CHRISTMAS 2020: Maddie & Tae

Artist: Maddie & Tae

Platinum-selling duo Maddie & Tae released their first ever holiday EP, We Need Christmas, this year. The six-track project features two originals, “Merry Married Christmas” and the title track “We Need Christmas,” plus beloved holiday favorites including “This Christmas,” “Holly Jolly Christmas,” “O Come All Ye Faithful,” and “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home).”

“I think more than ever, as we say in We Need Christmas, we really need all the joy and hope and love that the holiday season brings,” says Maddie Font. “There’s just something about Christmas that kind of silences all the chaos for a couple of days where you just get to quiet down with your loved ones. We’re so excited to celebrate Christmas this year and really cherish that quality time that we didn’t get as much of this year with quarantining and everything. And,” she adds, “we get to blast our own Christmas songs for our families!”

THIS year may look a little different for the duo because of the global pandemic. Maddie Font says “Plans for Christmas in quarantine this year for us, we’re gonna safely go down to Texas and probably stay for a little while and we are just gonna try to make it as normal as possible. Maybe we don’t get to see everyone, but whoever we get to see I’ll be so excited. We’re already talking about for our grandmas of doing a little drive-by, something fun where we can like throw out presents. They can’t be fragile ‘cause that’ll be bad. (laughs) Like a real Santa Claus thing.”

Taylor Kerr (Dye) says one of her favorite and most personal Christmas memories was in 2017, and it involves a new family member making her appearance right before the holiday.

“This is gonna be a personal one for me. Christmas 2017 was right around the time my niece was born,” says Tae. “She was born on December 11th, so right before Christmas, she was like the best Christmas gift ever, so basically I got to spend the whole month of December with her and my sister-in-law and brother, just holding that baby. So, that’s probably going to be one of my favorite Christmas memories ever.”

Find more audio with this platinum-selling duo about their favorite childhood Christmas gifts, favorite Christmas movies, favorite Christmas food and much, much more.

Maddie & Tae (Christmas 2020) OC: …Santa Claus thing. :40
MADDIE: “Plans for Christmas in quarantine this year for us, we’re gonna safely go down to Texas and probably stay for a little while and we are just gonna try to make it as normal as possible.” TAE: “We’re gonna do the same – safely go to Oklahoma and be with our families safely.” MADDIE: “Maybe we don’t get to see everyone, but whoever we get to see I’ll be so excited. We’re already talking about for our grandmas of doing a little drive-by, something fun where we can like throw out presents. They can’t be fragile ‘cause that’ll be bad. (laughs)” TAE: “No fra-gee-lee presents.” MADDIE: “(laughs) Like a real Santa Claus thing.”

Maddie & Tae (Christmas music) OC: …so happy. :19
“What makes Christmas music so enjoyable and so fun to listen to is just how classic it is. There’s songs that you grew up listening to that some of your favorite artists end up singing or there’s a song that reminds you of a memory. It’s just very nostalgic and just the instrumentation is just so happy.”

Maddie & Tae (Christmas) OC: (Tae) …memories ever. :23
“This is gonna be a personal one for me. Christmas 2017 was right around the time my niece was born. She was born on December 11th, so right before Christmas, she was like the best Christmas gift ever, so basically I got to spend the whole month of December with her and my sister-in-law and brother, just holding that baby. So, that’s probably going to be one of my favorite Christmas memories ever.”

Maddie & Tae (Christmas food) OC: …breakfast casserole. :33
“One Christmas food we can’t live without…” TAE: “Mine’s cranberry sauce. Mmmmm. Straight out of the can.” MADDIE: “I think mine is mashed potatoes. I love mashed potatoes. I also I make this thing called corn pudding, where it’s like cornbread casserole. Oh, it’s so good. It’s like one of the staples.” TAE: “Oh, I just thought of my family tradition. It’s breakfast casserole. Every (Christmas) morning, we open our gifts and eat breakfast casserole. That’s been ever since I was a kid.” MADDIE: “Can you share that recipe because I need to make it?” TAE: “It’s so good.” MADDIE: “I love breakfast casserole.”

Maddie & Tae (favorite Christmas movies) OC: …YES! :24
MADDIE: “Favorite Christmas movie? I know Tae’s.” TAE: “What?” MADDIE: “Polar Express!” TAE: “I do love me some Polar Express. Every time the kids do the duet, my heart breaks.” MADDIE: “I would say my favorite Christmas movie – I love Polar Express. I love Arthur Christmas.” TAE: “Arthur Christmas is great. People sleep on that one.” MADDIE: “And The Holiday! Ahhhhhh.” TAE: “I’ve never seen that one.” MADDIE: “Jude Law-It’s a rom-com, but it’s so heartwarming.” TAE: “Christmas movie night.” MADDIE: “YES!”

Maddie & Tae (Maddie’s Christmas traditions) OC: …White Elephant. :31
“We always get a real tree every year, because Jonah’s a stickler for a real tree thing. We always shave off a little part of the bottom of the tree and make an ornament out of the little thing, so we’ll put the year on all of them and collect them. We’ve actually just started collecting nutcrackers, which is super weird, but we name them all. Oh, and White Elephant. We play White Elephant on the Font side of things, and I always end up with the best gift somehow, because Jonah and I tag team White Elephant.”

Maddie & Tae (favorite Christmas gifts) OC: …favorite Christmas. :40
MADDIE: “My favorite Christmas gift as a child was definitely my karaoke machine. My sister and I, we have so many videos of us just, I mean I can’t even believe it’s even lasted. That karaoke machine, I mean, it was hanging in there for like 10 years. Like, it was holding on for dear life, because I was using it every single day.” (laughs) TAE: “My favorite Christmas gift as a child – most people probably don’t really know this about me, but I actually collect snow globes, and as a child I started out collecting dolphin snow globes. It’s very weird, and then it evolved to angels and now it’s a Christmas tradition that every year for Christmas, I get another snow globe. So, it started out as a child, so it’s my favorite gift.”