Cynthia Erivo Sings With 'A Bit Of A Smile'
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This message comes from ShipBob. The holidays start earlier every year, so get your online store in ship shape now with ShipBob. They'll handle fulfillment, provide two-day shipping, and more. Get a free quote at shipbob.com. ShipBob. This is Fresh Air. I'm David Bianculli. Singer and actress Cynthia Erivo has just been nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance in the film adaptation of the Broadway musical Wicked.

Here she is singing one of that musical's most iconic songs. It's time to try defaulty I think I'll try gravity And you can't pull me down Can't I make you understand You're having delusions of grandeur I'm through accepting limits Cause someone says they're so

Some things I cannot change But till I try on Too long I've been Well, if that becomes at much too high a cost I'd sooner defy gravity That's Cynthia Erivo. In 2016, after coming to the U.S. from England, Erivo starred in the Broadway revival of the musical The Color Purple, winning a Tony and Drama Desk Award.

For her starring role as Harriet Tubman in the film Harriet, she was nominated for an Oscar and also was nominated for the movie's closing credits song, Stand Up, which she co-wrote and sang. Erivo played Aretha Franklin in the TV miniseries Genius Aretha. She also co-starred in the HBO series The Outsider. And she released an album of songs she co-wrote titled Chapter One, Verse One and wrote a children's book called Remember to Dream, Eber-Ey.

Arevo grew up in South London, where her parents emigrated from Nigeria. Terry Gross spoke with Cynthia Arevo in 2021 and asked her about playing Aretha Franklin. They began with this scene from the miniseries Genius Aretha. This is set during Aretha's first recording session for Atlantic Records in 1967. Arevo, as Aretha, is at the piano, singing I Never Loved a Man the Way I Loved You. ♪

I know good heartbreaker You're a liar and you're a cheat I don't know why I let you do these things to me My friends keep That you ain't know They don't know And I would leave you if I could Guess I'm uptight Then I'm stuck like glue Cause I ain't never, ain't never, no, no Loved a man the way that I

I love you. That's Cynthia Erivo from the miniseries Genius Aretha. Cynthia Erivo, welcome to Fresh Air. Thank you. It is such a pleasure to have you on the show. How did you start listening to Aretha Franklin?

When I was a kid, and we were... So there's this radio station in the UK called Magic FM, and it plays everything. Everything from, let's say, I don't know if you know a band called Mike and the Mechanics, to the Eurythmics, to Kate Bush, to Aretha, to Gladys Knight, Patti LaBelle, Lauryn Hill, the whole lot. And so when we were only...

be on the way to school, my mum would always have that radio station on and the first time I heard it, it was from there. I think, I want to say the first thing I heard was sisters are doing it for themselves and then I heard, I think it was Till You Come Back To Me. So I had heard Aretha in like two different ways. One with Annie Lennox and then one on her own from two different times and

And I just sort of fell in love. I didn't really know, because I didn't know who that was. And then I started asking questions and my mum told me it was Aretha Franklin. And so I was aware of how much I loved music and that I wanted to be a singer. And I just sort of fell in love with her voice. The fact that she could do that with Annie Lennox and then that on her own was...

just was astounding to me. Did you try to emulate her? I don't think I tried to emulate her. I just wanted to listen to everything she had and I started learning her music pretty, pretty early. Yeah.

I know you've said that when you were listening to Aretha before playing her, that one of the things you were listening for is where did she breathe? Oh, yeah. Why was that important? Because the breath, I think, tells you everything about what the person is trying to say. You know, if you look at a sentence, where the comma goes tells you what the sentence means. If I say, today I've been feeling really, really bad, but...

And now I say, today I've been feeling really bad, but I'll be all right. Well, now it's one is I feel ill and one is emotionally I feel bad. You see? And so when she would breathe in different places and it would change the sentence structure, it would change the meaning of the song. Another person might sing it a completely different way. Can you sing us an example of what you mean?

