Sufjan Stevens returns to Christmas with «Worst Christmas Ever!» and a song about forgiveness
«Worst Christmas Ever!» arrives November 6 via Asthmatic Kitty. Rather than a wholly new album, it gathers fifteen songs from Sufjan Stevens' extensive hol
«Worst Christmas Ever!» arrives November 6 via Asthmatic Kitty. Rather than a wholly new album, it gathers fifteen songs from Sufjan Stevens’ extensive holiday catalogue alongside the newly written «On This Christmas (It Only Gets Better)», released November 3. It is his first new Christmas composition in almost fifteen years.
The release in context
Stevens began recording Christmas songs as gifts for friends and family in 2001. Those informal sessions eventually became the box sets «Songs for Christmas» (2006) and «Silver & Gold» (2012), moving between traditional carols, intimate songwriting, playful electronics and unexpected arrangements.
Inside the music
The new track centres on apology and the possibility that forgiveness might be a more meaningful gift than anything wrapped in paper. Its video, made with Michael O’Neal and Cubby Graham, involved approximately six thousand hand-painted stills created with Hannah Cohen. That labour-intensive approach recalls the homemade spirit of the early recordings.
What comes next
Songs such as «Sister Winter», «Christmas in the Room» and «That Was the Worst Christmas Ever!» appear in the collection. Listeners should understand it as a carefully selected introduction to older work with one new piece, not as sixteen unheard compositions. The new single is available ahead of Friday’s release.
Why revisit the Christmas recordings?
Stevens’ holiday catalogue has never been simply a collection of cheerful carols. Behind the elaborate arrangements and homemade performances are songs about faith, isolation, family expectations and the uneasy possibility of reconciliation. Gathering a small part of that expansive archive on one album makes those contrasts easier to hear for listeners who have never explored the two original box sets.
The apparently pessimistic title carries an irony familiar from his work: Christmas promises togetherness, but that promise can make absence and disappointment feel sharper. The new song responds by placing apology and forgiveness at the centre. That is what truly makes the 2026 release newsworthy; the other fifteen performances belong to an existing catalogue and have been selected and sequenced anew.