After tweeting that she wanted to do a Christmas duet with singer and Elf actress Zooey Deschanel, Ingrid Michaelson‘s wish came true this year: The two women have teamed up on a new tune called “Merry Christmas, Happy New Year.” But Ingrid says make no mistake: Even though she and Zooey aren’t romantically involved — they both have boyfriends — the duet was specifically written as a love song.
“It’s definitely a romantic song between two people, and they happen to be two women,” Ingrid tells ABC Audio. “But I feel like there’s so many romantic songs that are sung by a man and a woman and they’re not necessarily together. So I thought, why don’t we embrace this? It’s just two women singing to each other in a romantic holiday setting.”
And while there are some songs that might teasingly hint at same-sex romance, Ingrid says this isn’t one of those songs.
“It’s definitely…not…open for interpretation: It is a romantic song,” she notes. “But, you know, people will take from it what they will.”
Ingrid’s just happy that she was able to connect with Zooey for the song, which is a bonus track on the deluxe edition of her 2018 Christmas album Songs of the Season.
“Not to sound corny, but it’s Christmas music, so I can be corny: It’s a dream come true to have her on this record [and] on the song,” Ingrid raves. “She comes into a space and she elevates it, and I love the song. It’s just so joyous and..it just makes me happy. And I think these days, we really need to cling to the things that are making us happy.”
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