I use this song often to explain it because it's, one, it's a beautiful song, and two, I had to really, really dig in and learn it. And three, it just is a wonderful example of how the breathwork changes. It's called Never Grow Old. I had to learn it for the Amazing Grace episode. And it goes like this.

The sentence is, I have heard of a land on a faraway strand. That's the sentence. The normal way to sing it is, I have heard of a land on a faraway strand. Right? She sings. I have heard of a land on a far, far strand.

You get the impression that it's more far away. Exactly. The way you sang it. Exactly. Yeah, but I'll tell you, it was beautiful both ways. She just has this way with music. The way she manipulates it and uses it to tell the story is really special. And it's that sort of making you wait for the explanation. Because it's a difference between

I'm moving from one note to the other really quickly. I have heard as opposed to I have heard of a land, you know. You met her twice backstage at the Color Purple and at the Kennedy Center. Did you feel like you were able to have a meaningful conversation with her? I think sometimes like when you meet somebody who's so important to you, you just don't know what to say.

I think that was, I was that. I didn't really know what to say, but I was also sort of disarmed by how funny she was. She was so, like, jovial. She joked that when I first met her, she sang the last sentence of my big song back at me. And so I almost fell over because Aretha Franklin is singing and I'm here back at me. And

I just, I didn't know what to do. I think I just laughed. I was just like, oh my God. And I remember her saying, well, you can sing. I was like, oh my God, this is nuts. It just, you know, I don't know if I needed anything more meaningful than that, to be honest, because if the Queen of Soul can remember you as the person who can sing, well, wonderful.

She was brought up in the church, and she was brought up singing gospel in the church on tours through the South and in her father's church. And so when she started singing R&B, it was so church-influenced. And I'm wondering about if you grew up churched at all in England, and if so, what the music was like.

I did grow up in church, but different because I'm Roman Catholic is what I was raised on. But I was a bit of a rebel. So when I was in church, it was a lot of like Christian hymns. And I wanted more because I was listening to gospel music and I was learning about gospel singers and I was learning about

that sound and I wanted to hear it in my own church. So one of the churches when we moved to East London from South London and that church had a choir. So I remember they asked if I could join the choir and so I did. And then somehow I managed to end up being one of the conductors of the choir there.

And I would just sneak gospel songs in from time to time and just have them sing a couple gospel songs. Consequently, I got into trouble for it. And they were like, you can't sing those songs in here anymore. And I never understood why. Because I felt like all music that was for the same reason was equal and was meaningful enough.

Was the objection to the gospel music the lyrics of the song or the style of singing? I think it's the style of singing. I think the style of singing was where the objection came. There's a particularly straight-laced way of praising that's correct for worship.

the Catholic Church. There's a specific way that you should do it and a specific thing that you can sing. There are specific songs and anything outside of the lines is too far. Was this a predominantly white congregation? Very much so, yes. Yeah. Yeah.

You went to RADA, which is the Rural Academy of Dramatic Arts in England. Very famous school. You didn't know it existed when you were invited to apply for it. I did not. Was it revelatory once you got there to study acting in such a formal and probably traditional way?

Yeah, I just, because I didn't know that that was even a possibility. When I was going through primary school or secondary school, no one was like, you can go to drama school. No one gave me that option. So the whole thing was revered to me. Like the first year was both discovery and a struggle and a half. Because I just like, what am I doing here? And I, so there's so many things I don't really understand as a

What was my strong suit was that I was a little bit different to most people, that I was one of the kids that was good at singing. And we had a particularly musical year, so there were a couple of other kids who could sing too. And actually being able to sing was really useful. And when I started to embrace that, I sort of could see where the opportunities were. Some people were really wonderful at the classics and at Jacobean's.

