Ariana Grande and Megan Thee Stallion join Jimmy Fallon for COVID-19 Christmas song

Jimmy Fallon has recruited Ariana Grande and Megan Thee Stallion for a shimmery pop tune about Christmas in the time of COVID-19.

‘It Was A… (Masked Christmas)’ takes cues from the Yuletide songs of decades past, with bubbly, ‘80s-esque synths and a sharp, mix-filling beat evocative of early ‘00s pop. Fallon delivers the track’s lead vocal with far more aplomb than expected from a late-night talk show host, adding colour to Grande’s ethereal singing with his bold, autotune-inflected flair.

Megan’s primary contribution is a rapped verse toward’s the end of the track, waxing lyrical on her ambitions to make her 2021 holiday season especially wild. She raps: “This Christmas I’ma make it count / No more quarantine on the couch / This year hang that mistletoe / I’ma kiss everybody that I know / This year’s different, you can tell / Deck those halls and jingle bells / Put Purell on everything / Turkey, egg nog, candy cane.”

The track arrives today (December 7) with a video showing Fallon, Grande and Stallion in a series of Christmas-themed settings – drinking eggnog by an open fire, skiing down a mountain, dancing inside a snow globe and lining up for their vaccine booster shots. For her solo verse, Stallion appears wearing vaccine needles glued to her fingernails.

Take a look at the video for ‘It Was A… (Masked Christmas)’ below:

Last week, Megan announced the cancellation of an upcoming show in Houston “out of respect” for those impacted by last month’s Astroworld tragedy. She was due to play a homecoming gig at the 713 Music Hall venue in Houston last Friday (December 3) as part of her current US tour.

The tour comes in support of her new mixtape ‘Something For Thee Hotties’, which landed last month via 300 Entertainment and sported the singles ‘Tuned In Freestyle’, ‘Outta Town Freestyle’, ‘South Side Forever Freestyle’ and ‘Thot Shit’.

Megan took home three wins at this year’s American Music Awards, earning the trophies for Favourite Trending Song (with ‘Body’), Favourite Hip-Hop Album (with ‘Good News’) and Favourite Female Hip-Hop Artist. NME gave ‘Good News’ a four-star review, saying: “This debut finds Megan Thee Stallion determined to retain her freewheeling positivity in a difficult year. And isn’t that the sound of 2020?”

Meanwhile, Grande was recently cast as Glinda the Good Witch in the forthcoming film adaptation of the Broadway musical Wicked. The news comes amid several film projects for the singer, including a contribution to soundtrack for the Netflix film Don’t Look Up. Her song, ‘Just Look Up’ – a collaboration with Kid Cudi – was released earlier this week.

She and Kelly Clarkson also teamed up for a Christmas song this year, dropping ‘Santa, Can’t You Hear Me’ back in October. That same month, Grande announced she’d be giving away up to $5million (£3.6million) in free therapy sessions. The move came in conjunction with World Mental Health Day.