Elton John and CMAT have released a new version of Step Into Christmas, turning the 1973 festive single into a duet. The recording arrived on Thursday 5 November as an Amazon Music Original, and is available exclusively on the streaming service.
The collaboration puts the Irish singer-songwriter alongside Elton on a song he wrote with Bernie Taupin more than five decades ago. The result brings the two artists together across different eras of recording: elements from the original session are part of the new track, alongside CMAT’s voice and an added string arrangement.
How Elton John and CMAT made the duet
Music Week reports that the release, issued via EMI and AWAL, uses audio stems from the original recording. Stems are separate parts of a recorded track that can be used in a new mix. Here, they allow the producers to carry elements of the 1973 performance into a new arrangement, giving CMAT a place within the existing recording rather than asking her to start the song from scratch.
In the announcement on his official site, Elton said he had admired CMAT since hearing her music and seeing her videos. He pointed to the rock and roll, country and Americana in her work as common ground between them. CMAT described hearing Elton’s music as a child in the back of her mother’s car, and said working with him had been an especially joyful experience.
The duet follows a notable year for CMAT. Her third album, EURO-COUNTRY, won Best Album at the 2026 Ivor Novello Awards. Her publisher BMG says the record reached number two in the UK and number one in Ireland. The Christmas single gives listeners who know her through that album a different setting for her voice, within a song that already has a long life on British radio and playlists.
A Christmas single with a long chart history
Step Into Christmas was released on 23 November 1973, with Ho, Ho, Ho (Who’d Be a Turkey at Christmas) on the B-side. Elton’s account of the original sessions dates the recording of both songs to 11 November, with overdubs added the next day. It was conceived as a seasonal thank-you to fans, and went out as a stand-alone single.
Its first UK chart run lasted seven weeks and took it to number 24. The song’s chart life continued well beyond that initial release: Official Charts records a new high of number seven over Christmas 2025. That later peak came more than half a century after the single first went on sale.
The song has been revisited on screen as well as on record. In 2024, Entertainment Weekly reported that Cara Delevingne took on the role of Elton in a new video that played with the making of the 1973 clip. That project gave the original audio a new visual setting. The CMAT collaboration changes the recording itself, putting a second singer into a song whose original vocal has been familiar to listeners for decades.
Where to hear the new Step Into Christmas
The duet is listed as Step Into Christmas (Amazon Music Original). Amazon Music’s UK announcement also points listeners to its Merry Mix playlist, where it has placed the track alongside other festive releases. The exclusivity applies to the new recording, so anyone looking for the collaboration should look for both artists’ names.
The release follows Kylie Minogue’s XMAS, another Amazon Music Original, which took the UK Christmas number one in 2025. This year’s festive chart is due to be announced on Friday 25 December, with eligible sales and streams from 18 to 24 December counting towards the result. For now, the new recording gives two generations of listeners another way into a song that has already spent decades finding its way back into the Christmas season.