You know, those kids that came from Eton who had read those things were brilliant at those things. But I wasn't that. My raw talent came from understanding music. So when we started talking about Sondheim and learning those songs, for me, I was in heaven. And when we started...

reading Seven Guitars by August Wilson. I recognised myself in those people because, well, it was a black writer writing about black people and I could see myself in them. And those are plays I had read and there's a playwright I'd heard of. And when you're passionate about acting, Shakespeare was where we all sort of like joined hands because, well, we all knew Shakespeare, but now I could have a sort of

a real grasp on the scope at which he wrote. You know, when you were talking about Aretha, you talked about the importance of where you breathe and how it can even change the meaning of a phrase. So when you were learning Sondheim songs, I think breath is really especially important in those songs in terms of the meaning, but in some of the songs, just in terms of having an opportunity to breathe. Yeah.

Because some of the songs, there isn't a lot of opportunity. And those songs are really rangy, you know, so your breath support would be really important. Is there a song you especially loved when you started singing Sondheim? I loved Being Alive and I loved The Middle Sun. Have you ever heard The Middle Sun? I have. I've seen you sing it on YouTube. So if anybody wants to see it, it's there. Yeah.

Yeah, that's one of my favorite songs. That is one of those songs where you're like, if you don't breathe in the right place, you won't make it to the end of the sentence. Can you give us an example of what you mean? Oh my God, I don't even know if I can remember the lyrics. I haven't done it for such a long time. Um...

He said, "It's a wink and a wiggle and a giggle and a grass and I'll trip the light pandango. A pinch and a diddle in the middle of a passers-by. It's a very short road from the pinch and the punch to the porch and the pouch and the pension. It's a very short road to the ten thousandth lunch and the porch and the pouch and the sigh. In the meanwhile, there are mouths to be kissed before mouths to be fed and a lout in between in the meanwhile."

And the girl has to celebrate what passes by. Or I shall marry the middle son. Yeah, thank you. How did you figure out where to breathe? Did you get advice on that? Did it seem natural? I got advice. I had a really lovely teacher who...

at RADA it was Philip he was just he was wonderful actually I will say that my singing teacher at RADA we're all sort of assigned a singing teacher most of us because we've never sung before um so we can learn about what that is and and learn how to connect the singing voice and the singing breath with the speaking voice and the speaking breath so we don't

differentiate the two so far apart that we're afraid of one of them because they're sort of one and the same. And I think that because I was already in tune with my singing voice, what Philip did with me was encourage me to try new things, try more. So he would have me singing arias from Othello. And were you comfortable singing in an operatic style or did it not matter which style you sang in as long as...

I was comfortable. Classical music was sort of a love of mine. And then when I went to drama school, my voice was already sort of ready to try that. And it's the same whilst I was doing The Color Purple, my singing teacher, June,

Joan Lader rather, who's wonderful, she would give me classical music or opera to sing because she said that the best way to allow my voice to be open enough to sing what I was singing on stage was to just try something that was totally opposite to it. So you weren't taxing your voice the same way the entire time. You were just sort of opening it up and exercising it but not stressing it.

Can you give us an example of how you learned to open up your voice? I'll do one of the first things I did at secondary school, actually, because we'd always do sort of like the end-of-year choral show. And this one year, we decided to do Ratta Requiem, the Ratta Requiem by John Ratta. And I was asked to sing...

There's a version of P.A. Yesu for the Gianratto Requiem, and it's very special. Who knows if I can still do these notes, but I'll give it a go. Then it would change keys. Yesu. Yesu. Yesu.

And this key change is always really difficult. Oh, so beautiful. Now, what about that opened your voice? I guess there's a couple of things that are happening.

Your breath is different. The way you place, the way you use your tongue is different. The tongue placement is different in your mouth. It's almost like even the way you use the muscles in your face, often to make those sounds, your jaw has to be slightly lowered and relaxed. And often, I don't know if you, when you watch me sing, you'll see that I sing often with a bit of a smile on.

