The holiday season is upon us, and so is another iconic rendition of the Philadelphia Eagles’ Christmas album.
Last year, Eagles offensive linemen Jason Kelce, Jordan Mailata, and Lane Johnson surprised the football and music world when they dropped a Christmas album, titled “A Philly Special Christmas.” This year, they are running it back.
Philadelphia Eagles’ Holiday Album
After the successful reception of the seven-song album last year, the trio is back with another collection of holiday tunes in their second album: “A Philly Special Christmas Special.”
While the album is just for fun, the boys on Philadelphia’s offensive line really can sing. Mailata and Kelce both have a background in music.
“We sing around a lot, like Lane and I will go in the same car after a game sometimes, and we’ll listen to songs,” Kelce said.
The group worked again with producer Charlie Hall and Vera Y Records, who produced the 2022 holiday album. Former Eagles linebacker Connor Barwin is also an executive producer on the album.
This year, the holiday album will feature even more voices from the Philadelphia team. In addition to the trio of Mailata, Kelce, and Johnson, other players will be featured on certain songs. Philadelphia stars such as Jalen Hurts, A.J. Brown, Brandon Graham, and Haason Reddick have guest appearances on select songs, as well as Jalen Carter.
Kelce, Lane and Mailata are making a christmas album and they named it A Philly Special Christmas 😭 pic.twitter.com/Ahe5RwMXe1
— ruby (@rubythevalley) October 19, 2022
One of the prominent musical features on the album is from Patti LaBelle. The “Godmother of Soul” joined the crew for “This Christmas” alongside Mailata, bringing a hint of R&B to the Christmas album.
Additionally, Jason Kelce’s brother Travis, the star tight end of the Kansas City Chiefs, made an appearance on the record. The Kelce siblings perform a duet of “Fairytale of Philadelphia,” a remake of The Pogues’ holiday hit “Fairytale in New York.”
“It’s like two people fighting, but then they really love each other,” Jason Kelce explained when pitching the idea to Travis. “It kind of works really good for our relationship. I think it could be a look at the relationship of two brothers and how much you’re wrapped up in your family’s lives and how much that impacts where you end up in life.”
The song is one of three singles that were revealed ahead of the scheduled Dec. 1 release date: “All I Want For Christmas Is You,” “This Christmas,” and “Fairytale of Philadelphia.” The brothers’ duet was an instant hit, likely thanks to Travis Kelce’s relationship with Taylor Swift.
“The Kelce duet reached No. 1 on iTunes,” Jason Kelce said on the Nov. 22 episode of their New Heights podcast. “Our song from the new Christmas album debuted at No. 1 on the iTunes chart.”
“We owe a big thanks to one group, in particular, beside the 92 percenters, and that’s the Swifties. Because the Swifties came out,” he continued, referring to Swift’s fanbase, as well as fans of the “New Heights” podcast, known as 92 percenters.
Billboard reported on Wednesday that the track had reached No. 1 on the Rock Digital Song Sales tally for the week of Dec. 2. It had also been downloaded more than 11,000 times and streamed 1.1 million times from Nov. 17-23.
There are 11 songs on the album in total this year, expanding the amount of holiday covers from last year’s initial edition.
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