Celeste: Who is the singer behind this year’s John Lewis Christmas advert?

‘A Little Love’ is the first original song to have been written for the Christmas advert

John Lewis has released its Christmas advert, which features a song written especially for the occasion for the first time in its history.

British-Jamaican artist Celeste is the singer behind “A Little Love”, which The Independent’s review describes as a “gem” steeped in “old-world romance”.

The review reads: “As with most John Lewis songs, the instrumentation for ‘A Little Love’ is simple, but unlike many – from Tom Odell’s ‘Real Love’ to Gabrielle Aplin’s ‘The Power of Love’ – it avoids veering into lachrymose sentimentality.

“Delicately placed piano notes tread delicately, as if over a fresh powder of snow, accompanied by light violin strokes and (what else) that magical shimmer of Christmas bells.”

Celeste won the BBC’s Sound Of poll this year, as well as the Brit Award for Rising Star, and was widely tipped in 2020 as one to watch by a number of publications, including The Independent.

Read more:

• Every John Lewis Christmas advert, ranked
• John Lewis Christmas advert song - review
• What is the John Lewis Christmas advert about?

She was inspired to take up singing after hearing Elton John’s “Your Song”, which coincidentally was used as the John Lewis Christmas song in 2018.

Her debut EP, The Milk & The Honey, was released in 2017, followed by 2019’s Lately, after which she signed to Polydor Records.

Recent singles including this year’s “Little Runaway” and “Hear My Voice”, the latter of which came out in October.

Her debut solo single “Flame”, released at the beginning of this year, hit No 47 on the UK charts. 

She is expected to release her debut album in 2021.