The woman who turned jagged emotional wreckage into one of the defining albums of the 1990s is coming for the seasonal canon. Good Weather for Immaculate Conception, Morissette’s first full-length Christmas record, arrives November 6, 2026, via Epiphany Music/Virgin Music. Fourteen tracks. Two originals. A UK trans choir. Steve Martin on banjo. If that lineup didn’t make you look up from your phone, read it again.
Sacred Carols, Secular Standards, and One Very Alanis Song Title
The tracklist moves between reverent tradition and unmistakably Morissette territory.
“O Holy Night,” “Ave Maria,” and “Silent Night” anchor the sacred end. “River,” “Last Christmas,” and John Lennon’s “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)” handle the secular side. Then there are the two originals: “Christmas on the Dancefloor” and — this is the one — “To an Empath at Christmas Time.” That last title reads like a lost Jagged Little Pill B-side, which is exactly the point.
Key details worth knowing upfront:
- Lead single “Beautiful Star of Bethlehem” features Brandi Carlile and Steve Martin, who contributes banjo
- Full collaborator list: Carlile, Martin, Martin Short, Amythyst Kiah, Joy Oladokun, and Trans Voices
- Trans Voices is the UK’s first professional trans choir, featured on “O Tannenbaum”
- Amythyst Kiah appears on “Momma Mary”; Joy Oladokun joins for “Silent Night”; Martin Short closes the album on “Merry Christmas”
- Release date: November 6, 2026, via Epiphany Music/Virgin Music
The Guest List Isn’t Random — It’s an Argument
Every collaborator pairing here feels chosen with intent, not assembled for name value.
Steve Martin playing banjo alongside Brandi Carlile on “Beautiful Star of Bethlehem” is the detail that earns a second look — roots-adjacent and tonally specific in a way that feels deliberate. Trans Voices, described by BroadwayWorld as the UK’s first professional trans choir, brings cultural weight to “O Tannenbaum.” Kiah joins for “Momma Mary,” Oladokun lends her voice to “Silent Night,” and Martin Short closes things out on “Merry Christmas.” Together, this roster tells a story about range and inclusion that a standard carol collection never could.
Why Now Makes Sense
When a Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee records a holiday album, the format itself becomes the statement.
Morissette’s last studio album, Such Pretty Forks in the Road, landed in 2020. Since then, she has been releasing seasonal covers — a pattern, per Rolling Stone, that this project consolidates into a full-length commitment. Holiday albums by legacy artists land one of two ways: perfunctory or genuinely inhabited. When a legacy artist brings two original songs, an eclectic guest list, and a title this theatrically precise, the latter seems far more likely.
Good Weather for Immaculate Conception is, at minimum, the most argued-about Christmas record arriving this November.
