Kesha – “Holiday Road” (Lindsey Buckingham Cover)

Brendan Walter

Kesha – “Holiday Road” (Lindsey Buckingham Cover)

Brendan Walter

Just yesterday, resurgent party girl Kesha popped up on Charli XCX’s “Spring breakers” remix. Now, she’s back in the feed with a very different musical endeavor: An entry in a new series of Christmas-themed Spotify singles, with a cover of something that’s not actually a Christmas song.

Lindsey Buckingham wrote the giddy rock ‘n’ roll number “Holiday Road” for the 1983 movie National Lampoon’s Vacation, and it’s practically inextricable from the image of Chevy Chase cluelessly driving off to his next slapsticky adventure. The song was a minor threat, and it popped up in the Vacation sequels — including the Christmas one, so maybe that’s the connection. Now, Kesha offers up her own take on the song.

Kesha’s synth-pulsing new wave version of “Holiday Road” has a read Kim Wilde “Kids In America” feel, and it’s the first in this year’s slate of Spotify Christmas songs. Billboard reports that the series will also include artists like Dasha and Max Richter, and their execs acknowledge that the track “wasn’t originally a holiday song.” It does, however, have the word “holiday” in its title. Listen to Kesha’s cover and the Lindsey Buckingham cover below.

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