relationship highs — snuggling in front of a warm winter fireplace while singing Mel Tormé’s “The Christmas Song” — and lows — a (temporary) break-up thanks to a flirty mall Santa with “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” — but the couple’s happy ending comes, of course, when Corden channels Love, Actually.
Together they croon their way through “Wonderful Christmastime,” “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus,” Elvis’ “Blue Christmas,” and even Musgraves’ own “Christmas Makes Me Cry.” But happy tears, OK!? Happy, twangy holiday tears.
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