For over a decade, Sondre Lerche has been celebrating the holidays with an annual Christmas cover. He’s tackled Animal Collective, Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez, Doja Cat, and more, and this year he’s transforming Chappell Roan’s “Good Luck, Babe!”

It’s a phenomenal choice, as the hit landed at #5 on our list of the Best Songs Of 2024. Lerche’s version is subtle and twinkly, and he says he used Ryuichi Sakamoto as an influence. Here’s what the Norwegian musician shared about his rendition:

It’s 8pm in Bergen, Norway on December 21st. I just finished recording vocals for this year’s cover. Producer Matias Téllez and I first joined in this tradition together in 2013 (I had tried doing it on my own a few years earlier, but it was not nearly as fun). If you’re new to the tradition: we pick the huge hit we feel most compelled to cover at the end of each year, and record and mix it in one day. Then we share it with fans and followers the next day. Last year I gathered our first ten years of covers on an album called Understudy. In 2033 there will hopefully be another ten-track album of these recordings that spring out of love and a longing for rituals. I don’t live a life of many rituals. I’m self-employed and don’t get invited to many Christmas parties. Tonight, when Matias is done mixing this year’s track, we’re fortunate enough to that we once again can go out to eat, drink and be merry, and then wish each other Merry Christmas, or God Jul, as we say around these parts. We’ve spent a lot of time in the studio together this year, recording my next album, and next year we’ll record some more. But for now this is our final offering of 2024: our interpretation of Chappell Roan’s glorious “Good Luck, Babe.” This year’s choice is one we picked with some hesitation, simply because both the song itself and the recording of it, is so perfect, meaningful and strong. It’s of course one of the biggest hits in a year full of really wonderful big hits. A very competitive year, so many huge songs that united more people than they polarized. Lord knows we needed it. Enormous, beautiful pop songs won’t save the world or mankind, or end wars or the slaughtering of always-innocent children. And the way the world seems to be going now, many of us feel helpless, and even complicit in every gruesome thing humans inflict upon this planet and each other. “You’d have to stop the world just to stop the feeling.” The truth will come out. It cannot be contained, or resisted, forever. “Good Luck, Babe” is a punch in the gut for the way it calls out, not just its object of desire for not daring to live truthfully, but also society for making it so damn hard to be who you really are, and love who you really love. Love can be challenging, but the challenge at the center of “Good Luck, Babe” is more complex than even that. This was the part of the song I most wanted to protect. There is no wonder why the original is so impactful, and even if our version only poses the question: what if “Good Luck, Babe” was arranged by the late great Ryuichi Sakamoto, maybe that’s already reason enough for yet another version to exist. These days my head is spinning from staging two very special performances at the Oslo Opera on January 12th. After that, I’m gonna leave the rest of 2025 open. I’m wishing you and yours love, compassion and music, always.

Listen below.