One, I'm enjoying myself, but two, when you smile, everything else is relaxed. Cynthia Erivo speaking with Terry Gross in 2021. She is currently starring in the film adaptation of the Broadway musical Wicked. We'll hear more of their interview after a break. Also, Ken Tucker plays us some great new Christmas music. I'm David Bianculli, and this is Fresh Air. When I meet the wizard

Once I prove my worth, then I meet the wizard. What I've waited for since birth. And with all his wizard wisdom, by my looks he won't be blind.

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Hi, it's Mariel Segarra from LifeKid. There's a first time for everything, including giving to NPR. Whether you're a brand new listener or a longtime fan, please join the community of NPR network supporters today. Make your gift at donate.npr.org. And thank you. Your mother who raised you came from Nigeria. What were her dreams?

She surpassed a lot of her dreams. Her dream was to be a nurse, so she got that and then had to change it. I watched her sort of go, OK, I got my nursing degree, now what else do I want? I think she definitely wanted to...

be in the UK with her, with children. I know she wanted children. I think she wanted more children than she has, but she's very happy with the two that she does. And I think...

that she sort of learnt after the dream of being a nurse came true that she had this sort of passion for taking care of children full stop. And so she focused her studies on the cognitive health of children and ended up becoming, there's a position in the UK called a health visitor.

And her job specifically is to help new mothers with children from the age of, say, one month almost to the age of three, just with, like, learning cognitive skills and making sure that the mother isn't suffering from postpartum. And if they are, then she can help and she makes sure that...

that the children are latching in the right way or if there's anything going on or if there's colic, all of those things, all the things that you might panic about if you don't have any guidance, my mother is there to help you with. That's what her job used to be. And she sort of flew with it. She got roasted to the top of her ranks on that one. Was it reassuring to you to have a mother who knew what to do if something went wrong? Oh my gosh, yeah.

Yeah, she's cool. It's really fun. I realise that she's like the child whisperer. It's really fun watching her with other people's children because they don't really know how it's done and I don't know how it's done. I feel like I've been... It feels like it's in our genes because I end up being the same with kids and I don't really need to do very much and kids sort of are like, oh, look, what's this interesting-looking being sitting next to me? I want to know who that person is and...

We're off to the races. It's hilarious. I think she passed it on. Your parents separated, I think, when you were pretty young. And by the time you were 16, your father told you and your sister that he was done. Well, yeah, he told me. He told just me. He told me that he was out of our lives. And I sort of had to relay the message to everyone. Yeah. What was your reaction? Could you see that coming?

I didn't see it coming, although in hindsight I probably should have seen it coming, but I didn't see it coming because, you know, what 16-year-old would? At the time I was heartbroken because it was in public when it happened as well, so it was just, like, not fun. But, yeah, it was deeply disappointing, deeply heartbreaking. And I think I...

I felt bad for having to have to bring that information back to my house, to my mum and my sister. And I remember it was in the middle of a school day, so I still had to go through school. That was not fun. Did he give you an explanation? No, not really. No. No, I think he just said, I think he was finished being a dad.

And did you think that there was something about you that made him leave? Or did you think like he's being mean and thoughtless and doing this and that's on him, not on me? I don't know. I, I, I don't know if I was thinking about that. I, I never really compartmentalized it. I, I just saw someone doing something that hurt me. Um,

And I think it was just sort of as simple as that. Like someone is, he was doing something that he knew would hurt me to be mean and spiteful, but I knew that he was going to stick to it. I knew that it wasn't like a, a jad that he would take back at some point. Have you spoken to him since? No. Wow. Actually, actually tell a lie. I bumped into him randomly at a, at a cousin's wedding. We had an awkward, um,

sort of uh hello and that was that's it when I was 25. I want to play another song from your new album and this is called The Good. Do you want to say something about what you were thinking about when you wrote it? Yeah so when I wrote it I we had gotten to a point where we I know that we I knew that we needed a an up-tempo song we needed something with like

that felt upbeat and that felt fun.

