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    Book Review: ‘Cher: The Memoir,’ by Cher

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    The first volume of her frank autobiography is a testament to resilience, chronicling a grim childhood and the brazen path to stardom, with and without Sonny.CHER: The Memoir, Part One, by CherBefore Twitter morphed into the strange ghost town of X, with lurking users wondering whether to post or stomping off in high dudgeon for Bluesky and Threads, Cher was one of its finest sheriffs. Publications including The New York Times analyzed her grammar-defying style and compiled her stinging critiques of the then and future president Donald J. Trump.In Volume 1 of her confident, confiding new autobiography, which covers the period from her birth on May 20, 1946 (“under the sign of Taurus on the cusp of Gemini, so it’s like there are three of us in here”), to the dawn of her serious movie career in the early ’80s, Cher explains that her distinctive syntax on the platform evolved from undiagnosed dyslexia. “Punctuation marks are like symbols to me that you throw in the air and they land where they land,” she writes.Happily “Cher: The Memoir” is not the round of verbal 52 pickup this portends, but a detailed and characteristically profane recollection of its author’s eventful life: singing, dancing and acting her way out of a childhood so “Dickensian” there were rubber bands around the saddle-shoe soles and ants in the Rice Krispies.Cher’s embodiment of that trendy wellness buzzword “resilience” started from the moment her mother, Jackie Jean Crouch (later Georgia Holt), bailed on an abortion appointment. “It was her body, her life and her choice to make,” Cher writes. “Thank God she got off that table, though, or I wouldn’t be here to write these pages.” Her famous contralto has been modulated, but not Autotuned past recognition.Cherilyn, as she was called, though her birth certificate read Cheryl, is America’s melting pot personified, and her long place on the front (and sometimes back) burner of pop culture evokes both the country’s loftiest promises and its worst failures. A great-grandmother on her mother’s side had Cherokee heritage, raising her children in a log cabin in the Missouri backwoods, in poverty that dripped down generations. Cher’s biological father, who was Armenian, stole, gambled and would become a heroin addict. We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Cher Can, and Does, Turn Back Time

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      In the first volume of her memoir (which she hasn’t read), she explores her difficult childhood, her fraught marriage to Sonny Bono and how she found her voice.Twice during a 90-minute interview about her memoir, Cher asked, “Do you think people are going to like it?”Even in the annals of single-name celebrities — Sting, Madonna, Beyoncé, Zendaya — Cher is in the stratosphere of the one percent. She’s been a household name for six decades. She was 19 when she had her first No. 1 single with Sonny Bono. She won an Oscar for “Moonstruck,” an Emmy for “Cher: The Farewell Tour” and a Grammy for “Believe.” Her face has appeared on screens of all sizes, and her music has been a soundtrack for multiple generations, whether via vinyl, eight track, cassette tape, compact disc or Spotify.But wrangling a definitive account of her life struck a nerve for Cher. There were dark corners to explore and 78 years of material to sift through. And — this might have been the hardest part — she had to make peace with the fact that her most personal stories will soon be in the hands of scores of readers.“This book has exhausted me,” she said of the first volume of her two-part eponymous memoir, out on Nov. 19. “It took a lot out of me.”“Cher” is a gutsy account of tenacity and perseverance: Cher’s childhood was unstable. Her marriage to Sonny Bono had devastating aftershocks. The book is also a cultural history packed with strong opinions, boldface names and head-spinning throwbacks: Cher’s first concert was Elvis. Her first movie was “Dumbo.” (She was so rapt, she wet her pants.) One of the first cars she drove was a ’57 Chevy stolen from her boyfriend.On the page, Cher’s voice reverberates with the grit and depth that made her famous.“I learned early that most adults were unpredictable, so I couldn’t count on them and had to be constantly vigilant,” Cher writes of her parents, pictured here in New Mexico in the 1950s.via CherWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Cher, Dave Matthews Band and Others Inducted Into Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

