A new animated holiday movie, That Christmas starring Brian Cox, is set to hit Netflix on December 4 (find the trailer below, in case you missed it). This summer, it was announced that Ed Sheeran would contribute a new song, called “Under The Tree,” to the film, and that song is out now.
Sheeran said back when the song was announced:
“I find since having kids, there’s a real lack of great animated children’s Christmas movies, so I thought this was such an amazing thing to make and put into the world. The scene that we wrote this song for is so heartbreaking, but so real for many people at Christmas spending it without the ones they love, for so many reasons. I got to work with my older brother on this which is such a rarity and a gift to work so closely with my only sibling, it felt so good to create something my children would watch, with their uncle, based in the country they live in. I find it mad that there isn’t more animated Christmas films for kids, but this is going to become a holiday staple, at least in our household.”
This isn’t Sheeran’s first holiday tune: In 2021, he and Elton John teamed up for “Merry Christmas.” Sheeran couldn’t believe that seemingly obvious title wasn’t already taken by another song, as he explained, “We write it and I title it ‘Merry Christmas,’ and I’m like, ‘We’re going to have to change that title because there’s probably loads of songs called ‘Merry Christmas.’ I went on Spotify and I typed in ‘Merry Christmas’: nothing. There’s ‘Merry Christmas, Everyone,’ there’s ‘Happy Xmas,’ there’s ‘Merry Xmas,’ there’s ‘War Is Over.’ There was not a song called ‘Merry Christmas.’ And then I went on YouTube and checked it out and it baffled me.”
Check out the “Under The Tree” video above.