Elton John and Ed Sheeran have officially announced their Christmas song collaboration!
The highly anticipated holiday tune, titled "Merry Christmas," will be released on Friday, December 3.
Sheeran made the announcement via social media by recreatuing a famous scene from the holiday hit, Love Actually.
In the post, he wrote: "Last Christmas I received a call from my mate Elton John and he told me we should do a Christmas song, and I replied 'Yeah maybe in 2022', but I actually wrote the chorus that day and here we are.
The song's proceeds from the Christmas period in the United Kingdom will benefit both Sheeran's foundation, which he set up in 2019 to provide grants to young musicians in his hometown of Suffolk, and John's organization, which he founded in 1992 as a means of helping end the AIDS epidemic.
Opening up about teaming up with Elton for the song, Ed told Jimmy Fallon: "“I’ve always been quite against it [a Christmas song]. Not that I don’t like Christmas, I love Christmas, but in terms of doing a Christmas song, you need to chuck the kitchen sink at it.”
Later, Sheeran revealed his shock that there wasn't already a song titled Merry Christmas, adding: "It baffled me. It’s kind of like this glitch in a video game.”
Sheeran also gushed over his friendship with Elton, telling Smooth FM: "From the beginning he’s been a mentor, from the beginning he’s been like 'anytime you want to call me, anytime you need advice'...
"American radio wouldn’t play me, so he flew over there to play a private gig for them, to make sure that they play me. And the Grammys wouldn’t put me on, so he made sure he played the Grammys with me to have me on.
And for the unfamiliar, here's the famous scene from Love Actually...