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      Gratitude flowed at the 39th induction ceremony in Cleveland, where Mary J. Blige, Peter Frampton, Ozzy Osbourne and the bands Foreigner and Kool & the Gang were honored.Superstar power arrived early at the 39th Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Cleveland on Saturday night, as Cher strode onstage and joined Dua Lipa, who opened the show with “Believe,” the 1998 dance-pop smash that revitalized the singer’s career.In a candid, conversational acceptance speech, Cher joked about her long wait to induction (she was first eligible more than three decades ago), telling the crowd at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse and those streaming the show online, “It was easier getting divorced from two men than it was getting in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.” She assessed her own vocal abilities (“I’m a good singer. I’m not a great singer,” she decided, but added, “I changed the sound of music forever”), and reflected on the many reinventions that have sustained her career across 60 years.“My life has been a roller coaster, and the one thing that I have never done is I never give up,” Cher, 78, said, addressing women directly: “We’ve been down and out, and we keep striving, and we keep going, and we keep building, and we are somebody. We are special.”Perseverance was a recurring theme across the five-and-a-half-hour ceremony, which also honored two mainstays of the ’70s and ’80s: the funk and disco powerhouse Kool & the Gang and the pop-rock band Foreigner. Peter Frampton, 74, who is battling the degenerative muscle disease inclusion body myositis, thanked David Bowie for rescuing him from a low point — “I had no idea what a huge gift David was giving me” — and performed a short set from a chair. Mary J. Blige, 53, spoke about having faith throughout her ups and downs (“You don’t have to wait until you’re perfect to feel worthy. You are worthy”) before a sterling three-song performance.And Ozzy Osbourne, 75, who has paused touring because of health challenges, appeared onstage in a suitably sinister black throne adorned with skulls and bat wings to offer a brief collection of thank yous and introduce a rendition of his de facto theme song “Crazy Train” with a raucous shout of his famed intro line, “All abooooard!”Jack Black, left, gave a passionate speech for Ozzy Osbourne, who attended the event in an appropriately sinister throne.Chris Pizzello/Invision, via Associated PressWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      8 Songs From the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s Class of 2024

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      Listen to soon-to-be inductees Cher, Foreigner, A Tribe Called Quest and more.Cher.Mario Anzuoni/ReutersDear listeners,On Sunday night, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame announced its 2024 inductees. And while I find this year’s class a tad less exciting than last year’s, there are still quite a few names I was pleased to see: A Tribe Called Quest, Kool & the Gang, Ozzy Osbourne, Mary J. Blige and the artist who would have been at the top of my ballot, if I were a Rock Hall voter: Cher.*In recent years, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame has been in something of a transitional period, as it expands its definition of “rock & roll” to include country legends (last year’s inductees included Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson) and hip-hop stars (like Eminem in 2022, and Missy Elliott, who in 2023 became the first-ever female rapper inducted). Last September, the Rock Hall co-founder Jann Wenner made headlines for all the wrong reasons when he espoused sexist and racist comments in a New York Times Magazine interview; shortly after, he was removed from the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation’s board.The Billboard writer Andrew Unterberger took stock of all this in an astute column about this year’s inductees, which he believes strike a balance between the hall’s more old-fashioned view of rock and a fresher, wider definition that is less beholden to tradition. Artists like Tribe, Cher and Blige are in step with the institution’s drift toward becoming “a less hemmed-in, genre-specific institution,” but the presence of acts like Foreigner, Peter Frampton and the Dave Matthews Band also suggest that “there are still plenty of voters primarily concerned with rock representation.”All of this variety, though, means that this year’s inductees make for a thrillingly eclectic playlist. Check it out below, featuring some recognizable hits, a few rollicking live cuts and in my humble opinion, a very underrated Cher single.Allllll aboard!,Lindsay*Last month, the hosts of the excellent podcast “Who Cares About the Rock Hall?” had me on to discuss why I believe Cher belongs in the pantheon, as well as my obsession with the outrageous cover of her 1979 album “Take Me Home.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Cher, Dave Matthews Band and A Tribe Called Quest Join Rock Hall of Fame

