Justin Bieber”s fans may be way too young to get the references, but his new animated video for “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” is a delightful homage to Rankin/Bass”s Christmas television classic, “Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer.” In fact, some of the scenes in the stop-motion animation are almost shot-for-shot replicas, as are some of the adorable characters. There are even some misfit toys.
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The song will be featured in another animated feature, “Arthur Christmas,” out this week. But for now, Bieber is kicking it old school in this sweet video (The sweetness was a little diminished by Bieber announcing the video’s arrival on Twitter thusly: “SANTA CLAUS IS COMIN TO TOWN B*Tches!”). As nostalgic as the animation is in the video, for the song itself, Bieber gives it a bit of an R&B feel, even breaking into the “Shake It, Shake It Baby” refrain from the Jackson 5″s “ABC” in the middle, but the adorable woodland creatures in the clip don”t seem to mind. They are happy to get their groove on. The song is on Bieber”s first holiday album, “Under the Mistletoe,” which entered the Billboard 200 today at No. 1.
I”m not aware of all the marketing involved in “Arthur Christmas,” but it seems natural that this video will air before the movie in theaters.
If this clip isn”t to your liking, there will be another non-animated clip coming.