Sufjan Stevens has released “On This Christmas (It Only Gets Better),” the first new Christmas song he has written, produced and performed in nearly 15 years. The single arrives ahead of Friday’s LP release of his album Worst Christmas Ever!.
Stevens describes the song as a Christmas apology. A holiday built around giving and receiving gifts, he suggests, might be made even better by giving and receiving forgiveness. “I’m sorry” is the ultimate ice-breaker in moments of conflict, contention and misunderstanding, and he hopes people can try to be more loving, forgiving, welcoming and reckoning this year. He calls the song a prayer that we can all yield to the wisdom and understanding of forgiveness, adding: “I believe the world will find its way.”
The music video was inspired by the mixed-media animation of Leesa Allmond. It is made up of 6,000 stills, which were printed, hand-painted by Stevens, Michael O’Neal, Cubby Graham and Hannah Cohen, then re-scanned to create the layered, painted overlay effect.
Stevens directed and edited the video, and filmed and created it with O’Neal and Graham. The cast includes Meg Lui, C. Misha Handschumacher, Beccs, Cubby Graham, Olivia Busa and Stevens himself.
Watch the video: youtu.be/R8MBM_wDZVo