EJAE is getting into the holiday spirit. The KPop Demon Hunters star will release her first holiday single, “Christmas in New York,” on Friday, November 13, unveiling illustrated cover artwork packed with personal easter eggs from her own life.
PEOPLE exclusively shared the cover artwork, confirming the festive track’s release date and offering the first details about the song behind it. The image also circulated on Reddit, where fans got their first look at the single’s snowy New York scene.
The cover, illustrated by Victoria Tentler-Krylov, takes its cue from classic New Yorker-style imagery with a holiday twist: a crowd going about its day on a snowy New York City sidewalk while Santa’s sleigh flies through the sky above them.
“I wrote the song as a love letter to the magic felt during the holiday season in New York City,” EJAE told PEOPLE. “When planning the art for the single, I knew I wanted it to be illustrated, inspired by classic New Yorker style imagery but with my own holiday twist.”
The artwork doubles as a family portrait. EJAE said the people pictured include depictions of herself and her husband, producer Sam Kim, her mother walking her dog, her brother and his family, her father, her best friend and maid of honor with her husband, and members of her creative team. She also hid references to the song’s lyrics in the illustration — and left fans to guess what they are.
“Christmas in New York” arrives at the peak of a breakout year for EJAE. The Korean American singer-songwriter, born Kim Eun-jae, co-wrote and performed “Golden,” the chart-topping hit from KPop Demon Hunters, and PEOPLE notes she won a Grammy and an Oscar earlier this year for the song. She has since kept up a steady run of releases, including the solo single “Time After Time” and “Made My Night” with LE SSERAFIM, plus a turn on the 2026 FIFA World Cup track “DNA (More Than a Game)” alongside Andrea Bocelli, David Guetta, and Megan Thee Stallion.
The single lands just as the holiday music season kicks into gear, giving EJAE her first festive entry — and fans a new set of clues to decode before it arrives on November 13.
