Even though Kelly Clarkson and Ariana Grande are two of pop music’s biggest stars, they pulled off an incredible feat for Kelly’s When Christmas Comes Around special, performing their new holiday duet, “Santa, Can’t You Hear Me,” for the first time together, on camera, with no rehearsals!
“It was literally the first time that we had been in the same room singing it,” Kelly explained ahead of the special, which airs Wednesday at 10 p.m. PT/ET on NBC. “It’s also a pretty detailed song!”
Ariana agreed, “Oh, it’s a vocal.” “We switch harmonies almost every verse or pre-chorus, and we switch what we’re singing. It was a lot of fun.”
“Thank God we did it,” she added, “but we were definitely out of body, hovering.”
“We’re professionals,” Kelly boasted as the two exchanged high fives.
The song, which is from Kelly’s new holiday album, When Christmas Comes Around, was originally written as a solo track, and Kelly revealed that she nearly scrapped it entirely before getting the inspiration to sing with Ariana – after the two performed together on The Voice season 21 premiere.
“We did this group performance, and I thought to myself, ‘Oh my god, I should make it a duet!’
Because I really liked how we sounded together “She remembered. “I asked her, and she said yes, but it was last-minute, and we were all very busy, so we never practised, ever.”
The pair obviously pulled it off flawlessly, and they clearly couldn’t be more in love, taking a moment to gush about their When Christmas Comes Around ensembles.
“I’m not really into fashion until it’s like, Old Hollywood,” Kelly said of her glitzy throwback ensemble.
“She nails Old Hollywood glam,” Ari exclaimed as the two reminisced. “I had something like a faux fur [muff]… I wanted to throw it, but then I realized there was no time.”
“I believe there’s always time for a faux!” Kelly laughed in response.
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