But I love writing ballads. I love writing love songs. I can't help it. So I'm a mid-tempo to a slow song. That's what I do. And I enjoy them. I enjoy singing because of the space in them. But then, so as we started writing, I thought, what can you make this about? And my friend who is also the EP on this album with me, he said that he had been talking to a friend of ours about the relationship that she had had with her father before.

She said that the relationship wasn't great all the time, but they were starting to rebuild and that they were starting to have some really good moments. And then he passed away. And then she said, but she just wants to remember the good. And the light bulb went off and I was like, that's the song. That's the song. The song is about remembering...

Even when something ends maybe not in the best of ways. Well, let's hear the song. This is The Good from Cynthia Erivo's new album, Chapter 1, Verse 1. Who's to smile? It doesn't spring much in the worst wicked story. I can't see. Pastors are mummies in a spin as the war's down. What can I do? I have the strength to make the rain.

That's Cynthia Erivo from her new album, Chapter One, Verse One. So this is kind of a personal question in terms of that it has personal meaning for me. So you're 5'1". Harriet Tubman, who you portrayed, was even shorter. And I'm not quite 5'.

So as a short person, I'm wondering if you think it's had much of an impact on your life or your career to be short.

I don't know because I never, I mean, the thing is a lot of people don't realize I am as short as I am. I did not realize it. I was reading about you and I was like, really? I mean, I spend a lot of my time in heels, but like often when I'm with other people, they're also like dressed up or in their heels. And so when I'm standing next to them, they're like, oh my goodness, you're really small. I think there have been times often that people assume that because you're small, you are weak or

or because you're small. Sometimes people, they often decide that because you're small, you're also childlike, which sometimes is really strange because you have to sort of correct people and let them understand, well, actually, I'm a fully grown adult. I just happen to be small. So my understanding of what you are saying or what anyone else is saying is just the same. What about chairs? Do you find it's hard to find a chair that fits?

Yes, like chairs that are high enough to get to tables and stuff.

Well, you know, chairs are like too deep and often too high. So your legs are swinging off the ground. Right, exactly. Yeah, that's a thing. So you end up having to like perch to the edge of the seat so your feet can touch the ground. Podiums? Podiums are hilarious because sometimes you're also like, you know what, today I'm just going to swallow my pride and ask them for a little step so I can reach the podium and feel like I'm a normal height.

and reach this thing so I'm not having to tiptoe ever so slightly or wear 15-inch heels. It's sort of like it's that. You have to take the good with the bad with it, definitely. Stools, high chairs are really sometimes quite difficult because if you're singing and you want to sit, you're often on a stool, so you have to try and make sure that the stool is not too high for you to sit on

And so I always make the compromise with whatever dress I'm wearing or whatever clothes, because if they cover my feet, you can't see how far my feet are from the ground. If the stool's too high, you have to kind of shimmy onto it. Shimmy onto it, yeah. Because you can't reach that high. Your behind doesn't reach that high. It's like making little jumps to get there. And then slide down. Doing the whole jump.

Oh, my goodness. Cynthia Erivo, it's been so delightful to talk with you. Thank you so much for doing this. And just thank you for your work. Oh, thank you. Thank you so much. This has been so much fun. You are wonderful. So thank you.

She's currently starring in the film adaptation of the Broadway musical Wicked. The first half of the two-part adaptation opened November 22nd and already has earned more than $300 million in American ticket sales. Coming up, I'll review the new Prime video series The Sticky, which brings the sensibility of the TV series Fargo to Canada's syrup industry. This is Fresh Air.

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The Sticky is a new TV series starring Margo Martindale inspired by the biggest crime in Canadian history, the theft of a massive amount of government-stored maple syrup. This new six-part Prime Video miniseries, all of which is streaming now, tells that story, but more whimsically than faithfully. Don't think of The Sticky as a fact-based Canadian crime story.

