December Back 2 June

Album: Santa Baby (2022)
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Songfacts®:

  • Alicia Keys recorded the jazzy and soulful "December Back 2 June" for her festive album, Santa Baby. All Keys wants for Christmas is to be with the people that love her and make her feel good.
  • Keys wrote the song with Ariana Grande's go-to collaborator Tayla Parx ("Thank U, Next," "7 Rings," "POV").

    Tommy Parker produced the track. He has also had placements with Ariana Grande ("Love Language") and J. Cole ("i n t e r l u d e.").
  • Among the bells and whistles that Parker added to "December Back 2 June" was a high-pitched "It's just Christmastime" line. "I was like, 'Where did he find this Christmas Jackson 5 song that I've never heard in all my life?'" Keys thought when she heard it for the first time. "And so I talked to him, and I'm like, 'Is this a sample? What is this?' And he had actually created that voice and that kind of sample-sounding pitch."

    "And I fell in love with it, because to me it felt like a 'You Don't Know My Name' or one of these songs that are my style, like that kind of '70s sample, we'll put a modern approach on it," she explained to Billboard. "And so it totally was 100% me, and he said that he created it with that in mind."
  • Santa Baby is a 11-track album that features Keys' versions of seven classic Christmas songs and four self-penned tracks.

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