Naughty List
by Liam Payne (featuring Dixie D'Amelio)

Album: single release only (2020)
Charted: 48
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Rumor has it that Santa Claus watches every kid in the world to check they're being good. Those who behave themselves throughout the year, he rewards with gifts on Christmas Day, but those who don't go to bed when they're told, don't complete their chores, or tease their siblings, earn themselves a spot on Santa's naughty list.

    How does Santa know if you're being good or bad? Maybe that elf on your shelf is his spy. Also, the man in red is clued-up with modern technology and he uses the Global Behavior Tracking Network and data mining technology.

    Here, Santa has spotted Liam Payne and Dixie D'Amelio getting swept up in the heat of the moment after meeting together under the mistletoe.

    Now we're on the naughty list
    Must've been the way we kissed
    Santa saw the things we did
    And put us on the naughty list


    Getting carried away under the mistletoe is not their only misdemeanor; Payne admits on the bridge that he and the TikTok star will be misbehaving 365 days a year with "kisses like snowflakes" all over her body. Looks like they won't be getting any Christmas pressies this year!
  • Several other Christmas songs reference Santa's naughty list. Probably the best known one is the lyric from "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town."

    He's making a list and checking it twice
    Gonna find out who's naughty and nice
    Santa Claus is comin' to town
  • This is Liam Payne's second Christmas song as a solo artist, following 2019's "All I Want (For Christmas)."
  • Tom Barnes, Pete Kelleher and Ben Kohn of the songwriting and production team TMS wrote the song with Janée "Jin Jin" Bennett, Ella Henderson and Ed Drewett.
  • The musicians are:

    Vocals: Liam Payne and Dixie D'Amelio
    Background vocals: Ed Drewett
    Drums: Tom Barnes
    Guitar: Vern Asbury
    Organ Ben Kohn
    Bells Pete Kelleher
  • Directed by Isaac Rentz and filmed in London and LA, the video kicks off with Liam singing inside a life-size snow globe and Dixie putting baubles on a pink Christmas tree. The two then take turns to pose alongside friends in a tinsel-adorned photo booth.

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