Think of it more like the movie Fargo, where half the fun is enjoying the snow-covered scenery and the somewhat cartoonish characters. And though the series creators of The Sticky, Brian Donovan and Ed Harrow, don't mind the French-Canadian accents for laughs the way Fargo played with those Minnesota draws, the loose connection with the truth is exactly the same. The Fargo movie and TV series stated at the start that they were based on a true story, but they were lying, because why not?

The opening disclaimer in the sticky is just as playful, but much more honest. It says, this is absolutely not the true story of the great Canadian maple syrup heist. In that real-life robbery, $18 million worth of maple syrup reserves were stolen with the theft discovered in 2012. In this six-part version for TV, the heist is planned by a trio of unlikely co-conspirators.

There's Remy, a local security guard, the only security guard, at the place where local syrup is stockpiled. Mike is a low-level mobster visiting from Chicago. And Ruth is a local farmer who taps her trees for sap each year, but whose land is about to be sold out from under her. All three of these people have grudges to settle.

the security guard against the Syrup Federation that treats him poorly, the gangster against the mob family that takes him for granted, and the farmer whose property is being targeted by the head of the Syrup Association, even though her husband is in the hospital in a coma. Remy, the security guard, hatches a plan to steal some syrup. He tells the mobster, who tries to enlist Ruth because of her knowledge of the trade. Mike is played by Chris Diamantopoulos.

Guillaume Cyr plays Remy, and Margot Martindale plays Ruth. You'll need this. So hear him out. So here's my system. It took some thinking, but it's pretty sweet. In the dark of night, I sneak a barrel out each month. The Norval sells the syrup to his guy. One province over. We just have to do that a lot of times and we get rich. Easy peasy. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. What? Boom. Boom. Boom.

One barrel? That's your plan? A million dollars, three ways. That's what you want? Yeah. Let's see. Okay, I thought about it for four seconds. Listen to this. The association has a barrel set price at $2,489. We sell to Ham and Eggers in Ottawa, they're gonna screw us. We go 2K on the black market. Now that means, you know what that means? That means you two bozos have to pinch 500 barrels at night.

It's not just Tom. That's stupid. They're going to notice 500 barrels missing. Once the three agree to work together, the real fun begins. Outside factors and unexpected antagonists keep gumming up the works. And these three very different characters react differently to almost everything, including one another.

Ruth is the brains of the outfit. Remy knows almost nothing. And Mike certainly knows nothing about the production methods of maple syrup, which he demonstrates in a conversation with them during a cramped truck ride. Six weeks? You wait all year long for a lousy six weeks to tap syrup? Sap. What? She said sap. Four to six weeks to collect the tree's sap, then we turn the sap to syrup. It's not just syrup in the trees? No.

No. No, that would be amazing. Okay, but we're stealing the syrup, right? We're not stealing sap. Of course not. How do you not know this? Because no one does, Ruth. No one except sap farmers. They're not called sap farmers. The point is, sugaring season's almost over. Margo Martindale, who was so enjoyable to watch on both Justified and The Americans, has a blast with this leading role.

Her major co-stars, including Gita Miller and Suzanne Clément as a pair of investigators on their trail, are all Canadian actors, and all add to the mix here. But the secret ingredient, and the reason to make this a must-watch TV series, is an eventual substantial guest star appearance by an American, Jamie Lee Curtis. She arrives late, but makes as big an impact as she did in her Emmy-winning guest stint on The Bear, or as the tax auditor in Everything Everywhere All at Once.

It's such a blast to see Curtis and Martindale swing for the fences with their portrayals. And both of them hit it out of the park. The entire company of actors is strong. And the French versions of American pop songs on the soundtrack are a delight. The best part of all is that while the sticky is loaded with wonderful characters, performances, music, and surprises, it's not at all overly sentimental. Which is good.

The last thing you'd want from a TV show about a maple syrup heist is for it to be too sappy. Coming up, we hear some new Christmas songs. This is Fresh Air.

