Michael Bublé has a Christmas surprise for his fans: The singing superstar’s new Christmas song isn’t a Christmas song.
“Maybe This Christmas,” released in late November, marks the first-time duet pairing of Bublé, 49, and country hitmaker Carly Pearce. It mentions snow, wishing on a star, a “silent night,” the light of the Lord and Christmastime itself as the two singers share a majestically melancholic lament about spending the holiday alone—and hoping, maybe this Christmas, they won’t have to.
Debuting their song on The Voice on Dec. 9—after Pearce, 34, had assisted Bublé as his playoff advisor for his winning first season as a coach—they performed it the following week to kick off the Opry Country Christmas event at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. But it didn’t start out as a Christmas song, Bublé exclusively tells Parade the day after the duo’s Opry spotlight, and he still doesn’t really consider it that way.
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“It’s kind of like Die Hard, you know,” he says, referring to the 1988 Bruce Willis action thriller that just happens to take place during Christmas, but has come to be regarded by many as a bona fide “Christmas movie.”
Bublé recalls how he came up with the idea for the song four years ago during the darkest days of the COVID pandemic, when concerts were being cancelled, restaurants and movie theaters were shutting down and many people were in lockdown and isolation, alone. During that time, he realized how many of his acquaintances were shut in and shut off from the world. So, he began calling, checking in by FaceTime, maintaining a connection. When he wrote the song, he was thinking about one of his friends, specifically, who contracted COVID and then began spiraling downward into other complications, including homelessness, substance abuse and a mental health crisis.
“The song came from a very spiritual place—it’s about a man struggling with his life and his faith,” says Bublé, who wrote the tune along with Jann Arden, Chase McGill and Gregory Wells. “He’s sitting there, saying, ‘Dear Lord, I don’t know if you exist or you don’t. But if you do, please shine your light on me, because I don’t know if I can make it through one more day.’
“And it’s her character”—he points to Pearce, seated beside him on a couch at their record label in Nashville—“coming back with, ‘Listen, you’re not alone. I may be far away, but I’m thinking of you.’”
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Canadian-born Bublé, world-renowned as a classic crooner, has sold some 75 million records, received five Grammys and released 11 albums since 2003, coming aboard The Voice as a coach earlier this year for Season 26. Pearce, whose latest album is called Hummingbird, has collected numerous accolades and awards, including a Grammy, and was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry—by Dolly Parton—in 2021.
Pearce says she too can relate to their song on a very personal level. “I don’t know if I’ve ever said it this way to you,” she says to Bublé, “but I’m a single girl in my 30s. All my friends, their Christmases are centered around the families they’ve started and, you know, the love that I don’t have…yet. I can feel hope in this song that relates to my life.”
Carly Pearce and Michael BubléJamie Wendt
Bublé and Pearce both agree that the song has a message that transcends its seasonal setting. “That’s what I’m most proud of with this tune,” he says, “that it’s kind of timeless, even though, hey, it’s a holiday.”
And just ahead of this holiday, the new duet partners take a moment to reflect on Christmases past.
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“I’m an only child,” says Pearce, who grew up in northern Kentucky, “very close to my grandparents, so it was just what you think of ‘the American family’ at Christmas. Very loving and centered around my childlike sense that it was really a special time.”
Bublé has similarly warm Christmas memories with his parents and two siblings from his childhood in British Columbia. “We’re Catholic,” he says, “so it wasn’t just about Santa and stuff. We were celebrating something that was deeper. But getting presents was awesome!”
He also admits the thankfulness he feels, especially this time of year, after his youngest son underwent intense—but ultimately successful—treatments for liver cancer. Diagnosed when he was only 3 years old, Noah, now 11, continues to be in remission. And his recovery left Bublé with a newfound sense of thankfulness, which he hopes is evident year-round.
Carly Pearce and Michael BubleNBC/Getty Images
“You know, man, it’s Christmas for me every day,” he says. “Every day, I wake up with a new sense of gratitude.” He tells how, on The Voice, he’s around dozens of young performers “terrified” about walking into TV’s national spotlight. Many times, they want to know his ritual for handling pre-show jitters. He tells them, “Well, just before that curtain rises, you’ll see me literally looking up and saying, ‘Thank you, Lord, for allowing me to share, to connect with all these beautiful souls.’”
As for Pearce, the Grammy-winning country hitmaker just connected with hundreds of thousands of fans on her concert tour of Canada, and she’ll be headed off to Europe to break some new musical ground in the new year. Will the future hold any future collaborations with Bublé in the recording studio, on The Voice or maybe even overseas? “For sure,” she says, with a teasing smile. “We’ll find other ways to do things. They’re already freaking out in Europe that I have this song with you.” She turns to Bublé, officially inviting him to join her. “You should come.”
And for now, they’re riding high on their new Christmas song—the one that’s more than a Christmas song. What if becomes more than a song and gets made into a movie? Have they thought about whom they’d want to play their “Maybe This Christmas” characters?
“Julia Roberts,” says Pearce. “Or Rachel McAdams!”
“For me, it has either Ryan Gosling or Brad Pitt,” says Bublé, puffing up his chest in jest, “because of how good-looking they are. And I’ve always wanted to have abs.”
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