Alex Warren, Myles Smith, Ed Sheeran, Leon Thomas, Olivia Dean, Conan Gray, Zara Larsson, the KPop Demon Hunters singers and more are performing on ABC Wednesday night during the annual Jingle Ball 2025 holiday special.
Filmed earlier in December at LA’s Intuit Dome and New York City’s Madison Square Garden, the special also features appearances by Robert De Niro, Dylan Efron, Kat Dennings, Darren Criss and the Spice Girls‘ Mel C, among others.
The New York show brought the artists to the Big Apple during the most wonderful time of the year, which was not lost on them.
“Oh my God, it’s everything,” Alex told ABC Audio about being in New York around Christmastime. “I wish my wife was here so we could go explore and stuff, but it’s fun to be here.”
“I feel like New York is also a city that has been a part of my childhood, even though I wasn’t here until later in my life,” said Zara, who grew up in Sweden. “I know the buildings. I know that ice rink where they skate. I know that Christmas tree. I know all of these places, just from pop culture.”
“[It’s] the people, the spirit, the feel – it feels like Christmas,” said Myles. “There’s nowhere else that feels like this.”
An added bonus? Performing at New York’s world-famous Madison Square Garden.
“So iconic, right? It was surreal,” said KPop Demon Hunters singer Kevin Woo of Saja Boys. “The energy in this venue … was absolutely beyond my imagination.”
“I think, especially for a British artist to come to the Garden, it’s like … a bucket-list gig,” Mel C aka Sporty Spice told ABC Audio. “And I am so fortunate. I’ve done it a couple of times with the Spice Girls and been up there on my own as well. … It is wonderful to be back.”
iHeartRadio Jingle Ball 2025 airs at 8 p.m. ET and streams the next day on Hulu.
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