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      Mary J. Blige and Ozzy Osbourne were also voted in, but Sinead O’Connor, who died last year at 56, did not make the cut.Cher, Ozzy Osbourne, Peter Frampton and Mary J. Blige are part of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s class of 2024, along with Dave Matthews Band, Kool & the Gang, Foreigner and A Tribe Called Quest, the hall announced on Sunday.The latest crop of stars will officially join the pantheon in a ceremony on Oct. 19 at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland, where the hall’s affiliated museum is also located.The 39th annual group of inductees matches the hall’s genre and demographic spread of recent years, with a pop diva (Cher), a metal idol (Osbourne), a top funk band of 1970s and ’80s vintage (Kool & the Gang), a couple of ’90s hip-hop and R&B heroes (Blige, Tribe) and rock mainstays from the boomer (Frampton, Foreigner) and Gen X (Matthews) eras.Of those artists, four were elevated to the hall on their first nomination: Cher, Foreigner, Frampton and Kool & the Gang. Osbourne was nominated for the first time as a solo act, though he had joined the hall as part of Black Sabbath in 2006. The Rock Hall has come under increasing pressure in recent years to diversify its ranks with more women and artists of color, and has made progress in that regard, though some critics say it is not enough.“Rock ’n’ roll is an ever-evolving amalgam of sounds that impacts culture and moves generations,” John Sykes, chairman of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation, said in a statement. “This diverse group of inductees each broke down musical barriers and influenced countless artists that followed in their footsteps.”Seven acts that were nominated in February did not make the cut: Mariah Carey, Jane’s Addiction, Oasis, Sade, Eric B. & Rakim, Lenny Kravitz and, perhaps most surprisingly, Sinead O’Connor, whose death last year, at age 56, elicited a global outpouring of grief and a reconsideration of her place in rock history.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Nominees Include Cher, Mariah Carey and More

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      Oasis and Sade will appear on the ballot for the first time, alongside Dave Matthews Band, A Tribe Called Quest, Mary J. Blige and others.Cher, Mariah Carey, Sinead O’Connor, Oasis and Sade are among the first-time nominees for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s class of 2024, which were revealed Saturday.Other new names on the hall’s short list include Foreigner, Peter Frampton, Kool & the Gang and Lenny Kravitz. Also on the list are Dave Matthews Band, Mary J. Blige, Jane’s Addiction, A Tribe Called Quest and Eric B. & Rakim, each of whom has been nominated at least once before. Ozzy Osbourne, who is already part of the pantheon as a member of Black Sabbath, has gotten the nod as a solo artist for the first time.“This remarkable list of nominees reflects the diverse artists and music that the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame honors and celebrates,” John Sykes, the chairman of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation, said in a statement. “Continuing in the true spirit of rock ’n’ roll, these artists have created their own sounds that have impacted generations and influenced countless others that have followed in their footsteps.”The 15 cited artists are the first batch of nominees since the abrupt departure last year of Jann Wenner, the Rolling Stone editor and co-founder of the Rock Hall, who had long held a powerful sway over the awards process.In September, Wenner was ejected from the hall’s governing board just one day after the publication of an interview in The New York Times in which he justified the subjects for his interview collection “The Masters” — all of them white and male — with comments that were widely condemned as racist and misogynistic. Female artists like Joni Mitchell, he said, were not “philosophers of rock,” and Black performers like Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye “just didn’t articulate at that level.”It is also a little more than a year after Jon Landau, the former Rolling Stone critic who became Bruce Springsteen’s producer and manager, stepped down from his longtime perch as the chairman of the hall’s deliberately secretive nominating committee.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      10 Festive (and Brand-New) Holiday Songs

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      New tunes from Brandy, Cher and the Philadelphia Eagles may find their place among classics in your holiday playlist.Recent holiday releases include (clockwise from top left) albums from the Philadelphia Eagles, Samara Joy, Cher and Sabrina Carpenter.Dear listeners,Musically speaking, the holidays are a time when we return to perennial favorites — the fact that the current top five artists on the Billboard Hot 100 are Mariah Carey, Brenda Lee, Bobby Helms, Wham! and Burl Ives certainly attests to that.But there’s also something to be said for sprinkling some fresh holiday tunes in with the old to keep your playlist from getting as stale as last year’s Christmas cookie. Where ever will you find new holiday music? Never fear: Today’s Amplifier has you covered.Every song on this playlist came out this holiday season. A few are covers of classics, but they all put a novel twist on their material, whether it’s Cher doing her best Chuck Berry, the Lumineers paying homage to Willie Nelson, or Samara Joy channeling Judy Garland.This mix features quite a few new holiday originals, too: Sabrina Carpenter turns a sweet character from “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” into a romantic rival, Brandy wishes Christmas would never end, and Norah Jones and Laufey find the Christmas spirit among the pine trees.You can add these songs to your existing holiday playlist, or — if you’re hosting a gathering and really want to impress your guests with how up to date you are on music — just play this one the whole way through. And if you need even more Amplifier holiday cheer, you can always revisit my playlist of are-they-or-aren’t-they Christmas songs.Lastly, thanks to all who have submitted songs and stories about the older song that defined your year. There’s still time to send me your suggestions; you can do that here. We may use your response in an upcoming edition of The Amplifier.Listen along on Spotify while you read.1. Cher: “Run Rudolph Run”Cher’s first-ever holiday album has a refreshingly no-nonsense title: “Christmas.” ’Nuff said. Though the LP’s single is the glittery, dance-floor-ready original “DJ Play a Christmas Song,” my favorite track is Cher’s rousing rendition of Chuck Berry’s “Run Rudolph Run,” which allows her to lean into her voice’s rock ’n’ roll attitude. (Listen on YouTube)2. Brandy: “Christmas Everyday”Brandy wants time to freeze on “Christmas Everyday,” a jubilantly upbeat number from her recently released “Christmas With Brandy.” “I don’t know another time when everybody shines so bright,” she sings, pining (ahem) for it to be Christmas every day. (Listen on YouTube)3. Sabrina Carpenter: “Cindy Lou Who”This season, the irreverent pop singer-songwriter Sabrina Carpenter put out her first holiday-themed release, the six-song EP “Fruitcake.” On this plaintive, breathily sung ballad, Carpenter becomes obsessed with an ex’s new girlfriend, who just may be from Whoville. (Listen on YouTube)4. Norah Jones & Laufey: “Better Than Snow”It’s an intergenerational summit of the jazz-pop girlies as the veteran crooner Norah Jones joins forces with the 24-year-old Icelandic sensation Laufey on this plinking, piano-driven song about celebrating Christmas in decidedly un-Christmas-like weather: “Now as I sweat through my ugly sweater, Christmas with you is better than snow.” (Listen on YouTube)5. Bright Eyes featuring John Prine: “Christmas in Prison”Bright Eyes tackle this bittersweet John Prine tune, with a little help from the late, great man himself. Conor Oberst sings in his warmly cracked voice and an extended sample from “A John Prine Christmas” enlivens the cover with Prine’s wry spirit and inimitable storytelling. (Listen on YouTube)6. The Lumineers: “Pretty Paper (Live at the Hollywood Bowl)”This April, the Lumineers were part of a star-studded group of musicians who performed Willie Nelson songs at the Hollywood Bowl, in honor of the legend’s 90th birthday. It’s finally seasonally appropriate to appreciate their song selection: “Pretty Paper,” Nelson’s enduring Christmas classic. (Listen on YouTube)7. The Philly Specials featuring Howie Roseman: “The Dreidel Song”Don’t think I forgot about Hanukkah, or this very delightful holiday album that members of the Philadelphia Eagles (yes, those Eagles) released this year. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I do believe this is the first time the general manager of a professional sports team has sung lead on an Amplifier selection. (Listen on YouTube)8. Ladytron: “All Over By Xmas”The electro-pop group Ladytron create a dreamy, glacial atmosphere on this new original song about a poorly timed breakup: “Yes, it will be all over by Christmas.” (Listen on YouTube)9. Morgan Reese: “Scrooge Xmas”The young bedroom-pop artist Morgan Reese lets loose an admittedly catchy “bah humbug” on her first holiday release, the sparkly little ditty “Scrooge Xmas.” (Listen on YouTube)10. Samara Joy: “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”And finally, the Grammys’ reigning best new artist, the 24-year-old jazz singer Samara Joy, brings her buttery tone and intuitive phrasing to this Christmas classic, proving — as she does throughout her new EP, “A Joyful Holiday” — that she possesses a musical intelligence well beyond her years. (Listen on YouTube)She reminds me of a chess game with someone I admire,LindsayThe Amplifier PlaylistListen on Spotify. We update this playlist with each new newsletter.“10 Festive (and Brand-New) Holiday Songs” track listTrack 1: Cher, “Run Rudolph Run”Track 2: Brandy, “Christmas Everyday”Track 3: Sabrina Carpenter, “Cindy Lou Who”Track 4: Norah Jones & Laufey, “Better Than Snow”Track 5: Bright Eyes featuring John Prine, “Christmas in Prison”Track 6: The Lumineers, “Pretty Paper (Live at the Hollywood Bowl)”Track 7: The Philly Specials featuring Howie Roseman, “The Dreidel Song”Track 8: Ladytron, “All Over By Xmas”Track 9: Morgan Reese, “Scrooge Xmas”Track 10: Samara Joy, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”Bonus TracksSpeaking of the Philly Specials, I cannot recommend highly enough this adorable and hilarious short, created by the Philadelphia animation studio unPOP, which accompanies the N.F.L. team’s album “A Philly Special Christmas Special.” It reminds me of all the stop-motion animation classics of my childhood and features, among other charming cameos, the Kelce Brothers, Jordan Mailata and a visit from St. Nick (Foles). Guaranteed to put a smile on your face. Unless you root for the Dallas Cowboys.Also: I spent much of the weekend immersed in the recently released, almost-six-hour third volume of Joni Mitchell’s Archive series — another experience I’d highly recommend. One of my favorite discoveries was this alternate cut of her 1972 hit “You Turn Me On, I’m a Radio,” featuring Neil Young and his backing band the Stray Gators. Talk about Canadian excellence!Sprinkle in new tunes from Brandy, Cher and the Philadelphia Eagles along with Yuletide classics. More

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      10 New Christmas Albums for 2023

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      Our critics on 10 new holiday albums from Cher, Robert Glasper, Sabrina Carpenter and more.There is no one correct way to celebrate the holiday season in song. For some, reverence is key. But often the best Yuletide numbers are the ones that fiddle around with tradition, taking the familiar components of joy and generosity and remixing them into something silly, salacious or downright odd.Adam Blackstone, ‘A Legacy Christmas’Adam Blackstone, who has been a bassist and musical director for Nicki Minaj, Rihanna, Alicia Keys, Justin Timberlake as well as many television shows, revels in his jazz background on his own Legacy albums. “A Legacy Christmas” merges brassy, swinging big-band arrangements with electronically tweaked R&B, and it’s packed with guests: DJ Jazzy Jeff, Boyz II Men, Andra Day. There are glossy, muscular revamps of songs like “Lil Drummer Boy” (which has BJ the Chicago Kid singing alongside Blackstone’s melodic bass) and “Someday at Christmas” (with Robert Randolph’s slide guitar), as well as Blackstone’s own songs, including the neo-Motown “Christmas Kisses,” which has Blackstone rapping alongside Keke Palmer, who sings like she’s fronting the Jackson 5. JON PARELESBrandy, ‘Christmas With Brandy’Brandy leads with angst on her album “Christmas With Brandy,” which includes six songs she co-wrote including the opener, “Feels Different.” The moody, minor-key track leans into a deep post-breakup loneliness that “hurts the worst around Christmas,” even though “when I’m lovesick, you’re toxic.” But the rest of the album is cheerier and sultrier, like her upbeat, retro-styled “Christmas Everyday” and “Christmas Gift” (a duet with her daughter, Sy’rai) and the slow-motion come-on of “Christmas Party for Two.” The familiar songs play up Brandy’s misty tone and melismatic audacity. Her versions of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” Mel Tormé’s “The Christmas Song” and even “Deck the Halls” are gauzy and leisurely. And who but Brandy would, in “Jingle Bells,” make an 11-note flourish out of “way”? PARELESSabrina Carpenter, ‘Fruitcake’The rising pop singer-songwriter Sabrina Carpenter brings her charmingly conversational and occasionally humorous sensibility to the six-song EP “Fruitcake,” her first holiday-themed release. Though she indulges in a straightforward, breathily sung “White Christmas,” the EP’s highlights are its irreverent originals, like “A Nonsense Christmas” (a holiday remix of Carpenter’s 2022 hit), the sleek, sassy “Is It New Years Yet?” and “Cindy Lou Who,” a piano ballad that playfully imagines the sweetest girl in Whoville as a romantic rival: “The snow’s gonna fall and the tree’s gonna glisten,” Carpenter sings. “And I’m gonna puke at the thought of you kissin’.” LINDSAY ZOLADZCher, ‘Christmas’Cher’s economically titled new album “Christmas” is an eclectic mix of holiday standards (a rollicking “Run Rudolph Run,” an especially lustful “Santa Baby”) and upbeat, electro-pop originals tailor-made for the woman who sang “Believe” (the strobe-lit “DJ Play a Christmas Song,” the fist-pumping “Angels in the Snow”). The guest list is star-studded and wide-ranging: Stevie Wonder, Michael Bublé and Darlene Love all drop by to duet with Cher on their own holiday classics, while Cyndi Lauper provides an assist on “Put a Little Holiday in Your Heart,” a country-tinged Christmas tune first recorded by LeAnn Rimes. But the album’s most memorably bonkers moment is surely “Drop Top Sleigh Ride,” a campy party anthem featuring a pun-stuffed rap verse from Tyga. The holidays just aren’t the holidays until you’ve heard Cher sing, “Turn it up, it’s a vibe, it’s Christmas.” ZOLADZRobert Glasper, ‘In December’The keyboardist Robert Glasper is an expert in both abstruse jazz harmonies and sleek hip-hop grooves; he’s also a well-connected collaborator. He brings all those skills to Christmas songs on “In December,” a musicianly rumination on the season; it’s only available on Apple Music. Old carols get elaborate new chromatic convolutions and alternate melodies, while in their new songs, Glasper and his singers consider holiday tensions. In “Make It Home,” PJ Morton and Sevyn Streeter portray a couple wondering if they can possibly reconcile for Christmas; “December,” written by Glasper and Andra Day, cycles through a year of seasonal anxieties and longings. And in “Memories With Mama,” Tarriona Ball, who leads Tank and the Bangas, confides in deep-toned spoken words about how Christmas has changed since her childhood — she’s nostalgic, but realistic. PARELESClockwise from top left: Holiday albums from Gregory Porter, Adam Blackstone, Jon Pardi and Wheatus. Samara Joy, ‘A Joyful Holiday’The resonant, low-end power of Samara Joy’s voice really emerges on her version of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Me.” A Motown-era number sung sweetly by the Supremes and Stevie Wonder, it’s comforting molasses in Joy’s hands; at one point, she lingers over “twinkle,” toggling back and forth — eee-yuh-eee-yuh-eee-yuh — a caress and a promise. That’s the highlight of “A Joyful Holiday,” the first seasonal release from this sometimes startling jazz vocalist, who won best new artist at this year’s Grammys. See also her take on “Warm in December,” once sung by Julie London, which she renders as the most refined, stately and wise of come-ons. JON CARAMANICAJon Pardi, ‘Merry Christmas From Jon Pardi’For the past decade Jon Pardi has been, quite successfully, a country singer mindful of how the country singers before him conducted themselves. He’s a lightly unruly traditionalist, with an ear that favors Texas and Bakersfield and the, um, funkier sides of honky-tonk Nashville. So naturally, his first holiday album is a collection of frisky covers and originals that add just the faintest tweak to the canon. His take on Buck Owens’s “Santa Looked a Lot Like Daddy” is cheeky and loose, and “I’ve Been Bad, Santa” — sung a couple of years ago by the Australian pop star Peach PRC — is a flirtatious duet with Pillbox Patti. “Reindeer” is a slow-walk heartbreaker about getting left behind by someone you love during the jolly season: “Might be a white Christmas, but all this snow just feels like rain, dear.” And on the lighthearted “Beer for Santa,” he swaps out the milk and cookies under the tree for something harder, then avers, “I might stay up and have one with him, too.” CARAMANICAThe Philly Specials, ‘A Philly Special Christmas Special’Last year, three offensive linemen who play for the Philadelphia Eagles — Jason Kelce, Jordan Mailata and Lane Johnson — stunned the football world by putting out a surprisingly competent Christmas EP as the Philly Specials. This season, they’re upping the ante with a full album, featuring cameos from Philadelphia musical luminaries like Patti LaBelle, Amos Lee and Waxahatchee. Mailata — a 6-foot-8 left tackle who last year appeared as “Thingamabob” on “The Masked Singer” — is the star of the show, holding his own with LaBelle on a duet of “This Christmas” and nailing that high note at the end of “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” but Johnson also impresses with his resonant country croon on a cover of Willie Nelson’s “Pretty Paper.” As for Kelce? Well, as Philly fans already know, he’s got a lot of heart. And, for a spirited reworking of the Pogues’ most famous song, here retitled “Fairytale of Philadelphia,” he recruits perhaps the most high-profile guest of them all, his brother Travis, who sings approximately as well as his girlfriend can play professional football. ZOLADZGregory Porter, ‘Christmas Wish’The jazz singer Gregory Porter brings his kindly baritone and a social conscience to his Christmas album. He reaches back to vintage Motown for the antiwar, pro-equality “Someday at Christmas,” and three songs of his own recognize troubles he wants to rise above for the season. In “Everything’s Not Lost,” he wills himself toward year-end optimism despite “all this misery” and “children in fear.” And with the surging gospel of “Christmas Wish,” he recalls the lessons in generosity his mother taught. Most of the backing uses genteel string arrangements, but in “Christmas Waltz,” with a jazz trio, he reminds listeners how he can swing. PARELESWheatus, ‘Just a Dirtbag Christmas’Skip the clever and fun and totally worthy originals on this EP: You’re here for “Christmas Dirtbag,” the Yuletide updating of “Teenage Dirtbag,” the 2000 debut single from the Long Island punk-pop band Wheatus. The original is somehow both a zeitgeist-definer and a curio. This updating morphs the main character into someone passed over by Santa, perhaps a fate more cruel than being ignored by the girl who mesmerizes him in the original. But here, in a holiday spirit, there’s a twist — it turns out Santa’s a dirtbag, too, and he’s bearing gifts after all: “I’ve got two tickets to AC/DC, baby/After-show party at CBGB.” CARAMANICA More

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      Cher on Her First Christmas LP, a New Beau and 25 Years of ‘Believe’

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      The superstar talks about finding her recording voice again, getting Stevie Wonder (and Tyga) to appear on her holiday album and still finding the love for her hits.Though she’s been a singer and performer for six decades, Cher had never made one of pop’s most ubiquitous (and commercially viable) releases: a Christmas album. “I just didn’t want to,” she said. “I didn’t know how I would fit into it. I didn’t know how Christmas music and Cher could come together and be harmonious.”Then, suddenly — being Cher — she changed her mind. “Christmas,” out Friday, is a 13-track romp through holiday music, with guest appearances from Stevie Wonder, Cyndi Lauper, Michael Bublé, the rapper Tyga, and Darlene Love, who reprises “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)”, on which Cher first sang backup at 17. “There was no way I was going to do her song without her,” she said.Just back from Paris Fashion Week, she spoke by phone from her California home, in a wide ranging conversation that touched on her affinity for assisting homeless people — “Just going and sitting down on the sidewalk, talking and interacting; I really loved it” — the time she went to Pakistan to save an elephant (there’s a documentary); and her new gelato pop-up, called, of course, Cherlato.At 77, Cher has also recently suffered loss, including the deaths of her longtime friend Tina Turner in May and of her mother, Georgia Holt, at 96, just before the holidays last year; the album is dedicated to her. But she also has reason to be hopeful, like an unexpected romance with the music producer Alexander Edwards, 40 years her junior, who encouraged her to go back in the studio, she said. He is credited as a producer on “Christmas,” and was responsible for the collab with Tyga.“It was a surprise that he got T to be on it,” she said of “Drop Top Sleigh Ride,” a syncopated track that fit with her holiday party vibe. “I knew I wanted to make something that was fun — Christmas needs to be that,” she added. “It needs to be lighthearted because, you know, who knows what next Christmas will bring.”Performances are in the works; she is also busy finishing her memoir — which, she admitted, is intense and all-consuming. “I’ve lived too long, and done too many things.”These are edited excerpts from the conversation.How did your first musical conversations with Alexander go?He talks about music a lot and we play music a lot. And he knew from knowing me what I would like. There are certain chord progressions and sounds on any record that your body responds to, your emotions respond to. He just had me pegged so right. And he said, Cher, you need to go — well, he doesn’t call me Cher. But he said, baby, you need to get back in the studio because you are not finished. You need to bring what you have back to the world. And I was like, Oh, come on, dude. But he was serious. He didn’t even ask to produce. I just thought it would be really cool for him to do it and me to have something that was a very now sound.How did your relationship start?We’ve had a one-year anniversary. We met at Fashion Week — we were in the same picture at the end of the Ann Demeulemeester show. Then I went off to visit Tina in Switzerland.My friend gave him my number, and he texted me. I was like, Dude, this is not going to work out. Come on. I mean, he was very, very nice. We just got to be friends and then by the time we saw each other, we were more. It’s still crazy.I’m like, old enough to be his — oh, I’m probably older than his mother. It doesn’t work on paper, but it seems to work in whatever reality we’ve created.How did you prepare for the album?I haven’t sung in years. So I call my unbelievable teacher, Adrienne Angel, who I love like the sun and the moon. She’s 96; she’s been my teacher since my 40s — when I was making movies, I didn’t sing. Bernadette Peters told me that she had saved her when she was doing “Sunday in the Park with George.” Bernadette said, if you want to get your voice back, go to her. I just wanted it to sound like my voice. I didn’t want to have to lower any keys. That’s always the dead giveaway. My doctor said I have the vocal cords of a 25-year-old girl.I remember I had a conversation with Barbra Streisand once on a telethon we were doing. She leaned over and said, Cher, why are you still doing this? I was still on the road. And I said, Because there’s going to come a day where I can’t do it. And I don’t want to have thought that I could have done my art longer, and chose not to.I mean, look, you don’t usually have a very great voice at 77, right? But it seems like a lot of us are having some sort of resurgence. I don’t know what it is. Revenge of the old people.Your landmark single “Believe” is about to have a deluxe rerelease for its 25th anniversary. It helped popularize Auto-Tune.The sound for “Believe” started with an argument that Mark [Taylor, her longtime producer] and I had. The verse was not good. And he kept saying, Cher, you’ve got to sing it better, you’ve got to sing it better. And finally I said, Dude, if you want it better, get somebody else. And I walked out.And then, the next morning, I’d seen this guy, this beautiful guy [Andrew Roachford] on a morning show, singing into a vocoder. I called Mark — can we do it into a vocoder? He said, I just got this thing called a pitch machine, and I’m playing around with it.I went in later to listen and we both just jumped out of our chairs and high-fived. I said, you don’t even know it’s me! He said, Well, that’s what I was afraid of. I said, No, it’s perfect. I love this.You couldn’t have had any idea about its legacy — it changed music.No, of course not. We were just trying to fix a problem. The other day, Alexander was telling me that sometimes, when someone can’t sing all that well, they use it. That was something I didn’t really know.Do you mind that sound being associated with you?Are you kidding? I love it. I mean, young people don’t know it came from me, but it’s OK. Maybe old people don’t know either. You know what I believe? What comes to you, belongs to you. That’s my theory about life.What’s your relationship to ambition at this point in your life?Look, I’m working my ass off, so I must be ambitious. If I don’t have the love for it, I wouldn’t do it. But I’m proud of this album, too. And I love everyone on it. I never had people on my albums before, and I didn’t plan to. It kind of started with Cyn [Cyndi Lauper]. I said, I’m going to do this Christmas album, and I’m not even sure what I’m asking, but I just want to know that if I need you, that you’ll be there. She said, “Yeah, yeah, yeah, fine.”And then I did a Stevie song [his rendition of “What Christmas Means to Me”], but there were parts that I just didn’t know how to access. Because it belongs to him, not to me. So I did my version, and I sent it to him. I thought I was going to have to, like, get down on bended knee — but I didn’t. He said, Cher, is it one of my songs? Do you want me to play harmonica on it? When he said yes, my sister and I were in my bedroom and I just ran around and jumped up and down on my bed. I was yelling, “Stevie Wonder is going to be on my album!”Are you watching other veteran performers now, to see how you might do things differently?I’m not going to do things differently. If people come to see you, they want you to do things they like. I remember seeing Bob Dylan — I think it was “Blood on the Tracks.” And I went to the first concert and some of the songs I went, “What is this?” He got tired of singing the songs the same way. But people really want to hear their favorite song exactly the same way. It doesn’t make any difference if I’m tired of it. I have to find it inside myself to love it and to love what I’m doing.Had you thought much about this stage of your career?I never thought I would get here. I mean, my age is so frightening. It’s like, the numbers are so big. And I keep thinking, Where did it go? I was busy working. While I was busy being Cher, how did this happen? No one’s given me any info.I still have a lot of energy and I can still be really excited about things. I live in Malibu. I can see the ocean, and that’s my favorite thing. I love my house. I’m grateful.How do you celebrate Christmas?I don’t cook, but everyone ends up at my house. Stragglers, family. We’ve got lots of kids around, and teenagers. Mostly we’re just talking and acting crazy and watching movies and hanging out. We don’t put on really Christmas music, just fun music. But music doesn’t seem to be a large part of it. Everybody’s talking too loud. More