"Can't Stop Christmas" is a song by British singer-songwriter

Robbie Williams Robert Peter Williams (born 13 February 1974) is an English singer and songwriter. He found fame as a member of the pop group Take That from 1990 to 1995, launching a solo career in 1996. His debut studio album, ''Life thru a Lens'', was re ...

, released as the second single from his twelfth studio album '' The Christmas Present'' (2019). The track was not on the original release of the album but was added as the opening track on the second CD of the 2020 reissue. The single was released in the United Kingdom on 20 November 2020. The song was written by Williams, Karl Brazil, Owen Parker, Benjamin Roy Castle and Chris Heath and produced by

Guy Chambers Guy Antony Chambers (born 12 January 1963) is an English songwriter, musician and record producer, best known for his work with Robbie Williams. Education Chambers attended Quarry Bank Comprehensive School sixth form in Liverpool. From 18, ...

and Richard Flack.

Background

Williams released his twelfth studio album '' The Christmas Present'' on 22 November 2019. On the same day he also released the first single from the album, " Time for Change", with an accompanying music video. The second single from the album, "Can't Stop Christmas", was released on 20 November 2020. Williams stated: "It was a lot of fun to write and I hope we got the tone right and I hope that it just makes people smile. I hope people find it mildly amusing and uplifting." He added that the days of him being up in the singles charts have moved on: "I'm an albums kind of person now, which is wonderful. But I don’t even look at the charts now. And I wouldn’t even think that I would get anywhere near up there. But if I did, it would be a Christmas miracle and I'd be very grateful." In an interview with the ''

Irish Independent The ''Irish Independent'' is an Irish daily newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray backgrou ...

'', Williams stated: "I was made to write the song by my wife, I had written 50 songs for '' The Christmas Present'' and I didn’t want to do any more but she said, ‘You’re missing a trick. Look, you know, you’ve got to document what’s going on in the world right now — and do it with some humour." He added "I said, ‘I’m not doing that because all the musicians in the world are going to be doing that right now and I can’t be bothered, thank you very much’. And then she made me and then she gave me the title and some of the lyrics. So, it's kinda Ayda Williams's project lived out by me."

Reception

"Can't Stop Christmas" was included on a list of the worst songs of 2020 published by ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'', with the song described as a "holiday-spirit-killing

hokum Hokum is a particular song type of American blues music—a song which uses extended analogies or euphemistic terms to make humorous, sexual innuendos. This trope goes back to early dirty blues recordings, enjoyed huge commercial success in ...

Music video

An accompanying music video directed by Dan Massie was released on 14 December 2020. The video sees Williams parodying the British government's response to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Williams appears as

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (born 19 June 1964) is a British politician and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He wa ...

in the video, which also includes a dancing

Theresa May Theresa Mary May, Baroness May of Maidenhead (; ; born 1 October 1956), is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served as Home Secretar ...

and a tribute to

Queen Queen most commonly refers to: * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen (band), a British rock band Queen or QUEEN may also refer to: Monarchy * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Q ...

's "

Bohemian Rhapsody "Bohemian Rhapsody" is a song by the British rock music, rock band Queen (band), Queen, released as the lead single from their fourth studio album, ''A Night at the Opera (Queen album), A Night at the Opera'' (1975). Written by Queen's lead si ...

Charts

References

{{Robbie Williams singles 2020 singles Robbie Williams songs Columbia Records singles Christmas music Cultural depictions of Boris Johnson