Hi, I'm Laurel Wamsley, and I cover personal finance for NPR. That means I report on some of the questions that might keep you or your loved ones up at night. Like, will I ever be able to buy a home? What about retirement? As interest rates drop, where should I put my money? Economic headlines can be confusing, but NPR is here to help you make sense of them. To support this coverage, please give today at donate.npr.org.

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Every weekday, NPR's best political reporters come to you on the NPR Politics Podcast to explain the big news coming out of Washington, the campaign trail and beyond. We don't just want to tell you what happened. We tell you why it matters. Join the NPR Politics Podcast every single afternoon to understand the world through political eyes. Each year, the holiday season brings new Christmas music. And rock critic Ken Tucker has been listening to it all to select the songs he's enjoyed the most.

This year's picks include new holiday albums by Ben Folds and the country group Little Big Town, as well as a duet from a very famous pop star and a very famous football player. Here's Ben Folds with his new song, The Bell That Couldn't Jingle. A Christmas bell was crying, then Santa heard it say, I just can't sing to jingle, and I can't go on the sleigh.

There are two ways to go when recording Christmas music, devout or irreverent. By devout, I don't mean somberly religious as much as I mean sincere and respectful. Few pop performers do devout sincerity more assiduously than Ben Folds, whose earnest tone is ideal for holiday songs.

Folds has a new album called Slayer, as in Christmas Slay. Though I'm sure, given his puckish sense of humor, he meant the title to echo the name of the thrash metal band Slayer. Spelled differently, and authors of albums such as Rain in Blood. Ben Folds, by contrast, wants to reign in heaven, blessed to sing his new would-be Christmas standard called Christmastime Rhyme. Christmas morning

Hey!

The sentimentality that is inherent in much country music gives it an ideal base upon which to build holiday music. And the four-member country act Little Big Town has now created The Christmas Record, a straightforward title for a briskly sung collection that mixes standards with original material, such as their single, Glow. These hills, these roads Could use some snow

let it

One of Little Big Town's better choices of country covers is their version of a song I wish more people listened to at this time of year, Merle Haggard's lovely song, If We Make It Through December. If we make it through December Everything's gonna be alright It's the coldest time of winter And I shiver when I see the falling snow If we make it through December

Got plans to be in a warmer town come summertime. Maybe even California. If we make it through December, we'll be fine. My final selection of new Christmas music is a duet between a very famous pop star and a very famous football player. No, no, Taylor Swift and Travis Kelsey have not cut their version of Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer.

I'm talking about Travis's brother Jason Kelsey and his duet with Stevie Nicks, doing Ron Sexsmith's beautiful holiday song, Maybe This Christmas. Maybe this Christmas will mean something more. Maybe this year love will appear never before. And maybe forgiveness will ask us to call. Someone will...

Someone we've lost for reasons we can't quite recall. Maybe this Christmas. Maybe the stars that shone before will shine tomorrow.

That surprisingly effective Kelsey- Stevie duet is part of an album called A Philly Special Christmas Party, a Philadelphia Eagles charity fundraiser. Thinking back to the start of this review, all of my new examples are devout, not irreverent. Maybe next year someone will come up with a new novelty Christmas hit, but as it stands, this year is well served by some very soothing music.

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviewed new Christmas music from Ben Folds, Little Big Town, and Jason Kelsey and Stevie Nicks singing a duet on A Philly Special Christmas Party. On Monday's show, actor and comic Ronnie Chang. He was brought to The Daily Show by Trevor Noah and became a field correspondent. Now he's one of the rotating correspondents who anchor the show.

He co-stars in the new series Interior Chinatown and was in the film Crazy Rich Asians. He has a new Netflix comedy special. I hope you can join us. To keep up with what's on the show and get highlights of our interviews, follow us on Instagram at NPR Fresh Air. Fresh Air's executive producer is Danny Miller. Our senior producer today is Roberta Chirac.

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