Martin Short is joining Alanis Morissette on a Christmas-themed project, and she’s doing it ahead of the usual holiday season.
Alex Cooper had Morissette back on Call Her Daddy, where the singer revealed she is collaborating with Short for a track on her upcoming holiday record. The pair are set to do a take on a Judy Garland standard, which makes the pairing an unexpected one between the “You Oughta Know” singer and the comic actor.
“There’s a Judy Garland song that Martin Short and I are going to do,” Morissette told Cooper when asked about her favorite track on the forthcoming project. She also named “What Child Is This” and “Little Drummer Boy” as some of her favorite songs to sing on the album.
The Judy Garland Cover
Morissette recorded a holiday song every Christmas for several years, building up a stock of material that eventually reached the size of a full-length album. That accumulation became her first holiday record, and she described the process behind it.
“Every Christmas over the last few years, we’ve done sort of one song,” she said. “I love singing these songs. I wrote a couple of new songs and we just made a record.”
It is not known what Short does on the Garland track. Morissette has not said which song the two will perform together, nor has she explained whether Short sings, speaks, or shows up somewhere else on the album. What is clear is that the pairing is unexpected. When Cooper asked about her favorite track on the forthcoming project, Morissette named the Garland song with Short first.
New Holiday Originals
The record is more than a standard collection; it includes new material from the artist herself. During the interview, she named two tracks specifically as her own compositions for the project: “To an Empathic Christmas Time” and “Christmas on the Dance Floor”.
The blend of old and new suits how this project began. Morissette did not aim to make a Christmas album from the start. She simply recorded one track each December, and the collection kept growing. It was only once the recordings had built up that she saw she had enough material for a full-length record.
Christmas holds extra meaning for Morissette because her son Ever was born on Christmas Day, a fact she said strengthened her bond with the holiday.
The project, in her words, is a “labor of Christmas love.”
The Butterfly With a Machete Residency
Beyond the holiday record, Morissette also revealed plans for a new Los Angeles residency called Butterfly With a Machete, which kicks off in November.
The performance brings together music, storytelling, and personal reflections from her life, touching on her experiences with menopause and aging. She described the show as partly inspired by the notion of rejecting the expectation that women should “stay in your lane.”.
She wants the residency to take in all her different selves instead, bringing together music, comedy, dance, movement, visuals, and storytelling into one whole.
“It’s about me grappling with the too muchness,” she said, describing the project as an opportunity to tell stories she once didn’t feel mattered.
The Songs She Named
During the interview, Morissette revealed several track titles, offering listeners an early glance at what her holiday album will hold. The confirmed lineup is:
- A Judy Garland classic performed with Martin Short
- “What Child Is This,” a traditional Christmas carol
- “Little Drummer Boy,” another standard
- “To an Empathic Christmas Time,” a new original
- “Christmas on the Dance Floor,” a second new original
The album pairs well-known carols with two new songs, with Morissette writing both of the original tracks herself. She singled out “What Child Is This” and “Little Drummer Boy” as her favorite standards to perform, while the cover of Garland’s song, done with Short, stands apart.
What Morissette Said About the Show
Morissette’s description of the residency points to a performance that is more than a standard concert. She framed it as a space to explore parts of her life and identity, including stories she once didn’t feel mattered. Those reflections include her experiences with menopause and aging, subjects she said the show will address directly.
The “too muchness” was cited as the central tension driving the project. Morissette withheld a tracklist for the residency and also declined to confirm whether any songs from the holiday album would be performed.
What’s Next
During the talk, the two standout topics were the holiday album and the residency. The singer did not reveal a release date for the holiday album while being interviewed, and she also did not confirm when the Judy Garland cover would come out as a single.
Here is what fans know so far:
- The holiday album is Morissette’s first, built from songs she recorded each Christmas over the last few years.
- The album includes at least two new originals: “To an Empathic Christmas Time” and “Christmas on the Dance Floor.”
- Martin Short joins her for a rendition of a Judy Garland classic, though the specific song has not been named.
- The Butterfly With a Machete residency starts in November in Los Angeles.
- The residency blends music, comedy, dance, movement, visuals, and storytelling.
- Morissette described the holiday project as a “labor of Christmas love.”
Two major projects are currently in motion for Morissette. Her holiday record marks her first attempt at this genre, while the Los Angeles residency offers her a venue to present material in an entirely new arrangement.
Familiar Christmas songs sit alongside original tracks on the album, while the residency pairs music with storytelling and movement. In her own account, both projects stem from the same impulse: a wish to reveal more of herself — the same drive behind her refusal to accept that women should “stay in your lane.”.
The “You Oughta Know” singer and comic actor’s appearance on the holiday record brings an unexpected element to the project. The pairing of a Judy Garland classic with these two performers was not something anyone foresaw.
The album’s release date remains undisclosed. Morissette has not specified when the residency tickets will be available beyond the November start date either. Nor has she confirmed which Garland song she and Short will present during the show. Until then, listeners have the Call Her Daddy exchange — along with the prospect of a sleigh ride with Martin Short — to look forward to.
Source: billboard.com
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