Heavy/Hallmark/Getty Taylor Swift provides a song for Hallmark's latest "Countdown to Christmas" promo
Swifties and Hallmarkies unite! Hallmark Channel is leaning into the fever-pitched frenzy around Taylor Swift, a self-professed Christmas super fan, with a new promo that has fans swooning.
The megastar has been making headlines left and right, from her surprise romance with NFL star Travis Kelce to record-breaking ticket sales for her concert movie, which debuted in theaters on October 13, 2023. Now, she’s lending her voice to a promo for Hallmark’s annual lineup of Christmas movies.
Listen closely and you’ll hear Swift’s 2019 holiday single, “Christmas Tree Farm,” on Hallmark’s latest promo for its 2023 Countdown to Christmas roster, featuring glimpses of some of its upcoming holiday movie lineup, which kicks off on October 20.
Fans of both Hallmark and Swift, who has been vocal about her love of all things Christmas, are abuzz about the collaboration and already wanting more, pointing out all of the ways in which her life is playing out like the ultimate Hallmark movie.
Fans Swoon Over Hearing Taylor Swift’s Song in Hallmark Channel Promo
On October 17, Hallmark leveraged its social media channels, including TikTok, to call attention to its new promo with clever Swift-inspired captions.
On Instagram, the account teased, “This Friday, we’re entering our #CountdownToChristmas era! And what better way to announce it than with “Christmas Tree Farm” by the 👸 herself @taylorswift. Join us for all new movies Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at 8/7c. 🎄”
Hallmark also tweeted a 30-second version of the promo, writing, “#CountdownToChristmas announcement — Taylor Swift’s Version. Featuring “Christmas Tree Farm” by the one and only @taylorswift13 and all new Hallmark movies every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at 8/7c. 🎄📺”
Hallmark fans were thrilled by the promo, with one commenting, “Not Hallmark jumping on the Taylor train. Well played, Hallmark. 👏”
But Swifties were already onto the mashup days before. In the Taylor Swift Reddit forum, which has over one million members, a fan excitedly posted the promo on October 14.
She wrote, “‘Christmas Tree Farm’ was used in the Countdown to Christmas commercial! That earns BIG points with me and I’m so excited that it’s almost time for the movies to start again!”
Among the many responses from Swifties, one wrote, “Taylor + Christmas movies + HALLMARK Christmas movies = perfect winter season”
This is actually not the first time Hallmark has secured a Swift song to complement its programming. In 2021, Swifties were quick to notice her song “Invisible String” playing during one of the final episodes of the Hallmark series “Good Witch.”
Swift’s team is known for being picky about when and where her songs can be played, but according to L’Officiel, her tunes have been featured in at least 19 movies and TV shows over the years, including animated films “The Secret Life of Pets” and “Spirit Untamed.”
When the NFL got wind that she might attend her first Kansas City Chiefs game to watch Kelce play on Fox Sports said it reached out to Swift’s team, asking for permission to play her songs during the September 24 broadcast. But, Swift’s record label and publishing company denied the request “in conjunction with speculations on or about her private/personal/dating life.”
In 2015, BBC News reported that when Swift’s record label denied an Australian playwright’s request to use one of the singer’s tunes in her play, Swift overruled the company and tweeted that she personally was granting permission for the project.
Fans Say Taylor Swift’s Life is the Ultimate Hallmark Movie
Swifties say Hallmark’s use of a Swift song in its most recent promo is a match made in heaven. After all, their pop queen’s entire life plays out like a Hallmark Christmas movie, they say — and it’s one they’d love to see acted out on screen.
For starters, Swift literally was raised on a Christmas tree farm, the setting of countless Hallmark holiday films. In fact, one Canadian tree farm — Cedar Tree in Ottawa — has been featured in at least four Hallmark movies, according to Narcity.
Because of her upbringing, Swift has said, she is “obsessed with Christmas” and starts her own countdown to the holiday in the fall — just like Hallmark.
“Christmas is my most anticipated holiday,” she told ELLE Taiwan in 2015. “When Christmas is over, I’ll start the countdown to see how long it is before the next Christmas. In September, I’ll begin to celebrate Christmas by buying gifts for my friends, decorating the house, like if Christmas has come early. I am fascinated by this holiday, I grew up in a Christmas tree farm, so I like the spirit.”
And after more than a decade of fizzled romances with famous beaus, including a six-year relationship with British actor Joe Alwyn that ended in early 2023, Swifties say her budding romance with Kelce is straight out of a Hallmark script.
The organizer of the Gaylor Swift community on Reddit recently posted a theory that, just like another common Hallmark movie trope, Swift and Kelce may have been set up as a PR stunt, but wound up falling in love in real life. That sparked a debate among Swifties over whether the couple originally got together for publicity, and several noted the serendipity of Kelce playing for and living in Kansas City, where Hallmark headquarters is located.
Eager to see their love story play out on screen, one fan wrote, “Ok, but can they please do an actual Christmas Hallmark???”
If that ever happens, Hallmark has plenty of stars who’d likely be happy to take part. In March, Rhiannon Fish told Just Jared that her co-star, Tyler Hynes, “would sing Taylor Swift every day, all day” on the set of their movie, “A Picture of Her.”
Meanwhile, Broadway star Patti Murin, who appears next in Hallmark’s “Mystic Christmas,” is such a huge Swiftie that her husband had an elaborate cake made for her in May, on the day she attended Swift’s “Eras Tour” concert.
And Hunter King, who next appears in “The Santa Summit,” excitedly attended Swift’s concert in July alongside her sister, Joey King, who’s appeared in two of Swift’s music videos and was brought out on stage by Swift that night, per People.