Michael Bublé has made a habit of rejecting requests for Christmas collaborations – but made a rare exception for Cher.
The Canadian crooner appears on the Believe hitmaker’s first-ever holiday collection, out now, on a reworked version of his hit ballad, Home.
He himself released his own festive set in 2011 and has become synonymous with the season, but says he’s keen not to become too reliant on the Christmas period and often rejects calls to duet with other artists.
“Every late September/October every artist, the ones that you know, the biggest artists in the world, start to call me and say, ‘I have an idea, you and me should make a Christmas…’” he says (via Daily Star Wired).
“And I go, [mimics putting phone down] ‘click’, I say, ‘Thank you so much, I know you’re gonna kill it.’
“I made one Christmas record, 12 years ago! One!”
However, when the If I Could Turn Back Time hitmaker reached out he couldn’t say no.
“That changes when Cher calls. Number one, when Cher calls, you pick up,” he adds. “And number two, she said that she wanted to cover Home, I wrote that song a long time ago and I am still so proud of it.”
Noting he’s worked with “everyone from [Justin] Bieber to [Barbra] Streisand, to Celine Dion, to Ariana Grande, to Lady Gaga”, Bublé goes on to call Cher “one of the greatest vocalists of our time”.
Released in October, Cher’s ‘Christmas’ collection features a selection of cover versions and originals, including DJ Play A Christmas Song.
The record also includes appearances from Stevie Wonder, Darlene Love, Tyga and Cyndi Lauper.
In a review of the album, RETROPOP wrote of ‘Christmas’: “Overwhelmingly festive and quintessentially Cher – there’s a new Queen Of Christmas in town!”