MC’s MUSIC LOUNGE: Kylie Minogue gives her Christmas album a facelift with new tracks “XMAS” and “Hot in December”

The end of the year is upon us, most have shared their Spotify Wrapped stories while holiday playlists are in full rotation. I do love a holiday track, but I prefer to continue to take in new releases during this time. Many songs that get released this month end up becoming big hits in the new year, and this week’s picks have some potential. Kylie Minogue’s latest Christmas release is even set to become her highest charting European hit in close to two decades, and could become a Christmas classic.

Kylie’s career has always been something of an anomaly. She’s been around since the 80s, and has been consistently successful, managing to remain both musically and culturally relevant. Maybe it’s her authenticity, or that she’s just so f-cking talented. Either way, she’s truly riding the latest wave of her career so why not bring some heat to one of the colder months of the year. She recently performed her latest Christmas hit “Xmas” at the UK Capital FM Jingle Bell Ball over the weekend, and the song is now available on vinyl and streaming.

The annual concert was held at the O2 in London, featuring some of the hottest artists together for a magical night. Kylie was joined by RAYE, Ed Sheeran and more. Don’t let Kylie’s festive spirit fool you though, there’s still a ton of new music to come. The streaming era has made it so that classic holiday tracks dominate the charts around this time. Not that I’m complaining of course because Mariah needs that #1 every year. Still, it’s always refreshing to see that artists aren’t letting anything stop them from releasing new music. If anything, December is a month so integral to music that it’s even commonly referenced as a symbol for longing and reflection. Kelly Clarkson’s most emotionally raw album My December, was a way for her to represent the dark time she had been in when writing those songs. Taylor Swift’s 2010 hit “Back to December” is about her break-up with Taylor Lautner, using the December cold air as metaphors in the song. Very few months have such a duality to them, holiday joy and winter darkness.

Next week, Nas’s latest collaborative project with producer DJ Premier is set to hit the market. This of course is a trend that is showcased heavily in this week’s choices. We got everyone from Disclosure & Leon Thomas, to Ozuna & Beéle, and Shallipopi & Pa Salieu. Sprinkle in some British pop divas like Kylie Minogue’s holiday album, music from JADE and a “stranger” viral hit from “The Boss” herself. Listen on…

MC’s PICKS OF THE WEEK

“Hot in December” by Kylie Minogue

Kylie’s ubiquity has been such a gift to watch as a long-time fan. In the last three years alone she has notched two UK #1 albums, a mega-viral pop hit with “Padam Padam” and an uber successful world tour. She’s keeping the wheels turning by giving her original 2015 Christmas album Kylie Christmas a facelift with bonus tracks and all-new album art and performances. Kylie Christmas (Fully Wrapped) features the new tracks “XMAS” and the pop smash “Hot in December” that is more of a dance club anthem than a Christmas song. It has a major Robyn “Dancing On My Own” vibe instrumentally, with a little festive touch. Sure, there are a few jingle bells here and there but it’s really just a love song about a man that is making her, well, hot in December! It also happens to be catchy as hell. For many people, some years they are not feeling the festive spirit, but this song is the perfect way to still enjoy some music with holiday cheer without the blatant shiny Christmas spirit all up in your face. Kylie is set to score her 11th #1 album in the UK with this re-release, while the album’s single “XMAS” is set to hit the top 5 there for the first time since 2010. That track is an Amazon original, but is available on all the physical variants of the album. Christmas has a way of reminding the world of our divas and their absolute fabulosity.

“Deeper” by Disclosure, Leon Thomas

Few artists have had as much of a breakout year than Leon Thomas, who recently just scored his first-ever Billboard Hot 100 top 10 single with “MUTT”, along with a whopping six nominations at the upcoming 2026 Grammy Awards. With great success comes new opportunity, and Leon is branching out of the R&B world into the UK Garage scene. Disclosure is known for giving us dance hits for more than ten years, but this time around the duo have opted for a more “headphone friendly listen”, with a cooler energy but still incorporating many of the dance elements that made them staples for DJs everywhere. The song is a perfect step for Leon to experiment in a more dance-driven space. Similar to an artist like Craig David who actually began his career in the Two-Step/Garage lane before creating more R&B tunes, he now shifts between the two genres quite comfortably. In fact, upon my first listen of the song, the Craig David vibes were serious that I felt the need to automatically follow-up this song with the entire Born to Do It album. “Deeper” talks about a love so hypnotic that it pulls you in deeper and deeper with every touch, and Leon just wants to get in even deeper. “Every high, every low pulling closer to you”, it doesn’t matter what happens in his relationship, his lover can do no wrong in his eyes. Disclosure has also been known to craft upbeat tracks with R&B heavyweights like Anderson .Paak and Khalid to name a few so this collaboration is right on both ends.

“Church” by JADE

JADE is one of my favourite artists to happen to pop music this decade. Her devotion to being the best popstar she can be is one of the reasons that her solo career outside of Little Mix has landed so well with both fans of the band and new fans. “Church” is one of the many new tracks that she has added to the deluxe version of her debut album THAT’S SHOWBIZ BABY, and just like the rest of the album, it slaps. Taking a page out of queen Kylie’s book, JADE’s place on gay club dance floors is all but cemented with her perfect blend of dramatic melodic choruses, and sweat inducing beat drops that the gays just gag over. The music video to “Church” has total Gaga vibes with its gothic aesthetic and art-pop feel. So much of pop music can tend to feel generic at times, but JADE proves once again that she is an artist first and really makes a point to have her work be of the highest quality. In the same vein as her first solo single “Angel of My Dreams”, “Church” delivers a euphoric outro that ties up the song in a cinematic way. She is set to kick off her first-ever headlining tour of North America early next year, and your boy MC has tickets (gay gasp!!!!). She’s come so far from her girl band days, truly owning her space as a solo artist and becoming one of the “It” girls of the British pop music scene. Geri Halliwell and Melanie C would be very proud.

