Brenda Lee's 'Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree' gets Spanish version thanks to AI: Listen

Hear the 66-year-old song like never before.

October 25, 2024, 12:33 PM

A Spanish version of Brenda Lee's "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" created with artificial intelligence -- and with Lee's approval -- is here just in time for the holiday season.

The new version, titled "Noche Buena y Navidad," was produced by Grammy winner Aureo Baqueiro, who kept the original music and background vocals from the original version but replaced Lee's lead vocals with a new Spanish-language vocal created with SoundLab's AI MicDrop tool. It was released Friday.

This audio plug-in, which allows a person to transform their voice into another person's voice, makes it appear as though Lee was back in the recording booth at age 13 singing the song in Spanish.

A press release from Universal Music Group credits "an innovative use of responsibly-trained AI technology" for helping create "Noche Buena y Navidad."

PHOTO:  Brenda Lee album cover
Universal Music Group

"I am so blown away by this new Spanish version of 'Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree,' which was created with the help of AI," Lee said in a press release.

"Throughout my career, I performed and recorded many songs in different languages, but I never recorded 'Rockin'' in Spanish, which I would have loved to do," she continued. "To have this out now is pretty incredible and I'm happy to introduce the song to fans in a new way."

Lee's iconic Christmas song, released 66 years ago, hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart last year.

Listen to "Noche Buena Y Navidad (Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree)" here: