Only on Apple Music, a modern pop star enters the Christmas canon

The charm of Santa Baby isn’t just the range of material, but how well that range captures Alicia Keys’ appeal. She’s playful (“Santa Baby”), she’s seductive (a lounge-y, downtempo revision of “Favorite Things”), she’s sophisticated (“Please Come Home for Christmas”) and earnest (John Lennon & Yoko Ono’s “Happy Xmas [War Is Over]”). And in a turn that’ll surprise anyone who’s heard their share of Christmas pop albums, two of the best tracks are Keys originals: the jazzy, Jackson 5-ish soul of “December Back 2 June” and the piano ballad “Not Even the King”, a track from Keys’ Girl on Fire that captures the gratitude and humility of the holiday without even mentioning snow.