Jennifer Hudson has a new holiday album out, and with the vocals she slayed (or should we say, sleigh‘ed) on it, she sure deserves her title of “Princess of Christmas!”
In a new People interview published Monday, the talk show host celebrated her album The Gift of Love, but rest assured that she knows Mariah Carey will always be the Christmas queen.
“I think Mariah is the Queen of Christmas, and I’m the Princess of Christmas,” Hudson said. “At least, I named myself.”
The new comments to People came Saturday after Hudson performed with Dionne Warwick at the 2024 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Friday, and several days after she dropped The Gift of Love, filled with renditions of classic holiday songs.
The holiday LP features an original song called “Almost Christmas,” featuring Common, along with covers of “The Christmas Song,” “Winter Wonderland,” and “Little Drummer Boy.” It also includes “Carol of the Bells” alongside the South African five-piece, The Joy.
“I look at [the album] as a Christmas tree full of different songs,” she told People, sharing that “O Holy Night” is her favorite holiday song and that she decided to make the LP as the “reason why I made the entire holiday album.”
OneRepublic’s Ryan Tedder executive produced the project, while Kirk Franklin, David Foster, and Peer Astrom joined as producers. The Gift of Love marked the talk show host’s first album since the soundtrack for Respect, from 2021’s film Respect where she portrayed Aretha Franklin. Her third studio album arrived in 2014 with JHUD. She dabbled with holiday music that year when she dropped “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home).”
As for Christmas queen Carey, she shared a silly video earlier this month joking that it was too early to celebrate the holidays. The video sees Carey on a plane preparing for takeoff when the unmistakable opening notes of “All I Want for Christmas Is You” start playing. The pilot then hops on the PA to say, “This is your captain speaking — welcome aboard, Mariah. We are headed to the North Pole.”
After a record scratch, Carey calls back, “Not yet! Sorry.” Then, she jokes: “They always rush me.” Carey is set to celebrate the holiday season with a Christmas tour, which she announced back in August.