“Pikito” by Ozuna, Beéle

Ozuna and Beéle released their first collaborative track a few weeks back, but the release of an entire album of original tracks with them both was a surprise for fans. The joint album Stendhal is a blend of all the genres that both of them have dipped their toes into over the years like reggaeton, electronic, and Afrobeats just to name a few. There’s also some heavy Caribbean influence on the album. The latest single from the project (and my personal favourite) is the moody “Pikito”. I don’t understand Spanish but based on what I heard, I already knew the song was romantic-horny. The direct English translation has proven my point, as the boys sing lyrics like “I want to steal a little kiss from you”, and “I don’t want any love, I want her to set me on fire”. It’s the type of sh-t that the toxic man with a great dick tells you, gets all romantic but really just wants the good stuff. It usually works on me too and I’m not even ashamed to admit that. Good dick is well... good dick. Back to the music though, we are seeing more and more artists of similar genres coming together to create magic. Just a few weeks back was the release of Prince Royce and Romeo Santos’s joint effort, while R&B titans Brandy and Monica are still going strong on their The Boy Is Mine Tour. There’s power in numbers, especially where music is concerned.

“Pull Up” by Shallipopi, Pa Salieu

Nigerian rapper Shallipopi brings his high-energy raps to this Afrobeats track about a man who spots a woman in the club whose energy (and booty) takes up the entire dancefloor. Shallipopi teams up with British rapper Pa Salieu for the song that sees the merging of UK and Nigerian rap in one club-ready package. “Pull Up” is a traditional “man spots girl in the club” and “needs to take her home that evening” lyrical trend, but those songs always are the biggest bangers. Literally and figuratively, ha! That feeling when the drinks are flowing and your inhibitions melt away and the music takes over before a little dirty dancing with a cute stranger. The music video holds the same energy as well, with both men dancing with their crew and a few gorgeous women thrown in the mix (because why not, lol). There’s blunts being smoked, cars being driven and lots of, did I mention, gorgeous women? It’s all very 2000s rap video, but I’m not mad at it and neither are the fans if the comment section on the music video is any indication. The track comes from Shallipopi’s newest full-length studio album Auracle, which just dropped in full last Friday. The album includes features from some of the biggest names in music like Wizkid, Burna Boy, Rauw Alejandro and more. It may be getting colder outside, but I’m in the midst of training in the gym for a Miami trip this New Year’s so “Pull Up” is the perfect addition for my little vacation playlist I’m building. Nothing gets the heart pumping more than a sultry club jam. Sure, the song itself may lend to a more hetero ideology but the straights aren’t the only ones who know how to have a good time in the club, but I’ll save those stories for another day.

MC’s VIRAL PICK

“Upside Down” by Diana Ross

For those of us who are obsessed with Stranger Things, it has been a wild couple of weeks since the release of the first part of season five. I won’t reveal any plotline spoilers should you be one of the few who are waiting to watch the new episodes, but what I can divulge is that the show is continuing its trend of reviving classic songs from the 80s and introducing them to a Gen Z audience. From The Clash’s “Should I Stay or Should I Go” to Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill (Deal with God)”, the series has breathed new life into these classic tunes like no other franchise has done before. With a new season comes a new soundtrack, and it seems that this time around it’s Diana Ross’s moment, and a truly fitting one at that. Her 1980 smash hit “Upside Down” was featured throughout the first episode of the season and has been making some serious moves for The Boss. You give me a better song for a show about the upside-down world than the literal track “Upside Down”. I just know that the Duffer Brothers were saving that one for this final season.

“Upside Down” was written and produced by Chic’s Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards and perfectly encapsulates the disco sound of the late-70s and funky vibes that took over the early 80s. Everyone from King Charles III to En Vogue has expressed how much they love the song, so it’s no surprise that youth of today are catching onto it so easily. In the week and a half since the latest season of Stranger Things premiered, “Upside Down” has earned over 300k combined sound uses on TikTok and is currently Diana Ross’s top streamed song on Spotify with more than 750k daily streams on the app alone. For reference this is 5x the number of streams any of her other hits like “Endless Love” or “I’m Coming Out” are receiving. There’s nothing like the magic of the 80s.

@fallontonight
New Year's Eve can't come soon enough. @Stranger Things #FallonTonight #TonightShow #MillieBobbyBrown #StrangerThingsOnFallon #StrangerThings
♬ original sound - FallonTonight

@1itskash
How did they honesty not question it…#strangerthings5 #fyp #upsidedown #viral #fy
♬ Upside Down - Diana Ross

@emilyrianbanda
He really hit the “fine I’ll do it myself” when the demogorgons were taking too long to get the children #vecna #strangerthings5 #strangerthings #willbyers #demogorgon
♬ Upside Down - Diana Ross

@chdevans
And it was worth the wait #strangerthings #upsidedown
♬ Upside Down - Original CHIC Mix - Diana Ross

@stephaniemiec
Watching the first 4 episodes in indiana, i’m basically in hawkins 🕺 also my jamie campbell bower obsession is back unfortunately #strangerthings #80smusic #dance #strangerthings5 #vecna @Stranger Things
♬ Upside Down - Original CHIC Mix - Diana Ross

You can also check out my “MC’s MUSIC LOUNGE” Spotify playlist here to keep up to date with my weekly picks throughout the year.

With Love,